For Your Wallet Only

By Jeff Chu Sunday, Nov. 10, 2002
    • The 20th Bond film will ride into the record books on one of the biggest promo bandwagons ever. Agent 007's business partners are spending an estimated $120 million on tie-in advertising, and millions more have already been invested in products and services for the making of the film itself. Maybe they should have called it Buy Another Day.

    The Bond franchise is one of the pioneers of product placement. "Bond has always been a brand-aware character," says David Wilson, EON's vice president of global business strategy. Dr. No "placed" Pan Am, Red Stripe and Smirnoff. But Die Another Day sets a new standard for promotional deals, pitching about 20 brands, from Finlandia vodka (yep, he switched) to 7-Up and Norelco shavers.

    Some publicity-hungry firms pay for screen time. But most product placement works on barter. For example, Ford provided several Aston Martins (for Bond), Jaguars (for the bad guy, Zao), Thunderbirds (for Jinx), Range Rovers (for utility vehicles), spare parts and technical help. That in-kind contribution saved EON millions in production costs. "The value that we got far exceeded the cash they could give us," Wilson says. In return, Ford will get invaluable screen time for its vehicles. The carmaker will also spend millions in movie tie-in promos, which will allow the distributors of Die Another Day — MGM in the U.S., Fox overseas — to trim their ad budgets.

    Not every product placer gets such a high profile. Jinx won't walk around with a Revlon sign to let us know who made her makeup, and Bond won't have a Brioni tag hanging off his tux. But the firms hope for gilt by association — and the chance to slap a 007 seal of approval on their ads. Bollinger champagne can freshen its traditional image with the help of the "debonair and charming James Bond," says president Ghislain de Montgolfier. "What could be more stylishly up-to-date?"

    On the other hand, what could be more off-putting than a two-hour-long ad you're paying upwards of $10 to see? Wilson insists that "we're making movies, not commercials." And doing a little smart business on the side.