How To Write Into the Script a Volkswagen Sitting in the Middle of the Oval Office? Or in the ER? With $200 Million At Stake, They’ll Find a Way!
Philip Stone January 16, 2005
If the television program or movie comes out of NBC Universal, or appears on NBC television, then expect within the year to find plenty of Volkswagens throughout the script. Indeed one can imagine scenes where on busy city streets everyone (except perhaps the bad guys) is driving a Volkswagen.
That’s just one part of an overall deal being finalized between NBC Universal and Volkswagen which gives the term “product placement” a whole new meaning. So with the popular West Wing television program which airs on NBC there’ll be a need to incorporate Volkswagens (but can you really have the American President driving in a non-US car?) And those doctors in ER, it will be interesting to see how many can afford a Phaeton, or whether they stay with a Golf or a New Beetle.
 The NBC-Volkswagen deal is said to be worth some $200 million to NBC-Universal over three to five years, not bad money for really not doing anything.
Product placement has long been a major source of movie financing. It is no accident when a Coke or Pepsi can stays in camera view for a while, or there are a few seconds of a plane with the brand clearly showing taking off or landing, not to mention the cars, make-up, booze, etc.
But the NBC Universal-Volkswagen deal takes product placement to a new level. Volkswagens will feature in theme parks, television and movies, will even be used to transport stars to movie opening gala, and ads will appear in DVDs of Universal films, and they are still thinking of additional promotions, including the Internet.
“Product placement and the movie industry are a growing factor in car promotion,”  said Bernd Pischetsrieder, CEO of Volkswagen.
That has long been understood by Ford. It was no accident, for instance, that in the “24” television program most of the automobiles were various Ford cars. Product placement is becoming important enough that Ford is opening an office in Beverly Hills this month to encourage similar marketing deals. Volkswagen will be one step ahead, however, actually having an office at Universal Studios.
One question the advertising community will want to see answered quickly is how much new money Volkswagen is bringing to the deal and how much it sidetracks from its annual traditional media spend. Volkswagen is thought to have spent around $500 million in US traditional advertising in 2004.
It’s not just movies that have benefited from product placements. Companies have found novel ways of targeting the consumer. Ford in the UK paid an author to mention one of its cars in two books. And Heinz, in a bid to push its peculiarly British tinned baked beans product, made a charitable contribution for Jamie Oliver, a popular British TV chef featured in Jamie’s Kitchen, to place a (terribly overpriced) baked beans dish on the menu of his popular new restaurant.
By the way, if you would like to have your product placed on followthemedia.com…
ftm Follow Up & Comments
Two years ago with a huge amount of hype from both sides NBC Universal and Volkswagen signed a three-year product placement deal. Originally it was said the deal would be worth some $200 million but by the time the ink was dry it was more like $40 million.
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