Transforming Product Placement

By July 16， Paramount’s Trans- formers： Age of Extinction had earned 1.82 billion yuan （US$290 million） in only 20 days of release on China’s mainland， surpassing the box office numbers from all the previous Transformers movies. Nevertheless， Chinese media reported more about its product placement than box office performance， plot or special effects. Even a Chinese snack that is hardly-known outside the country called Zhou Hei Ya （Zhou’s Black Duck） scored a major appearance. Some joked that the film transformed product placement to China， and that it exclaims “Chinese ads， transform and roll out” rather than “Autobots， transform and roll out！”

Actually， it wasn’t even the first appearance of Chinese product placement in the Transformers franchise. In 2009， Metersbonwe， a Chinese clothing brand， made a showing in Transformers： Revenge of the Fallen， inspiring envy in competing brands. Eye-catching logos of both Metersbonwe and TCL， a home electronics brand， could be seen on main villain of Transformers： Dark of the Moon， and an Asian face even spoke the words， “It’s shuhua milk （a Chinese brand）” with the carton in his hand. ThinkPadEdge， Lenovo’s latest computer offering， transformed into a small robot in the movie， helping boost its sales by 30 percent the month the film was in theaters.

This explains why Paramount was shocked by Chinese enterprises’ passion during placement bidding for Transformers： Age of Extinction： More than a dozen famous Chinese enterprises， mostly from sectors of IT， cars and consumer products， made bids. Some of their ideas were rejected by Paramount. Zhou’s Black Duck， for example， hoped to be depicted feeding transformers their duck necks， but the production team insisted that robots don’t eat. However， the products still made a cameo in a refrigerator.

Product placement has seldom been a problem for Michael Bay， who began as an ad director. He is of the opinion that nobody cares much about it as long as the movie is entertaining. Most big-budget superhero films such as Batman， Spider-man， and Iron Man rely on heavy product placement to help offset their massive costs. The vehicles used in Transformers： Age of Extinction， for instance， cost a total of US$20 million. Chinese ads each contributed at least a million dollars.

Chinese enterprises collaborated with Paramount in two main ways： product placement and copyrights. For product placement， sponsors would rather pay by the second like they do on TV， which doesn’t work in movies because the rhythm is too quick to allow a long pause on their logo.

What about the “flash” of the logo of Zhou’s Black Duck？ Did they get what they paid for？ In fact， product placement is only one piece of the agreement. They actually made a cross-promotional deal. Long before the movie was released， Black Duck had already started advertising with a scene from Transformers： Age of Extinction， drawing extra attention from the media.

During the three-month cross-promotion， Black Duck enjoyed the privilege of packing its product with Transformers images on the label and creating an ad with visual materials provided by Paramount. For a hardly-known Chinese brand， it’s a promotional dream come true， but any such deal requires permission from Paramount.

There are ways to appease even for those left out due to exclusive agreements. For instance， General Motors’ exclusivity on transforming cars made it impossible for GAC Group to see its Trumpchi transform， but the car still appears on the street in the movie. And the company was happy to stand at the premiere in China as an official Paramount partner.

Lawsuits also helped Chinese advertisers draw great attention.

A scene of Transformers was shot at Wulong Karst Nature Reserve in China. Financial Times reported on July 8 that Chongqing Wulong Karst Tourism Association， which administers the area， is suing Paramount， alleging that the sequence could confuse the audience due to the absence of the nature reserve’s logo. Paramount also faced legal action from Pangu Plaza， a hotel in Beijing， which claimed that a product placement deal for which it had paid had not been honored. Paramount rushed them a yellow replica of Bumblebee， a star of the films， and smoothed things over.

Any controversy surrounding glaringly obvious product placement has not hindered the film’s performance in China， and the Chinese sponsors won far-ranging attention both domestically and internationally – a win-win result. Chinese brands are seeking greater exposure from Hollywood even as other global brands keep pushing the rates up. Heineken places its beer in 40 movies and TV shows a year， making the audience take for granted that everyone seems to drink Heineken all the time. And they all use Apple computers. Both brands have become default in Hollywood. Meanwhile， extensive product placement can work wonders for a film’s budget.

Despite being sated with Chinese ads， Transformers： Age of Extinction still broke box office records in North America with US$100 million in its opening week. The movie pulled out all the stops for Chinese spectators yet still attracted North Americans. Only time will tell how much further this trend will go.