Product placement has allowed companies to place their products in different forms of entertainment, such as films and TV shows, so that their products can be promoted to a wider audience than before. A brand that has been very successful in utilizing product placement to promote its products is the German automobile manufacturer Audi, as they are consistently placing their products in successful TV shows and films.
The brand Audi, which is owned by the Volkswagen Group, is known as a luxury brand that “conveys an image of quality, performance and authenticity, but also attempts to sell an experience by relating it to the lifestyle constructs of consumers.
” (Atwal and Williams, 2009) According to the Audi UK website, the prices on their cars range from £18,460 for the Audi A1 to £115,890 for the Audi R8. (Audi UK, 2020) When it comes to marketing, a company must be able to keep up with the times by being able to adapt. Audi, a brand that was founded in 1909, has not only been able to keep up with the times by adapting, but they are still one of the top 50 brands in the world, as they currently sit at #41.
(The World’s Most Valuable Brands, 2020) Audi uses several forms of advertising for their products, such as TV commercials, billboard advertisements, and product placements.
When it comes to Audi, their product placement can be seen in several films and TV shows that help promote its connotation of luxury. The main advantage of Audi’s product placement in films and TV shows is that they tend to be associated with characters that represent luxury and/or wealth.
The best example of this can be seen in Audi’s partnership with Marvel Studios. Their partnership began with the film Iron Man (2008), in which the protagonist Tony Stark, who is a wealthy superhero with exceptional intelligence, rides around in an Audi R8 throughout the film. (The Cars of Tony Stark, 2019) By being connected to a character such as Tony Stark, whilst also being involved with the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” which has grossed over 22 billion dollars and makes it the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, Audi has been able to stay relevant amongst all crowds and all ages. (Box Office History – The Numbers, 2020) According to Audi’s Product Placement International division, working with Marvel has been a “win-win-situation” as the Marvel films allow Audi to “present brand values and models to a large global audience in an authentic, elegant and more decent way.” (Sylt, 2019) Being able to reach to such a wide audience has helped propel Audi in terms of sales and reputation worldwide. David Branch, the general manager of an Audi dealership in New Jersey, explains that Audi’s product placement in Marvel movies has been “an effective brand builder” and that “there’s great residual showroom traffic” for the next 2 or 3 months after the films are shown in cinemas. (Bond Jr., 2016) Over the years of their partnership with Marvel, there has been more superheroes driving Audi-branded vehicles throughout the films. Product placement, such as an Audi being shown in the Marvel films, can influence a viewer’s implicit self-identification. Implicit self-identification refers to a person “automatically associating themselves with an object” (Zimmerman, 2013) When viewers see their favourite characters associated with a certain product, they might start using that product so that they can identify with that character. Audi has done an amazing job of associating themselves with characters throughout various forms of media, with Tony Stark being their most-known character. Audi has also featured their products in other film franchises, such as the Fast and Furious franchise, Mission Impossible franchise, and Fifty Shades trilogy. (Evans, 2019) Not only does Audi have its products on the silver screen, but they also make sure to include their products on the small screen as well. By having product placements in both films and TV, Audi can widen their audience even more than before and market their products to the consumers who might not attend cinemas but watch TV. Even though Audi places their products on different forms of media, they consistently have “luxurious” characters using their products.
A major disadvantage of Audi’s product placement has to do with the automobile industry itself. Audi, like most other automobile brands, release new models of their vehicles every single year. Films and TV shows take months, if not years, to be fully produced, promoted, and released to the audience. Even though Audi usually has their newest models on display in the films and TV shows that they are featured in, it can quickly become dated as the newer model eventually gets released as time goes on. As films and TV shows get older, the products featured in those forms of entertainment become more and more dated due to how fast the industry moves. Another disadvantage when it comes to product placement in films and TV shows is that the brands are placing faith in the filmmakers to create a film that will promote their brand positively, or at least in a way in which the brand will get an increase in consumers over time. If a movie ends up being considered a “failure”, it can also bring down the value of the brands that were included in the film. Audi typically does a great job of including their cars in films and TV shows that perform well, but they have also ended up placing their products on projects that didn’t perform so well. An example of this being an Audi R8 that was included in the movie The Intruder (2019), but the film ended up having mixed reviews and currently has a score of 33% on the American film rating website Rotten Tomatoes. (The Intruder, 2019) Being involved with film franchises such as the Mission Impossible series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe ends up costing millions of dollars for Audi, as not only does Audi provide the cars for the films which can reach up to millions of dollars, but they also help promote the films worldwide. (Graser, 2007) For the film Iron-Man 3 (2013), Audi spent over 10 million dollars on “TV, print, online and other media to promote the film worldwide.” (Graser, 2013) For the film Avengers: Endgame (2019), the character Tony Stark rode in a prototype electric Audi e-Tron GT that was worth over 4 million dollars. (Gill, 2019) Having a product in a blockbuster film can be very costly, and Audi finds themselves placing their products in various blockbuster films, as well as TV shows. Considering the fact that it’s practically impossible to put a number on the amount of money spent by consumers due to product placements, Audi spending millions every year on product placement can be seen as a massive expense for an uncertain outcome.
Product placement has been an integral part of Audi’s communication strategy, as it has allowed Audi to partner with some of the biggest film franchises in the world, while also working with several, successful TV shows. Audi has always portrayed its brand as a luxurious brand, no matter where the product has been placed in a film or TV show. Audi’s partnership with Marvel has propelled them to new heights as it allowed them to reach wider audiences, especially considering the fact that Audis are known as Tony Stark’s main automobile, who is considered one of the most loved superheroes in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even though Audi has had tons of success with their product placement, they have also faced various issues, such as the products being shown in the movies becoming dated over time or having their products featured in projects that didn’t perform very well. Product placement can be seen as a complicated matter, but Audi has been doing it right for the most part.
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