A view to a sell: will Spectre’s brands get the traditional Bond boost?
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Version 0 of 1. Not even Daniel Craig’s clenched thespian gravitas can gloss over the fact that James Bond has got a licence to sell, and he will basically flog whatever he’s told to. Bond films now attract the same type of sponsorship as the World Cup or the Olympics. Skyfall had deals with Coca-Cola, Sony, Ford, Omega, Procter & Gamble and Heineken. But do these brands really get their money’s worth? You’d think so, considering the recent news that Belvedere vodka has paid an undisclosed sum to be featured in the upcoming Spectre. It has already launched limited-edition bottles with the MI6 building engraved on them, and LED lights inside them. The film isn’t out for a year and already we’re talking about Belvedere vodka, so there is your marketing impact right there. Or rather, right here. But the real beneficiaries of the 007 touch are often the smaller brands that get a free ride in the movies. Heineken paid £28m for the Skyfall tie-in, for example, but fans were horrified at the prospect of Bond chugging beer. Even Craig described the deal as “unfortunate”, thus generating reams of negative publicity. For which Heineken then compensated with a carpet-marketing campaign – bombarding us with expensive commercials (starring Craig), mobile apps, branded bottles, advertising in stores, online, in print and so on, until nobody ever wanted to see a Heineken bottle again. Bond obediently swigged the beer for one early scene, but after that what did he drink? Macallan whisky. So did Judi Dench and Javier Bardem. And what did Macallan pay for the privilege? Nothing at all. Macallan didn’t even ask to be in the movie – the film-makers approached them. According to one estimate, Macallan accounted for 7% of all product-placement screen time in Skyfall, which brought the company some $7m (£4.4m) worth of exposure, and doubtless cost a few Heineken execs their jobs. It’s the same with other Bond accoutrements. Everyone knows Bond’s weapon of choice: a Walther PPK. Bond has been its screen-to-screen salesman for 50 years. Sean Connery even presented a short documentary on Walther guns in the 1960s. And yet the arms dealer pays nothing for the privilege – it was all thanks to Ian Fleming’s decision to equip Bond with the gun back in 1956. Bond is happy to advertise other weapons too, mind you. In Skyfall, he also used an Anderson Wheeler shotgun, and again the gunmakers paid nothing, but they duly capitalised with a “Skyfall Edition” 0.500 rifle. Starting price: around £16,000. It’s amazing what Bond gets away with selling: alcohol, firearms, tobacco, oil companies, fast food. He would probably do GM crops too if they could work it into the script. But the truth is, off-duty, he is an incorrigible shopaholic. Between missions, he is scouring Mayfair arcades and designer sample sales seeking to satiate his unchecked desire for luxury items. If you are a purveyor of such goods, you are in with a good chance of some free publicity, it seems. But let’s not forget who is really footing the bill for this government employee-turned-rogue consumer. Why do you think we have a deficit problem? |