Writing a Thesis on Product Placement?

Independently owned since 1972

Automakers love to get their cars on screen so they can bask in the limelight

Mark Maynard / San Diego Union Tribune

If a picture is worth a thousand words is it anywonder that auto manufacturers like to have their vehicles co-star in movies?

A new Pontiac Grand Am nearly jumped off the screen before it got ground into scrap metal by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in an 8-minute "Lethal Weapon 4" chase scene.

GMC also got some good exposure in that movie with a black extended-cab 1999 Sierra pickup as Mel's personal vehicle. It was one of the few new Sierras anyone had seen then because the GM strike had slowed delivery of trucks.

Getting cars placed in movies has become a business, which got started with the action shows of the late '70s and '80s. "Smokey and the Bandit" -- with Burt Reynolds flying low along the back roads of the Deep South in a Pontiac TransAm -- may have been the shot heard 'round Detroit.

"When `Smokey and the Bandit' first came out people were very aware of the car and went to dealers and bought a lot of them (Firebirds)," says Eric E. Dahlquist Sr. president of Vista Group, an L.A.-based product exposure management company. "Did it move the (sales) needle a lot? It's hard to say, but it caused some positive response."

GM vehicles dominated TV in the late '70s and '80s because it had an agency to handle the work, Dahlquist says, but now just about every Fortune 500 company is involved -- from airplanes and helicopters to phones and golf clubs.

There are about five major companies that place vehicles in movies, Dahlquist says.

Vista Group has been in it since 1976 and started at the request of General Motors, largely to protect the company's image.

"We know the marketing strategy and brand image of the vehicles," Dahlquist says, "and we try to follow those guidelines as to where those vehicles are placed and in what kind of environment. We stay away from any movie in which the vehicle would be used in an unfavorable situation, unless there was a really good reason why. Most manufacturers have the same policy."

Showcasing a new car in a movie is cheaper than advertising, and it may get better results. Dahlquist says a study by Brigham Young University claims that the retention by the audience is probably higher than anyone expected, especially when compared with traditional advertising.

Another benefit from cars on the screen is that if Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are driving that Grand Am it is exactly the kind of positive spin that motivates a person to go to a dealer and say, I want the car I saw in "Lethal Weapon." It's a kind of star rub-off, Dahlquist says.

A GMC Sierra has been featured in all four "Lethal Weapon" films, and more would have been used in the latest sequel if they had been available.

It's a good fit for Pontiac and GMC because the vehicle is put to the test and comes up like a champ, says Pontiac spokesman Rick Asher.

"The advertising focuses around the vehicle's solid design, and the chase scenes reinforce the sound, solid structure. This is just another conduit to get our message out to the car-buying public," Asher says. "We will continue to look for movie placements that make sense for our vehicles."

In "Lethal Weapon 4" there was one Grand Am "beauty car" (that wouldn't be wrecked) and five preproduction cars, that were unsalable and destined for the crusher.

The movie company braced the cars with NASCAR-like cages to protect the stunt driver. Some of the 8-minute chase scene was done on a Las Vegas-area highway that had to be blocked off for about a week. The footage where a Grand Am flies from a freeway into an office building was taken in Los Angeles.

The vehicles used in the stunts are now more desirable for promotional use than the beauty car, Dahlquist says. Warner Bros. shipped one vehicle to Australia and another to Europe to be used in "Lethal" promotions. And Pontiac sent one and a video display to the lobby of GM's headquarters in New York.

The long run

Dahlquist encourages clients to look at the long-distance effect of placing a car. Movies such as "Lethal Weapon 4" or "The Client" (which showcases an older Mercedes-Benz E-Class convertible) are home-runs.

To luck out with a major home-run movie is an art, Dahlquist says. "How many stories did you read that `Titanic' would be too long, too expensive, too this or too that," he says. "You just never know."

Even with a promising script and actors, however, the vision doesn't always fit the reality.

One such film was last year's "The Saint," which featured Val Kilmer and the new Volvo C70 coupe. The car was good, but the movie was not a box-office hit.

The tie-in seemed tailor-made. The movie was a remake of "The Saint" television show of the '60s, starring Roger Moore and a P1800 2-door Volvo coupe.

It just so happened the movie was in production at the same time Volvo was getting ready to debut its coupe, so Volvo gave Paramount Studios a call.

"We said that the old Saint drove a Volvo and the new Saint should drive a Volvo," says Jim Borsh, Volvo's head of corporate communications.

"They were not overly enthusiastic because their opinion of a Volvo is a 240 D (4-cylinder diesel). We then sent them photographs and clay models of the C70 coupe. When they saw those they said, `Yes, we think that can work.' "

"The Saint" was kind of a one-time proposition for Volvo, Borsh says, not something the company aggressively pursues. "We have an agency that handles placement for us, and we look for opportunities that closely fit the psychographic profile of our cars."

Just as safety is a corporate philosophy, it also is a qualifier for placement of Volvo's cars. "We will agree to have them in a scene that the car is damaged, but where no one is recklessly hurt," Borsh says.

Shaken, not stirred

BMW made history and headlines when it slipped past Aston Martin and put Agent 007 in a German sports car in "Golden Eye," then trumped that success for the next Bond film with three Beemers in "Tomorrow Never Dies."

"If you take a look at what we did in `Tomorrow Never Dies' and the film that preceded it, `Golden Eye,' they lead the automotive pack for product placement," says Lucy Flinn, BMW's corporate communications manager, who signs off on all vehicles used in films and television.

" `Golden Eye' was the first time that a car was introduced in a movie, and ever since then everyone has been trying to play catch-up with us," she says.

The as-yet-unreleased Z3 roadster was on the screen only moments, but it presold the car for most of its first year on the market.

In "Tomorrow Never Dies," Bond tools around in an armor-sealed 12-cylinder techno-gimmick 750iL sedan, Z3 roadster and the R 1200 Cruiser motorcycle. "We call it, `James Bond Couldn't Pick Just One, he's added more to his garage,' " Flinn says with a laugh.

In "Armageddon," Ben Affleck drives an M roadster. "It doesn't play as strong a role as in the Bond film, but it's a nice placement," Flinn says.

Will Smith drives a 740i in "Enemy of the State." And yes, there are rumors that a BMW will be featured in the next Bond film, due out in the fourth quarter of 1999. (That timing could be about right for the BMW Z07, a V-8 powered roadster.)

The success of BMW's movie placements quickly registered at the dealer level. Consumers stopped in and called "wanting the car that was in the Bond movie." Flinn even got a call from a father buying a birthday present for his 21-year-old daughter who saw Donna on "Melrose Place" driving a Z3.

Flinn is picky when it comes to permitting a BMW to appear in a movie: Only the good guys get to drive a BMW. There is a whole list of other qualifiers, which Flinn declines to elaborate on, but he does say one of the considerations is the personality traits of the characters.

"Lots of times we say no," she says, "because we don't want the bad guy driving the BMW. Then the movie company will go out and buy a car or rent one, but we do our best to control it."

CAR SHOWS

Here are a few films and TV shows with specially placed vehicles.

"Rush Hour" with Jackie Chan. Look for a Suburban and Mercedes-Benz S600

"Practical Magic" with Nicole Kidman. A GMC Yukon

"Town and Country" with Warren Beatty. A Mercedes E320 wagon

"Enemy of the State" with Will Smith. A GMC Yukon Denali; BMW 740; Mercedes C230, S500 and SLK230

TELEVISION

"X Files" features the Oldsmobile Intrigue and Cutlass and Suburbans

"Ally McBeal," an S600 driven by Richard Fish