Harrison Ford Goes Chrysler

“Very generally, product placement involves placing a product in highly visible situations. The most common form is movie and television placements.” – Wickipedia

Harrison Ford has gone Chrysler. Probably unintentional at first, but his latest movie, Firewall, is a poster child for product placement. I hope he got a free Chrysler 300 out of the deal.

I don’t mind product placement. Today, to cut through that infamous clutter, companies are going to have to be as innovative as they can get. For car companies, that means distancing themselves from commercials that simply show the car, the car, and, just in case you missed it, the car. According to Joseph Jaffe in the book “Life After the 30-Second Spot”, “Marketers have long held that by beating their prospects over the head with the same mundane message, consumers will eventually submit or succumb” (Page 13). I’m not sure about you, but I can’t tell the difference between a Ford and a Chevy commercial, and Lexus and BMW ads are so over-the-top elegant it’s ridiculous.

The problem with product placement is the difficulty in measuring its effectiveness. Right now, the movie Firewall has only pulled in $13.8 million in its first weekend (http://www.imdb.com/chart/). Not exactly a blockbuster. Not only does this hurt those who had a hand in making the movie, it’s hurting Chrysler too. Their product is only shown through indirect impressions in Harrison Ford’s car choice in the movie. But as Dave Rooney, director of Chrysler brand marketing said, "we're not trying to make a two-hour commercial, but rather cast our products in an entertaining environment."

Harrison Ford speeding away from bank robbers is certainly more entertaining than 360s of a generic model. Particularly for Chrysler’s target market. But the question that I’m sure I’ll spend a lot of time trying to answer is: did it work?

For more info:
Chrysler's Firewall Page
Firewall Movie Site
Detroit Free Press Article