Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Ford
And.... ACTION! Ford partners with film company for product placement
Ford's been working with studios to get its product featured in films for years, one of the first being the original Batmobile. But the automaker has now teamed with Our Stories Films to target minorities with the production company's family-themed movies.
Under the agreement, Ford will be able to examine scripts for product placement opportunities, and will even get to make script-change suggestions. Ford will also integrate promotion of the films into its Web sites, fordurban.com and lincolnlounge.com.
Our Stories Films was created by BET founder Robert Johnson and producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein. According to IMDB, the company's first film is the current box office blockbuster (watch the sarcarsm, it's dripping) "Who's Your Caddy?" and features Ford's Range Rover co-starring with Big Boi and Andy Milonakis.
"We are all grappling with our numbers in this audience," said Marc Perry, multicultural marketing manager at Ford/Lincoln, in a Brandweek article. "We know that we can do better than what we are doing and this opportunity allows us to go after a targeted audience. It's African-Americans in urban centers. This arrangement helps by allowing us to cast both characters and vehicles, and with our imaging onscreen." Sigh... kind of sucks the whole artistic angle right out of filmmaking.
[Source: Brandweek, IMDB]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt 7:51PM (8/07/2007)
if anything, Ford's continued tsunami of product placement only makes them cheaper to me. When i was watching "the closer" last night and Brenda pulls up in a Mustang, could only roll my eyes. My favorite ever has to be the last season of Alias when, driving to a secret meeting, a girl asks "so, you decided to get the ford escape hybrid?"
"yes" answers jack bristow "it helps when stealth is needed..." Keep in mind that the girl who asks the question has been in a coma for the past year, long before the hybrid was out.
"this arrangement helps by allowing us to cast both characters and vehicles, and with our imaging onscreen". Ford has a long way to go before i'd EVER imagine buying one of their cars. And that has a LOT to do with how ridiculous their product placement campaign has gotten.
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AlexP 8:29PM (8/07/2007)
Haha, inconsistencies are great.
fordman 7:58PM (8/07/2007)
I hate maufacturer product placements. It ruined Transformers for me. There was way way too much GM going on there and the bad bad mustang. What happened to the old days of the studio sending a guy down to a local dealership to buy a car then clean it up afterwards and auction it off?
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Barry 8:28PM (8/07/2007)
I agree that Transformers was pretty over done with the GM placement, but I don't think that was anything compared to the "Rise of the Silver Surfer" when the Human Torch asks "is it a Hemi?" to which Mr Fantastic reply's "of course"
TeamNutmeg 9:42PM (8/07/2007)
It's a movie where half the cast are cars - you had to expect product placement in there.
Besides, it's gotta be a better use of advertising dollars than NASCAR. At least when someone rolls up in a Fusion in a movie, it's actually a Fusion, not a shell with chrome decals.
alex 7:26AM (8/08/2007)
i didn't think the GM placement in transformers was too bad. the main characters are cars so of course the GM cars got a lot of time in the limelight. but it wasn't in your face like some movies. you never heard "quick! follow Jazz, the silver Pontiac Solstice coupe!"
Chris Tutor 8:38PM (8/07/2007)
One film that stands out in my mind for notorious automotive product placement is "The Matrix Reloaded." With a little imagination, I can swallow the movie's plot, but I was shocked when the Wachowski brothers expected me to buy a busy freeway full of nothing but GM products. Kinda ruined the whole movie for me.
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Devin 4:48PM (8/08/2007)
Haha, your right. I noticed that I couldn't find a single car that wasn't from GM (except for the police cruisers) in the entire freeway scene. However, Cadillac had huge product placement in those movies, but it was done tastefully.
As for Transformers, I saw the movie partially just because of the huge product placement. Just seeing a yellow '09 camaro drive around for 2 hours was worth the 5.50 i payed to get into the movie.
Ford does need better product placement, but they also need better product to place. No one cares when they see a new Taurus or Focus, because they aren't exciting cars.
Bryan 9:15PM (8/07/2007)
Ok whiners, what do you want them to use? A Camry? Get over it, if you don't like it, don't watch it. This is America in case you forgot. Not F'n Japan or Europe!
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herk 10:47PM (8/07/2007)
Hey, I'm all for advertising in shows and movies. Just so long as its done in a subtle manner. In fact, you ask me and that's a MUCH more effective way of advertising something. Ford has just gotten over the top in a way that no other brand has.
Oh, and why not camrys? Americans actually DRIVE Camrys:)
Bryan 11:15PM (8/07/2007)
I wouldn't call them Americans, more like mindless zombies with no sense of style and no intelligence whatsoever. =) No one wants to see a Camry on the screen, shoot, no one in their right mind wants to see them on the road!
nosmas 12:47AM (8/08/2007)
Bryan drives a Buick... because Tiger Woods told him Buicks are engineered beautifully.
Max Merak 9:58PM (8/07/2007)
Good luck using a 4,100 lb. GT500KR in the PC streets of San Fransisco in a remake of Bullitt.
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Grant 4:23AM (8/08/2007)
that would be sweet! but they should totally jump a real one, i would love to see the front end crunch in a glorious shower of fiberglass and airbag bliss!
Stoneman 10:11PM (8/07/2007)
Advertising has crept in to even movies - imagine! Wow, and I bet they have subliminal advertising out there somewhere too.
http://www.stonemanautoreview.com
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Mr. Oak 9:55AM (8/08/2007)
Advertisements didn't just creep into movies, they have been there for quits sometime. My earliest re-collection is either "The Take" or "The Hit" in the mid 70s it was infested with McDonalds and Pepso Co. ads.
CoffeeJones 8:50AM (8/08/2007)
Okay so that's GM for Transformers, VW for Bourne, Chrysler for Silver Surfer(lol), BMW and more recently Aston Martin for the James Bond films, and now we've got Ford for whatever.
The only one I didn't mind was the placement in the Bond films, namely because the DB5/DBS (and to a certain extent the Z3) are so damn cool. :)
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felipe 10:46AM (8/08/2007)
you're lying.
go buy a Tornado and stick it in your breath-way.. loser.
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