When it comes to product placement, Super 8's very name, like Gran Torino or Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, is itself a product. In 1965, Eastman Kodak created the video format that would come to dominate amateur movies for a decade. Even though Kodachrome itself has been discontinued, Super 8 formatted film is still widely made, if not widely available. 

Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Super 8 is billed as a homage to Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment films of the 1980s. In plot, scope and feel, that's certainly the case. Even when it comes to product placement, Super 8 tips its hat to Spielberg's legacy.Continue reading...

When Saw 3D was released last year we noted what a wasteland horror films (typically) are when it comes to product placement. In fact, we couldn't find one single product in Saw 3D. Other than one good product placement joke, this week's number one film, The Rite, fits the horror profile.Continue reading...

No surprise that Tron: Legacy won the weekend, taking in $43.6 million in the U.S. The sequel that took nearly three decades to make is being heralded as a lot of things, although "good movie" doesn't seem to be one of them.

But Tron: Legacy is being recognized for one accomplishment. As one Twitter user summed it up: "Tron, the story of a Ducati rider struggling to find a CD by Daft Punk."

Yet, as much as Tron: Legacy showed off its Ducati, the film may be an even more effective ad for the iPad.Continue reading...

The lasting "legacy" in this week's upcoming release of Tron: Legacy may be its marketing tie-ins. Brandcameo has already looked at the Ducati, Apple, Coors and Motorola product placements onscreen. But offscreen, there is far more to Tron's marketing partnerships, thanks to a raft of licensing deals. Far, far more.Continue reading...

Yesterday we wondered, given the brewer's already rocky history with product placement, if Coors would see any backlash from its product placement in the upcoming PG-rated Disney film Tron: Legacy. To offer a little perspective, consider Coors' greatest ever role in a children's film. Check it out after the jump.Continue reading...

A New York Times Media Decoder blog post today is noteworthy for how it perfectly frames the primary misunderstanding of exactly what product placement is.

In the piece, which notes the appearance of a Coors can in Disney's upcoming film Tron: Legacy, (above) the Times notes, "Cynical moviegoers may think the screen time is a case of product placement, where marketers pay Hollywood to embed their wares into the action… But Coors did not in fact pay for its part in the film."

Curious why The New York Times is wrong, both about what product placement is — and why Coors should be fretting?Continue reading...

Jamaican artist Daddy Yankee is using his growing fan base to promote Coors Light to Hispanic consumers, while the beer brand will promote the reggaeton star’s new single Grito Mundial and album Daddy Yankee Mundial with private events for fans.

Daddy Yankee's new single and album are set to drop in early 2010, and Coors will hold six private events. Fans can enter a Coors-sponsored contest to attend one of the Light En Exclusiva events by texting a special number.

Hype for the event has spread to Hispanic radio stations, and and the contest is also advertised through in-store promos. The music promotions are part of a broader marketing effort by Coors Light to connect with a Hispanic audience.Continue reading...

When I saw the new Reebok campaign for its new line of athletic shoes, I immediately put on some Axe deodorant, had a can of Coors and went out to get a pair. Imagine my surprise then when I arrived at the store to find the brand's East Tone line is for... women. Specifically, women who want a better "booty."

The brand's microsite says "88% of men are speechless." And that certainly might be true of a campaign that seemingly uses tactics straight out of men's deodorant or beer ads: women in underwear ogled, sweeping perfume camera angles, headless female torsos.Continue reading...