Avatar's 3D technology is being credited for revolutionizing the way we watch movies. Its success has been followed by a flurry of announcements about blockbusters-to-be in 3D. While Avatar certainly revolutionized the way we watch movies, might it also revolutionize the way we place products?

For years now the product placement practice has been booming. Once generally considered a loose agreement between brands and prop managers, it is now an established business. A-list director Brett Ratner shamelessly boasts about his ambitions to help brands get scene-stealing placements. Even audiences have come to expect them and the term "product placement" is a household word. However, 3D technology poses incredible threats and opportunities for the advertising practice. Continue reading...

Avatar is the number one film for a second continuous week, meaning the year will end with the sci-fi tale dominating box office numbers. As brandcameo noted, though Avatar is groundbreaking in the realm of special effects, from a product placement perspective, the film is forgettable. Director James Cameron created an alternative future where brands were not just unimportant, but largely nonexistent. And that's noteworthy because a quarter century ago, Cameron was a product placement pioneer.Continue reading...

A groundbreaking product placement was born when Pan Am teamed up with Hilton in the epic sci-fi opera 2001. Now, Pan Am is dead, but Hilton is alive and well, and this time the brand is co-starring in George Clooney's film, Up in the Air, with another high-flying brand, American Airlines -- just in time for the holidays.

But don't fret, product placement conspiracy theorists; American Airlines isn't spending a fortune to brainwash you into flying on its planes. Dawn Turner, manager of promotions at America Airlines, told the New York Times:

"We did not spend any money. We don’t have any money to spend — you read the headlines, right?”Continue reading...

Some films receive flak for blatant branding attempts. Directors may be acccused of sellout, but consumers keep consuming, with teenagers especially susceptible to media influence.

The Twilight saga has won fans of all ages, including the fickle younger set, and teens by the truckload have run out to purchase anything that relates back to the book and film series. New Moon recently topped the box office, and Volvo revved up at the chance to have one of their products appear in the movie. They got their money's worth: their deal with Summit Entertainment ensured that head vampire Edward Cullen would drive the new XC60 crossover vehicle.Continue reading...

American Airlines co-stars in Up In The Air, George Clooney's new film about a high-powered consultant hell-bent on accumulating ten million frequent flyer miles, adapted from the Walter Kirn novel.

American Airlines is no stranger to films – it was integrated into Home Alone, and, more recently, the Sex And The City movie. But its presence in Up In The Air is so overpowering that the LA Times review complained that Clooney "shares lots of screen time with American Airlines."Continue reading...

Audiences are eagerly awaiting the release of the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road, opening November 25. And fans want adherence to the bleak, original Cormac McCarthy novel.

But not really.

Reports from early screenings are surfacing that scenes including "product placements" in the film, especially one with a can of Coca-Cola, are drawing groans. But as the film's director John Hilcoat explains, he was just being loyal to the source:

There’s some people who don’t know the book and have picked up on this in the film and say, Why did they go for such a blatant product placement?Continue reading...

Cisco is not yet in the top of the Brandcameo product placement leaderboard. But with recent efforts, it might be soon.

Cisco has appeared in 2009 blockbusters He's Just not That Into You, G.I. Joe and Transformers. The latter showing, product placement analytics firm Front Row estimated to be worth near $10 million. (Though accurate product placement valuation has long been questionable.) And earlier this year, Cisco's Webex technology could be seen in Marvel Comics titles.

But last night was Cisco's largest, most prominent, and maybe most successful Hollywood tie-in yet.Continue reading...

According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, the number of American households that own motorcycles jumped 26% between 2003 and 2008. This trend is global, evidenced in a recent Harley Owners Group (HOG) in Beirut. But no rider group is growing faster than women, which increased from about 9% of the total in 2003, to more than 12% in 2008. Hollywood has taken notice.

Harley-Davidson, well aware of the trend, has partnered with celebrities like star fitness trainer Jillian Michaels and singer-songwriter Jewel in a recent advertising spread in upscale glossy mag Vanity Fair. The move accents Harley's dedicated resources such as its Women Riders web presence.Continue reading...

We already know that Volvo is furthering its involvement with the Twilight franchise, with its "What Drives Edward" website. But one other auto brand is also benefitting by vamping it up in the series.

Jeep may not be the main character's ride, like the Volvo, but as heartthrob (and good vampire!) Emmett Cullen's hooptie, its roots go back to the original novel:

I stopped dead on the porch. There, behind my truck, was a monster Jeep. Its tires were higher than my waist. There were metal guards over the headlights and tail-lights, and four large spotlights attached to the crash bar. The hardtop was shiny red.Continue reading...

