Around the Net

New Bond Film Gets $100 Million In Brand Promotion

Along with their prominent placement in "Casino Royale," the new James Bond film, six brands--Heineken, Ford, Smirnoff Vodka, Sony Electronics, Sony Ericsson and Omega watches--have spent more than $100 million on media and other promotional support for the movie, which opened Friday.

Some have been partnering with the Bond franchise for decades, since it began integrating brands long before the practice became a hot trend. "Because we're a family business and because we treat everyone like family, we don't like to switch partners," says Keith Snelgrove, senior vice president global business strategy of EON Prods., which is owned by the family of late Bond producer Cubby Broccoli and has produced all 21 Bond films.

"We don't like one-time product placement deals. Our partnerships are very successful, and our partners always come back." Criticized for partnering with too many advertisers in the past, the company decided to go with fewer but bigger this time around. The six are spending about the same as 10 brands did on "Die Another Day" in 2002. Snelgrove says EON accepts "very, very little straight cash" for integrating brands. "Our real goal is to ensure we have a huge opening weekend, so we're looking for cross-promotional advertising dollars," he says.

advertisement

advertisement

Read the whole story at Hollywood Reporter via Reuters »

Next story loading loading..