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  1. 'Quantum' Product Placement Reportedly Reaches 50 Million Pounds Mark

    By Devin Zydel on 2008-10-27

    As earlier reported on CommanderBond.net, numerous high-profile companies throughout the world were aligning themselves as marketing partners to the 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace.

    'Quantum of Solace'

    Quantum of Solace

    Several of these include: Aston Martin, Ocean Sky Aviation, Ford Motors, Heineken beer, Smirnoff vodka, Omega watches, Virgin Atlantic, Coca-Cola, Sony Ericsson cell phones and other Sony electronics.

    According to the Scotsman, Quantum of Solace has already managed to earn an astonishing £50 million from these product placement deals.

    This number surpasses the previous Bond record of £44 million held by 2002’s Die Another Day (or ‘Buy Another Day’ as coined by one harsh critic of the 20 products promoted throughout the film).

    In comparison, Daniel Craig’s first 007 entry, 2006’s Casino Royale, cut down the number of promotional tie-ins to under 10 and managed to haul in £36 million from these marketing deals.

    Lucy Barrett, editor of Marketing magazine, called some of the deals in Quantum of Solace ‘undignified’.

    Olga Kurylenko is Camille

    Olga Kurylenko will drive a Ford Ka in Quantum of Solace

    She explained: ‘As part of Ford’s deal, in Casino Royale, our action hero had to drive a Ford Mondeo. This time around, Ford is using Quantum of Solace and a Bond girl to launch the updated Ka. It is aimed predominately at women, a largely untapped market for the Bond brand.’

    Commenting on the Avon ‘Bond Girl 007’ tie-in, which features Gemma Arterton, Barrett said: ‘It’s not the smoothest or cleverest of tie-ups, but we should expect more women-targeted brands to get on board.’

    As explained by Ocean Sky owner Kurosh Tehranchian, the chance to appear in a Bond film is definitely worth jumping on: ‘It was a major investment for us financially and in terms of plane usage but it is something we feel will be very worthwhile in terms of the exposure it gives us.’

    He continued: ‘The James Bond brand is unique. It is known worldwide, yet it is completely non-controversial: everyone likes it. It was something we felt we wanted to be associated with.’

    Andy Payne, global creative director of Interbrand, agreed, saying: ‘Companies will fight for the rights to be a partner in a James Bond film and they’ll pay considerable amounts of money to get the contract,’ he said. ‘Bond is cool and has kudos and that status rubs off on the products that he is seen to endorse.’

    ‘For a company like Ocean Sky this could be a very good move because even though they have given up the use of five of their jets for a week, they will view the money they will have lost as a good investment in terms of the amount of global brand identification they will achieve and the worldwide audience they will reach.’

    Keep your browsers pointed to the CommanderBond.net main page for the most up-to-date and complete coverage of Quantum of Solace.