While its Touareg model may be a big star in Universal Pictures' upcoming "The Bourne Ultimatum," some top execs at Volkswagen are less than thrilled about the marketing pact the company signed with
NBC Universal two years ago.
"Bourne" will be the 11th movie placement for the carmaker, but insiders say it is only the second -- along with "Knocked Up" -- that has met its expectations.
"The placements we've had so far are not up to the standard we had expected when getting into this deal," says Martin Biswurm, international entertainment marketing manager at Volkswagen. Universal,
however, says it is proud to proud to have placed 21 VW-brand vehicles in 17 Universal, Focus and Rogue films that garnered just under a $1 billion at the box office since 2005.
"VW
has been integrated into 56 Universal premieres and events and has had a brand presence on nearly 40 million Universal, Focus and Rogue DVDs globally," Universal says. Initial reports pegged the value
of the "Bourne" pact at $200 million but insiders say the real price tag is less than a quarter of that and fees being paid to Universal are just a portion of that.
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