Hidden advertising or Product Placement is, as you know, an advertising technique, which consists in the fact that props in films, television programs, computer games, music videos or books have a real commercial counterpart. Usually the advertised product/company itself or its logo is shown, or its good quality is mentioned. A feature of Product Placement in many works of art is that, unlike a regular advertising campaign, sales growth is not always instantaneous, the effect of hidden advertising has a prolonged character and there probably cannot be sharp bursts here. But a significant increase in sales is inevitable.
Let’s jump right into the examples and start with the luxury car Lamborghini. Today, such a modern service as Lamborghini car rental Dubai is developing and making it available to any tourist and expat in order to experience the beautiful, expensive life of one of the most impressive cities of our time. Rental services are very convenient, practical and affordable as they offer a huge variety of rental cars of different price levels. Such excitement for the purchase and rental of this car was caused, among other things, by the numerous shootings of this road star in world-famous films. The Lamborghini supercars that made cinematic history are the Miura used in “The Italian Job” (1969) and the Aventador sports car featured in the film “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012). Another character in superhero films was the gray Huracan. The Grigio Lynx coupe driven by Dr. Stephen Strange (in the movie “Doctor Strange”). Another bright representative of the film world is the LM002, who “played” the role of the SUV of Dominic’s opponents in “Fast and the Furious 4” Toretto One of the matte black Jalpas was driven by Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky IV”. The Lamborghini Countach, in which the protagonist of “The Wolf of Wall Street” tries to ride, already belongs to history; it has long been removed from production. In the film, the Lamborghini Countach had a bad ending: a besotted Belfort crashed the car. Usually in the movies, not real cars are broken, but replicas in which only the body of the original expensive car is imitated. But in The Wolf of Wall Street, everything was real: they smashed that very Lamborghini Countach.
By the way, the legendary episode in Spielberg’s film “The Alien”, which was released in 1982, from which, in fact, the rise of Product Placement began, when the children fed the alien with Hershey’s Reese’s Pieces sweets (as a result of which sales of the brand during the week after the release of the film, they immediately grew by 40%, and later – up to 80%) is an example of using a situational product placement model. Meeting and befriending an alien is the dream of many children, and this situation, realized in the film, could not help but become an incentive for children to demand these candies from their parents.
The story of Ian Fleming about James Bond is an example of effective product placement: an Aston Martin spy car, a signature martini drink with an olive, clothes from world brands. This is mainstream.
Tom Cruise wore Ray-Ban aviator glasses in Top Gun. Within 6 months after the premiere, sales increased by 40%.
The legendary movie “Blade Runner” depicts a future in which advertisements for the famous drink are shown on giant screens. The main message is “Coca-Cola will be here in a hundred years.”
Sometimes hidden advertising ceases to be advertising and turns into a whole phenomenon. And so it happened in the cult adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club. In numerous interviews, director David Fincher has stated that there is a Starbucks cup in almost every scene in the film. The audience even arranged a kind of competition and tried to count how many cups of coffee we see in the entire film.
Sports brands also appear in films quite often. In the famous movie Forrest Gump, the protagonist clearly shows off his Nike sneakers. But what about another, slightly less visible advertisement? Here directors and marketers have reached a new level. Instead of “writing” the product into the film, they made him the main character. The volleyball that became Tom Hanks’ friend was made by Wilson Sporting Goods. After the release of the film, the company even released merchandise: the exact same Wilson ball appeared on store shelves, which everyone could easily buy.
Apple is considered the record holder for the number of mentions – a branded apple is found in 40% of box office films: “The Intern” with Robert De Niro, “The Mechanic” with Jason Statham, “Sex and the City” with Carrie Bradshaw, “Mission Impossible” with Tom Cruise, “Doctor House” with Gregory House, etc.