"But Daaaa-aadd! I wanted a Volvo XC60. It's safe, protective and foreign. Just like Edward Cullen!" 

Despite the unlikelihood of tween girls worldwide stomping their feet in demand, Volvo is cross-promoting their XC60 with the Twilight franchise. Volvo has several product placements throughout the Twilight films, most notably as the preferred vehicle for lead vampire Edward Cullen. 

According to Doug Speck, president and CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, the brand features heavily in character development and not just screen time, as “Volvo is central to Edward’s character in the Twilight saga."Continue reading...

Though the long-awaited Spike Jonze/Dave Eggers adaptation of Maurice Sendak's modern childhood classic, Where The Wild Things Are, narrowly topped the weekend's box office, reaction from kids and parents has been mixed, as CNN reports, with many parents finding it "joyless" and some young children in the ostensible target market bored.

And as brandchannel's Jim Thompson notes in this week's brandcameo report, the film is certainly a bust when it comes to product placement:

Considering that the majority of the film takes place in the forests and deserts of Max’s creative mind, few opportunities for product placements arise. The beginning of the movie, however, includes a scene where Mazzola is clearly noticeable on the kitchen table. Also, Lego products decorate Max’s bedroom and underscore his affinity for invention and playfulness. The most prominent brandcameo is by Max’s black Converse All-Star lowtop sneakers, which are seen in many scenes throughout the film.Continue reading...

As noted by our brandcameo product placement tracking team, the Twinkies brand was the recent beneficiary of a load of on-screen promotion in the film Zombieland.

While its brand may seem obvious and one-dimensional, Twinkies' complex character actually makes them a film favorite. They are, all at once, iconic Americana: nutritional garbage, proof of man's triumph over nature, and self-deprecatingly modest. From Die Hard's Sgt. Powell to Grease's Jan to Bill and Ted's Bill and Ted, a Twinkie-eating protagonist is a decent, fun person who doesn't take him- or herself too seriously.Continue reading...

Vince Vaughn knows Guitar Hero. And he should. His character, Dave, sells Guitar Heros for a living in the romantic comedy Couples Retreat. When the film’s plot escalates to an intense and hilarious jam session between Dave and his island nemesis, Stanley (Peter Serafinowicz), the stage is set for a Hollywood-size product placement. But Guitar Hero has many supporting cast members, as this week's brandcameo reports:

Food and beverage brands dominate this film as Budweiser, Bud Light, Pepsi, Starbucks, Froot Loops and Applebee’s receive screen time – whether verbal or visual – in the film. Tech brands Apple, PowerPoint and Guitar Hero have prominent brandcameos, as do apparel brands Under Armour and Polo. Club Med, Sandals, Volkswagen, Ford and Solistone tiles round out the brandcameo roundup.

Written by Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, Couples Retreat explores modern-day marriage at mid-life, and the storyline is framed by product placements that reveal youthful desires for Froot Loops and the adult reality that no one wants to end up old and alone at Applebees. None of these product placements, however, threatens the dominance of the reigning champion in our brandcameo listing of product placements in No. 1 films.

Visit our brandcameo page for next week’s debut films and brandchannel’s complete reference list of product placements in this and other top-grossing films.

Thanks to Woody Harrelson, star of last weekend's US top-grossing Zombieland, the world now knows vegan Twinkies. His new film's plot revolves around the spongy cakes, which he spends munching as he looks for the last Twinkie on earth. As Michelle Boisson reports:

While Twinkie, by far, receives the most prominent brandcameo in the film—being totally integrated in the plot—in reality, Harrelson couldn’t eat the Hostess brand. Being a raw vegan, he had to have special Twinkie-like cakes made for him.

Zombieland may be a dangerous place, but it's also a brand fiesta. Many products make appearances in the comedy-horror film, ranging from the AK-47 to Cadillac Escalade, and from Animal Crackers to Purell. (See the brandcameo page for brandchannel's complete reference list of product placements in this and other top-grossing films.)

One well-known social media site also shows up, though it most likely didn't pay for the mention. According to Jesse Eisenberg's character Columbus, the best thing about Zombieland is: “No more Facebook status updates.”

Sony/Columbia's animated Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs garnered $30.3 million this past weekend at the US box office, and joins our brandcameo listing of product placements in No. 1 films.

Flint Lockwood, the ambitious and quirky protagonist (voice by Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader), is determined to invent a machine that will change the world. So he develops the Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator, or FLDSMDFR for short, which turns water into food. However, when Flint’s invention skyrockets into the atmosphere, his little town of Swallow Falls begins to experience rain in the form of cheeseburgers, donuts, ice cream storms, spaghetti tornados and other foods on a daily basis.Continue reading...