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Article on Product Placement by Luxury Brands in Films.

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  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    Article on Product Placement by Luxury Brands in Films.




    From IHT http://iht.com/articles/2007/05/28/arts/fhollywood.php



    Stealthy screen time: Prime placement for luxury brands




    CANNES:
    When the Chinese film director Wong Kar-wai opened the 60th Cannes Film
    Festival two weeks ago, he wasn't just premiering his first English
    language film. A purple haze cherry-blossom dress worn by his leading
    lady, Norah Jones, in his hauntingly beautiful movie "My Blueberry
    Nights" marked the beginning of a new kind of luxury branding, one that
    takes place when the house lights go down and movie magic has
    cinemagoers dreaming.





    Making luxury labels an integral part of that dream is how brands
    are reaching out to consumers. Dressing celebrities for their trips
    down the red carpet is still the most popular way for high-end brands
    to garner publicity, not least at Cannes.





    The stakes have always been high. After months of preparation,
    negotiations, fittings and the creation of one-of-a-kind dresses, it's
    still a crapshoot, with many designers rolling snake eyes when a fickle
    film star decides at the last minute to go with another fashion house.
    Today, the sure bet in Hollywood is not dressing stars for a film's
    premiere, it's getting screen time alongside them.





    "Brand placement is touchy and it has to be done properly," said
    Leeza-Maria el Khazen, the founder of Reelbranding, a company that
    helps designers find the perfect fit in films. For Khazen, some of the
    most successful collaborations are those that have grown organically
    from a more personal relationship.





    This was the case for Wong and Louis Vuitton. The director wore
    Louis Vuitton suits while acting as the head of the festival jury last
    year and then contacted the company when he started working on "My
    Blueberry Nights," which is in competition this year.





    Wong explained to the fashion company that the movie was a road film
    and the brand, which has always been associated with the world of
    travel, gave the director free rein to pick and chose what he wanted
    for the film.





    Just before seeing the final results at the premiere, Yves Carcelle,
    the president of Louis Vuitton, explained why he decided to work with
    Wong for the brand's first film collaboration: "The greatest voyage in
    life is one of self-discovery, and we wanted to be a part of that," he
    said. "It fit well with the identity of our brand."





    In the end, the association is a subtle one: a set of keys that play
    an important role have a Louis Vuitton key chain; that cherry-blossom
    print dress from Vuitton's spring/summer 2005 collection is worn in a
    pivotal scene; and bags with the Epi leather and LV logo are worn
    casually in shots where the focus is on everyday life, not fashion.
    Awareness of the Louis Vuitton brand seeps into the psyche over the
    course of the film.





    "A movie and a commercial are not the same thing," Wong said after
    the premiere, remembering the moment he first spotted the dress he
    chose to use in film. "It worked with the movie; we wanted that exact
    shade of blueberry and when we saw the dress, we knew we had to have
    it."





    On the big screen, designers have a captive audience's undivided
    attention. Brands get to become part of a story, forever linked in the
    minds of the public with the film flickering in front of them. But as
    jaded movie audiences become more adept at spotting brands and their
    more blatant attempts to advertise on celluloid, top luxury houses are
    turning to a softer sell with understated product placement.





    "The worst thing that can happen is that the audience feels like it
    is watching a commercial," Khazen said. "It can have a very negative
    effect on the film and the brand because it draws the audience out of
    the movie. Sometimes it's kind of shocking."





    The powerful link between film and fashion can be seen as far back
    as Hubert de Givenchy's work with Audrey Hepburn in "Sabrina," which
    was the beginning of a lifelong partnership between the designer and
    the star. There was also Catherine Deneuve wearing Roger Vivier's
    silver-buckled shoes for her seminal film "Belle de Jour." The film
    created a cult following for the shoes; now known as Belle Vivier,
    which continues to this day. And in 1980 Giorgio Armani seared his name
    into the collective American consciousness when he dressed Richard Gere
    in the film "American Gigolo."





    Recently, luxury brands have seen their products take a more central
    role in films. In the Merchant Ivory film "Le Divorce" (2003), a Kelly
    bag from Hermès carried by Kate Hudson throughout the film (until it
    was unceremoniously thrown off the Eiffel Tower) was arguably another
    character in the movie. The dark purple fox fur-trimmed cashmere wool
    coat that Jennifer Lopez wore in a central scene in the movie "Shall We
    Dance" was unmistakably a Versace creation. And who could forget Toni
    Collette's repeated cries of shock and anger - "She broke my Jimmy
    Choos!" - when she discovered her sister had snapped a heel off her
    favorite pair in the movie "In Her Shoes."





    But this more transparent style has started to give way to the
    restrained choice seen in "My Blueberry Nights." And both approaches
    can be seen in the latest James Bond film "Casino Royale," where the
    lead actor Daniel Craig gives his watch the hard sell ("No, it's an
    Omega"), but never mentions his well-cut suits created by Brioni.





