With the debris settled after the latest James Bond success, it seems that all of the bellyaching about Heineken's role in the film was about nothing. Daniel Craig as Bond reclines and sips a green bottle here and there, the label never visible. Without the ruckus surrounding Heineken's tie-in, none would be the wiser. Indeed, without the ruckus, movie reviewing icon Roger Ebert never would have known what brand to mention when he called Bond a Heineken sell-out. But then the ruckus was the point. A $45 million point that backfired on Heineken.

Just one of the slaps in the face to Heineken from Skyfall's filmmakers came in the form of Macallan whisky, which is poured throughout the film by Bond villains and M alike. At one point, a bottle of "50-year old Macallan" (£1,400.00) is even identified Bond's "favorite drink." Macallan, by the way, paid nothing for the honor.Continue reading...

When January 15 rolls around in the new year, it will mark a significant birthday for luxury auto brand Aston Martin: the company’s 100th anniversary.

It’s been shut down by world wars, owned by a few different entities, and nearly shut down production in the early 1980s when sales dwindled, but somehow the Aston Martin brand lived on. Only last week, Italian private equity firm Investindustrial picked up 37.5% of the company.

It's still an elite pleasure, with only 4,200 vehicles sold last year, according to Reuters. Likely helping to keep the brand alive has been its use by British secret agent James Bond in a number of films, including this year’s Skyfall, and Ian Fleming’s original books. The International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., counts an Aston Martin as part of its collection.

To start getting fans in the spirit of its upcoming anniversary, the automaker posted a video on YouTube with its CEO giving a glimpse of the special 100th logo (check it out below) at a recent race. The centenary logo was “created to resemble a nautilus shell as each of the 100 years is represented by a point in the spiral,” according to LuxuryDaily.com.Continue reading...

When the financial crisis hit in the United States, it also was a big blow to one particular Dutch brewery that pretty much only made one beer. Heineken’s sales went down for a couple of years and its U.S President, Don Blaustein, left in August of 2009 “saying he had a different view over how to expand Heineken in the U.S. during the recession,” as Bloomberg recalls.

We’ll never know if Blaustein’s ideas would have worked given more time, but the new guy, Dolf van den Brink (one of Fortune’s 40 Under 40 execs to watch this year), seems to be figuring it out just fine. “We weren’t in a good position in 2008, 2009,” he told the site. “For 45 years, we were a single-brand operation. We were set in our ways.”

His job, of course, has been to shake up those ways.Continue reading...

Country? England. Gun? Shot. Agent? Provocateur. Murder? Employment. Skyfall? Product placement.

The latest James Bond film hit the US this weekend, letting audiences decide for themselves what all the product placement hubbub was about. The verdict? Meh. Some valuations have nailed down some dollar numbers on just how much exposure Skyfall brought its top-line brand partners, but what about the unidentifiable brands on-screen?

Despite no label ever being seen, at least one already has backorders going into 2013. And what to make of Bond's glorious return to tobacco?Continue reading...

Apple and HTC settle patent dispute.

BBC needs radical overhaul, chairman says, as two more senior execs step down.

Hyundai and Kia cope with damage they've done to their main selling point: mileage.

AEG and StubHub align.

Alltel returns with holiday pitch to Santa.

Brinks says it isn't for sale right now.

Cisco rolls out aggressive new strategy for dealing with patent trolls.Continue reading...

The upcoming James Bond film Skyfall is a marketing juggernaut for its tie-in partners as well as for the products that will actually appear in the film. These placed products include Coke Zero, Sony, Caterpillar, gunmaker Walther and, of course, most famously, Heineken. Even Turkey and China are associating with 007.

One of the firms responsible for some of Skyfall's product placement is Seesaw Media. Brandchannel spoke with Seesaw Media Founder and Director Darryl Collis about the hullaballoo over the product placement in Skyfall as well as how all of the negative media might impact future product placement deals.Continue reading...

Hawaii's St. Regis Princeville Resort (The Descendants), Bruges, Belgium (In Bruges), Forks, Washington (Twilight) and New York's Museum of natural History (Night at the Museum) would all attest to the power of location-based product placement. The marketing potential that appearing in a Hollywood picture can bring to a particular location. But that swings the other way.

Some in Lebanon are upset about how it was depicted in the Showtime terrorism-themed drama Homeland; so upset they're pondering a lawsuit against the producers. Then, tourism officials a world away in Fargo, North Dakota are nervously anticipate the launch of a new series based on the cult favorite film Fargo, a movie many in the city have just started warming up to. But neither have a complaint as large as Turkey, maybe the most smeared location in Hollywood history.

Now, in 2012, Turkey is onscreen in two huge new films. One has already proven not to Turkey's liking. Will the new James Bond film finally reverse 34 years of Hollywood history for Turnkey?Continue reading...

Coca-Cola continues its Coke Zero marketing tie-in for the upcoming James Bond movie release/brandstravaganza with a London promo that turned London commuters into 007, for 70 heart-pounding seconds, all for the chance to win Skyfall tickets:Continue reading...