Auto brand Ford, along with movies 'Sex and the City' and 'Iron Man' were among the award winners for product placement in number one films during the past year according to brand tracker Brandchannel.
The fourth annual brandcameo Product Placement Awards were based on an online survey of 900 readers of the Brandchannel.com web site and the company's product placement tracker brandcameo. Ford won for "Overall Product Placement." Sex and the City won in the "Film Whore" award category. Ironman won for "Best Off-Screen Support."
"For 2007, we tracked more brands per number one film than in each of the previous five years," said Brandchannel editor Jim Thompson.
Advertisers have a significant stake in advertising in film. In 2007, more than 1.4 billion movie fans bought tickets in North America, according to Media by Numbers LLC.
Ford won its prize because its cars showed up in 57.7 percent of number one films from 2007 to 2008, according to brandcameo. The brand appeared in 30 of 52 number one films in the U.S. box office from Jan 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008.
The high percentage of appearances may be inadvertent as many Ford automobiles appear as taxis in inconsequential shots, according to Brandchannel writer Abram Sauer. However the company's sporty Ford Mustang car made appearances in Transformers and I am Legend, two recent box office winners.
Sex and the City, which features highly fashion conscious female characters, won the "Film Whore Award" for the movie that most "sold out" for product placement. The characters' desire for the latest styles made the film an easy showcase for many trendy accessories and brands.
The "Most Mouthwatering" award went to luxury brand Louis Vuitton which appeared in Sex and the City. The award rates the product placement most likely to prompt an immediate purchase. The runner-up in this category was the Harley Davidson brand, which showed up when Shia LaBoeuf rode a Harley motorcycle in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
Another winner linked to Sex and the City, this time in the "Best Fit" category went to Monolo Blahnik, whose high fashion shoes appeared in the movie. A whopping 90 percent of all female respondents voted for "Manolo" in the survey. Runner up in this category was Audi, whose sports car appeared in Iron Man as the vehicle of choice for the billionaire arms dealer character Tony Stark played by Robert Downey.
Iron Man won the "Best-Off Screen Support" award, for appearances or mentions of brands away from the movie screen. The Audi R8 sports car was not only featured in the film, but was also prominent as the car used by Downey Jr. when arriving at premieres for the film. The actor also publicly showed off his 18K gold-plated LG cell phone.
