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Kevin Airgid is an internationally recognized designer, author and speaker. He runs a small interactive studio that develops creative projects for clients such as: Amnesty, ESPN, Ford, MTV and Pepsi.
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Transformers Movie: a master lesson in product placement.
I recently took an extended “Lunch Hour” to watch the new Michael Bay film Transformers. All and all it is a good movie. One of the things that will strike many people about the movie is the in-your-face product placement for General Motors. The Chevrolet “Bowtie” and the big bad red “GMC” logo are tagged everywhere. Fan’s of the 1980’s cartoon will attest that each episode of the Transformers was basically one big toy advertisement for Hasbro. So it should come as no surprise that the tradition of heavy-duty product placement is part of the modern day Transformers experience. Thirty-something’s will probably not be bothered much by the product placement, those of us who went off and worked in the AD business for a few years will get an even better chuckle at how genius the whole product placement thing really is. And here is why I think the Transformers movie is truly a lesson in product placement for everyone else:
IF I could count the amount of seconds GM branding takes up screen time I would probably lose count in this film. We have a lot of in-your-face branding action going on in this film. There is no subtle “Pepsi in the fridge” like other movies. When the Chevy Bowtie appears there is a very long pause to make sure you get a really, really good view of it. This works similar to banner ads, it’s not about the click-through, no it’s about just getting your logo viewed as much as possible. Think about it, many people will see this move twice in the theatre, and then a 3rd time on DVD. GM bought a lot of eyeball time with this movie.
The Transformers brand evokes creative feelings from many people. I don’t think it’s the nostalgia of the toys themselves, nor the memories of your childhood. What I think the Transformers evokes for many people is a time in their life when they could be creative without fear of rejection or failure. Many studies have shown that people with less creative jobs feel unfulfilled. I would wager to bet that when people think of the Transformers their feelings are of a time of being creative in their lives. Playing with the toys wasn’t about the toys more importantly it was about the universe children created around the toys. Now tag your brand to that feeling and wrap it up in a movie and your have pure marketing genius. We associated our creative positive feelings with “Bubble Bee” the new Chevy Camaro! (As a side note a lot of people complained in many forums online about Bubble Bee becoming a Camaro instead of a VW bug, I love in the movie how Michael Bay puts a dig in there with the Camaro opening it’s door and smacking an old yellow VW bug? ¦ classic case of the Director giving fans the finger)
The whole movie also played out like one big recruitment video for the US military. I can’t tell you how many times I heard lines such as “No victory without sacrifice.” I’ve read online that Michael Bay has a very good relationship with the US Military, so when he needs loads of extras, or a few jets he has little issue getting them. Whether you like the military or not you have to hand it to them for this movie. Not since Top Gun with Tom Cruise have we witnessed a movie filled with more sizzle for the US military. The references to places in the Middle East, and the settings for a lot of the battle play well into the “support our troops” theme as well. So the military gets two bonus points in this movie. One: join the military and serve with honor, and two support our troops off in the Middle East. Once again a great move from a marketing standpoint for the US military.
Let us not forget our trusted friend and toy creator Hasbro. After all Transformers is first about the toys. This movie is a toy marketers dream come true. You have thirty something computer geeks (that’s me) who will buy a toy to sit on top of their computer. Then you have the new generation of children who will want the latest toys from the movie. There is yet another market segment Hasbro can grain traction with. The car enthusiast ? ¦ anyone who loves the Chevrolet Camaro will also want to buy a shinny BubbleBee toy for their collection.
Final Thoughts
The new Transformers movie builds on past success of turning entrainment into advertising. The Hollywood and the big AD agencies are always looking for new revenue streams, and it looks like we will see much more of this type of movie in the future considering how successful Transformers has been.