Product placement

[JarodRussell]

Will there be more blatant product placement like Nokia and Budweiser in the next Trek film? What do you think?

I stumbled over this NY Times article about branding in films, which happens to star Orci & Kurtzman.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/bu.../05screen.html

[King Daniel Into Darkness]

If anything, having a little bit of today's stuff in the far flung furture made it seem more real.

[Therin of Andor]

JarodRussell wrote:

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Will there be more blatant product placement like Nokia and Budweiser in the next Trek film?

ST IV had Mac computers, Pacific Bell and Michelob beer, and I don't recall too many complaints.

ST V had Jack Daniels' whisky, Kraft "marshmelons" (in a container you could receive as a mail-away) and Levi's jeans.

[M'Sharak]

ST II - Commodore PET home computer

[T'Girl]

M'Sharak wrote:

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ST II - Commodore PET home computer

McCoy did mention Kirk's collection of antiques.

[UFO]

M'Sharak wrote:

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ST II - Commodore PET home computer

God, how blantant can you get (Oh there it is!)? And all this time I thought I bought my C64 of my own unfree will!

[Nerys Myk]

I sure hope there is!!!!!

[bbailey861]

KingDaniel wrote:

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If anything, having a little bit of today's stuff in the far flung furture made it seem more real.

To me as well. I would like to see companies make a futuristic look of their product - whichever product is 'placed'.

[Dream]

The only way it would work is if they travel back in time to the 2010s.

Yeah in the next movie I want to see them driving around in a Pontiac while drinking Crystal Pepsi on their way to shop at Montgomery Wards to buy a new Sega.

Just because we have something now doesn't mean it would last 200+ years down the road. With Star Trek IV at least they were actually in 1986 when they had the product placements. With STV neither Jack Daniels, Kraft or Levi was directly mentioned, just generalized versions.

I would prefer the movies stayed away from it. Hearing the Nokia ringtone from a Corvette did not add anything to the story.

[teacake]

I have that Nokia ringtone on my phone now. It's not the same as the original, it's a slightly (futurized?) different version done for the movie as I understand it. Of course no one has ever said to me, "OMG is that the Nokia ringtone from ST:XI?!" but I enjoy it, LOL

If there is product placement changing logos etc.. to look like it's a future version gets my vote.

[The Wormhole]

Product placement is a sad reality of movies these days. Sometimes its painfully obvious, like in I, Robot Will Smith's character just happens to be into vintage products from the year the movie came out. Sometimes a movie has fun with its product placement, like Snakes on a Plane.

[teacake]

I was sad about Budweiser surviving but I was able to let it go.

[Christopher]

SimpleLogic wrote:

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I would prefer the movies stayed away from it.

Easy to say, but it's not like they do it for fun. Without the revenue that comes from product placement, the studio could never afford to make a film as hugely expensive as a modern sci-fi blockbuster. So it's just something we have to accept as a necessary tradeoff for getting the movie made at all -- just like commercial breaks are the necessary tradeoff for getting TV shows made. (And more and more shows these days have built-in product placements because it's gotten so easy to fast-forward or channel-surf through commercials.)

It's not unreasonable that some corporations might survive a few more centuries. The longest-lived independent company in history, Japan's Kongō Gumi, lasted for 1,400 years. Various hotels and breweries and such have been in business for up to a millennium. The Beretta firearms company is nearly 500 years old, as is Cambridge University Press.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies

Still, I tend to feel that for an SF film, it would make more sense to have product placements for the likes of aerospace firms and computer manufacturers, or maybe biotech or energy companies, rather than something like soft drinks.

Ultimately, though, it comes down to which companies are willing to invest in your movie, so the filmmakers may not have complete freedom of choice about which products they have to work in. If you try to get IBM and Virgin Aerospace as financial backers but the best you can manage is Taco Bell and Geico, then you really don't have any choice but to posit a far future where Taco Bell and Geico are alive and well and haven't materially altered their corporate logos in centuries. (Although I think there are some cases where a film's production designers have been allowed to come up with new, futuristic logos that the advertisers actually used in their tie-in campaigns, with their approval, of course. I can't remember an example, though.)

[Nerys Myk]

Did all the corporate logos/products ruin 2001?