    With "the public zapping television commercials, product placement
    in films has become even more important," Khazen said. "And most film
    now are released worldwide, giving a brand more international exposure
    that a commercial can."





    While Louis Vuitton is just starting to discover the power of films,
    Armani is a seasoned expert who has cultivated a strong connection to
    Hollywood and its brightest stars since hitting the jackpot with
    "American Gigolo." Armani got another chance to put his tailoring
    skills on display in "Ocean's Thirteen," the third installment of the
    heist-film series starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon,
    which premiered out of competition at this year's Cannes festival.





    Armani collaborated with the Hollywood costume designer Louise
    Frogley to create the onscreen looks for Clooney's character Danny
    Ocean. The designer dresses the actor in custom suits from his
    Hand-Made-To-Measure line and in his signature tuxedos. The decision to
    work together was born from a long-standing friendship between the men.
    In fact, the initial idea came while Clooney and Armani were having
    lunch together at the actor's home in Lake Como, Italy, last summer.





    "Dressing George Clooney is every designer's dream," said Armani,
    "but being George Clooney's friend transcends business. It is a true
    pleasure working with and knowing George. He inspires me, as Cary Grant
    did a generation ago."





    And it seems the feeling is mutual. Talking about his wardrobe in
    "Ocean's Thirteen," Clooney said in a statement: "My long-time friend
    Giorgio loves movies as much as I love those suits of his. So we
    thought, hey, put the two together!"






    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine
  • laika
    moderator
    • Sep 2006
    • 3787

    #2
    Re: Article on Product Placement by Luxury Brands in Films.



    Well, what do you make of it, Faust?



    Is there an important difference between Givenchy dressing Audrey and Armani dressing Clooney/ LV dressing Norah Jones? Or has this kind of product placement been around for a long time?



    I'm not sure I entirely understand what the writer is getting at....[*-)]

    ...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.

    Comment

    • Faust
      kitsch killer
      • Sep 2006
      • 37852

      #3
      Re: Article on Product Placement by Luxury Brands in Films.

      [quote user="laika"]

      Well, what do you make of it, Faust?



      Is there an important difference between Givenchy dressing Audrey and Armani dressing Clooney/ LV dressing Norah Jones? Or has this kind of product placement been around for a long time?



      I'm not sure I entirely understand what the writer is getting at....[*-)]



      [/quote]



      I think her main point... or my main point is that films are becoming (although that's kinda old news) new mediums for advertising. I'd venture to say that advertising was not an end in itself back then, as it is now in some cases. Or maybe it was, but it certainly did not seem so blatant, so lacking in integrity. I think there is a difference between a director calling up a luxury house and saying, "Hey, I've always been a fan, I want to feature your product because it would fit my hero," and a movie producer hiring a marketing firm to prostitute the film to the highest bidder in terms of product placement. Of course the IHT writer said none of that, why would she want to step on her advertisers' toes?



      Another thing is, a person can't walk out of a movie the way he can get up to go to the kitchen during a commercial break, or now simply fast forward them with DVR. Remember the whole upheaval about commercial before the films? People took movie theaters to court - I don't remember that happening in another medium.

      Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

      Comment

      • Fuuma
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2006
        • 4050

        #4
        Re: Article on Product Placement by Luxury Brands in Films.

        [quote user="Faust"][quote user="laika"]


        Well, what do you make of it, Faust?




        Is there an important difference between Givenchy dressing Audrey and Armani dressing Clooney/ LV dressing Norah Jones? Or has this kind of product placement been around for a long time?




        I'm not sure I entirely understand what the writer is getting at....[*-)]




        [/quote]




        I think her main point... or my main point is that films are becoming (although that's kinda old news) new mediums for advertising. I'd venture to say that advertising was not an end in itself back then, as it is now in some cases. Or maybe it was, but it certainly did not seem so blatant, so lacking in integrity. I think there is a difference between a director calling up a luxury house and saying, "Hey, I've always been a fan, I want to feature your product because it would fit my hero," and a movie producer hiring a marketing firm to prostitute the film to the highest bidder in terms of product placement. Of course the IHT writer said none of that, why would she want to step on her advertisers' toes?




        Another thing is, a person can't walk out of a movie the way he can get up to go to the kitchen during a commercial break, or now simply fast forward them with DVR. Remember the whole upheaval about commercial before the films? People took movie theaters to court - I don't remember that happening in another medium.




        [/quote]




        It is definitely a concern but I'd say for the most part directors and marketing agenciesare cashing in on something that used to bedone "free of charge" or because of a priviledged relationship. The problem is that the slope is quite slippery and once we start going down there's no telling how integrated in the filmaking process the whole thing may become. I don't know about you but say 12 yrs ago, the idea that I could have a publicity in front of me when I'm peeing in a public restroom would have sounded laughable in its absurdity and sheer intrusiveness, it is now commonplace.

        Selling CCP, Harnden, Raf, Rick etc.
        http://www.stylezeitgeist.com/forums...me-other-stuff

        Comment

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