Monday 30 November 2009

Product Placement: The Twilight Saga - New Moon


*Marketing strategy: Movie Product Placement*

I'm a new Twilight saga fan. I've been to see New Moon three times in the course of about 10 days (although one viewing doesn't really count as the screen kept freezing so I got a free second round ticket from Vue).

We all know about the most famous product placement example, i.e. 007 -the James Bond franchise. I've compiled a list in my head of all the product placement picked up on on my first visit to the New Moon movie, further reinforced by the following two times. I have a good memory and as an International Marketing student I became increasingly aware of this branding/product strategy throughouyt my four years of study. I have to say that it sometimes detracts slightly from movies and US TV shows for me these days, knowing the covert way such a strategy is designed to get into a viewer's mindset.

So, without much ado in order of appearance (to my knowledge):

1. SONY - pink, automatic digital camera, possible 10.1MP (which Bella receives for her 18th birthday from her dad)

2. VOLVO - initially mentioned in the Stephanie Meyer books as the Cullens family car (used to blend in with normal humans - or rather, 'pale faces'). Of course, the films must stay true to the books! Volvo probably regard this as a marketing coup. It may also be effective as part of any brand/product re-positioning strategy.

3. CANON - black, photo printer (which Bella uses to print part pics)

4. APPLE mac laptop - black (used for emails). No surprise here; Apple pretty much dominate the entire US (teen) market, e.g. pushed heavily in The O.C. and countless other US series' and movies

5. VIRGIN Atlantic - plane trip from USA to Italy (which Bella and Alice take) - visual optimised by light and clouds.

6. PORSCHE 911 - this is actually in the book - an idea for writers to obtain funds? Sounds terrible! But then again, who doesn't want a 911, especially in canary yellow, of which there are only 2 in the world. Reinforcement at work here.

7. TUSCANY, Italy - tranquil landscape shots maximise the view of the place as an idea holiday destination for some. May I suggest the older viewer segments 30+, couples, and the retired?

As you can probably tell, I pay a lot of attention to detail, BUT...
I wonder if there's anything I missed from this list?
I wonder also what was left out of the final cut.
I also wouldn't be surprised if future movies in this franchise were almost entirely sponsored by big brands.

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