[3/9] Volkswagen Banks On Product Placement

[iskra]

 

【 Volkswagen Banks On Product Placement 】

 [LEAD-IN]

1. Volkswagen was the top sponsor at last weeks Berlin Film Festival. Its cars also stole the limelight as the German automaker flaunted its agreement with NBC-Universal to show its cars in films. This is the same tactic that helped launch BMW's New Mini in the United States thanks to its starring role in the remake of "The Italian Job". But does product placement always have desired effect? Chris Burns finds out.


[Story]

2. What better way to try to put glamour in a car? Sponsoring the Berlin Film Festival, Volkswagen limousines whisked screen idols to the red carpet. Like so many products hitching rides in James Bond films, VW has also signed with NBC Universal for that not so subliminal kind of advertising - product placement.


[Dirk Grosse-Leege, Volkswagen]

3. "It's THE way of communication of the future, the way I see it."

Dirk Grosse-Leege is a spokesman for VW.

"You need to emotionalize your product more to differentiate between different brands. And there is no better media where you can emotionalize your product than putting it in popular movies."


4. Like Nokia phones in "the Matrix"; Apple computers in "You've Got Mail"; Apples, Bang & Olufsens, and Audis in "About A Boy". The list is endless. And the price tag, an industrial secret. But analysts and product placement agents say it's major bucks.


5. VW's latest product placement deal is tip of the multi-billion dollar iceberg the company spent every year to 1. ________  ______ _________in the silver screen. But just how effective is this kind of advertising? Is it really worth the money?


6. Federal Express won't talk revenue but says company recognition rose as much as 10% world wide after Tom Hanks played the stranded FedEx guy in Castaway. Like many companies, its payment to the film was 2. ___  _______ - as logistical help.


7. But critics and viewers say load a film with too many products as in Steven Spielberg's "Terminal" and it could be terminal.


[Hans Hitzeroth, Singer]

"If I get a better movie for that, it's okay for me. But I'm not sure if it makes the movies better."


8. Watch for even more product placements. The US Federal Trade Commission just refused to regulate it on TV. But vendors 3. __________ the movie-goer. He or she may be wiser than you think. Chris Burns, CNN, Berlin.