Brand Placement in James Bond Movie

The purpose of this report is to come up with an effective brand placement of Louis Vuitton in the latest movie of James Bond, which is due to release on October of 2019. The planned strategy is to make James Bond himself endorse a suit of Louis Vuitton, with a subtle Louis Vuitton pun in the movie to further cement the brand placement.

Running head: BRAND PLACEMENT IN JAMES BOND MOVIE
BRAND PLACEMENT IN JAMES BOND MOVIE
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Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to come up with an effective brand placement of Louis
Vuitton in the latest movie of James Bond, which is due to release on October of 2019. The
planned strategy is to make James Bond himself endorse a suit of Louis Vuitton, with a subtle
Louis Vuitton pun in the movie to further cement the brand placement. The report concludes
by recommending that product packaging, sales promotion and cross advertising are the
strategies that need to be adopted for the fruitful placement of the brand in the film.

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Table of Contents
Background................................................................................................................................3
Brief analysis of external environment......................................................................................3
Mutual Benefits..........................................................................................................................5
Placement strategy.....................................................................................................................7

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Background
Louis Vuitton is currently the most expensive clothing brand in the world (Kennedy
2018). It has surpassed the value of 28 billion in late 2018 (Dahlberg 2016). The brand is
widely considered to be a luxury brand primarily because of the quality which the brand
provides in their materials, and also because of the price at which they sell their garments,
which speaks of a person’s status who wears them (Manlow 2016). James Bond on the other
hand is a film franchise under the production banner of Eon Productions. They are set to
release a new James Bond film in 2019. The purpose of this report is to justifiably find a fit
for the brand to be placed in that movie, taking in considerations like brand positioning and
the theme of the movie franchise itself.
James Bond is a movie franchise based on a character named James Bond, who has a
high class and status in the society. He is a former Naval Reserve Commander, working for
the SIS, also known as the MI6 (Strong 2018). The character has a class and taste that is
portrayed as bigger than life in the movie franchise, and therefore, choosing the brand to
place in the movie would be perfect fit and would make sense, due to the common
characteristics of both the entities of being classy. Further analysis of the brand placement in
the movie will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
Brief analysis of external environment
The brand placement in a movie franchise like James Bond will be expensive to say
the least. It will not be easy to get the attention of the viewers in a franchise like James Bond
without paying a hefty amount for it (Marchand, Hennig-Thurau and Best 2015). A normal
covert advertisement might not even be able to catch the attention of the viewers, and might
be a waste of money. However, there is a significant amount of motivation to go ahead with
the idea of the brand placement.

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Firstly, James Bond is one of the most popular movie franchises in the world. Over
the course of every Bond film ever released, the franchise has been able to gather a stunning
13.8 billion dollars, with Skyfall being the biggest contributor (Dodds and Funnell 2018).
The Bond 25 movie which is due to release in October of 2019, has already created a lot of
hype in the entertainment community. From rumours about the title of the movie to the
speculations of the next Bond Girl, the upcoming movie has been in a lot of buzz in the news
lately (Sky News 2019). This is indicative of the fact that the movie will be garnering a lot of
popularity leading up to its release and will thereby build a platform for effective brand
placement. The popularity and viewership of the film would be directly proportional to the
number of people getting to view the covert advertisement in the film.
Secondly, the film is set to release internationally. This means that the brand
placement will not only reach out to the audience in USA, but also in UK, Singapore,
Australia, India and many more. This means that the brand will be recognized worldwide.
Also, areas which are not familiar with the brand, will be able to get to know the brand
through brand placement, reinstating the brand awareness of Louis Vuitton.
Reinstating brand awareness, calls for the enhancement of brand image for the
effective completion of a marketing strategy (Shabbir, Khan and Khan 2017). The main
motivation behind this is the fact that the movie James Bond has a humungous fan base
across the world, and is known to have an exclusive brand image of its own. Such a franchise
endorsing the brand would not only improve the credibility of the brand, but also the brand
image. This is critical for customer retention for the brand in the long run, since an enhanced
brand image not only attracts new customers, but also ensures that existing customers stay
loyal to the brand. This would be very much beneficial to the revenue generation for the
brand in the coming years. This is not the only way in which the brand image could be
enhanced by the brand placement. If the placement is done in a way which looks integral to

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the plot of the movie, or is endorsed by one of the most important characters in the movie, or
just simply appears during an integral time of the movie, it can bring upon a huge impression
on the brand value of Louis Vuitton, and subsequently on the brand image enhancement.
Mutual Benefits
It is no mystery that Louis Vuitton itself is a luxury brand which does not need any
introduction in the market. The brand has positioned itself as a class which very few can
afford, which is indicative of the brand’s status and quality, both of which is endorsed by the
person who wears the products of the brand (Anido Freire and Loussaïef 2018). To be very
specific, the brand has endorsed the words “stylish” and “elegant” in most of its recent
promotions, alongside promoting the class and quality which it provides to its customers
(Kapferer and Valette-Florence 2016). The focus of style and elegance gives the perfect fit
for the brand to be placed in the upcoming bond movie. This is because the main character, or
in fact most of the characters present in the bond film are portrayed as stylish, classy and
elegant, especially the character of James Bond himself. In fact, elegance is a trait that James
Bond has been boasting about himself in a lot of the Bond movies.
Secondly, Louis Vuitton has been officially recognized as the most valued clothing
brand in the world, surpassing other luxurious clothing brands like Prada and even Armani.
Therefore, it would only value the franchise if they endorse the most expensive brand over
other brands, considering the class and elegance which the film portrays in its characters. One
may also ask the question that why does the franchise need to endorse a brand anyway?
Firstly, it would earn the brand more revenue and thereby increase their budget for the film,
especially when a brand like Louis Vuitton makes an expensive brand placement deal with
them. Secondly, making one of the main characters endorse a luxury brand would only

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increase the value of the franchise. This is because it creates a perception in the minds of the
audiences that the film franchise has an enhanced taste in class and quality.
This takes the discussion of the report into its next phase, regarding how the brand
placement will be actually done. The plan is to make visual and aural visual representation of
the brand in a classy manner. That is to say, the brand will be placed in a way that is integral
to the class of the film franchise or the characters of the film. The proposed strategy is to
make the main character of the film, which is James Bond endorse a suit of Louis Vuitton.
This can be achieved by making him wear a suit of the brand, which would start from
choosing the Louis Vuitton suit from the closet, to wearing it to an exclusively lavish party.
The aural representation is the main challenge to overcome.
A visual representation might not be judged too much by the audience. They could
just be appreciative of the brand placement if it is done according to the planned and
proposed manner, without spending more time on screen than required to catch the
recognition of the audience. However, making characters speak about the brand can be
judged and the franchise could be heavily judged of being a sell-out (Göbel 2017). Thus, it is
important to make sure that the placement is done through a pun. A Louis Vuitton pun is very
much appreciated as long as it does not derogate the brand name by even a margin. If this can
be accomplished, the audience would be appreciative of the satire related to the brand and not
get annoyed at the advertisement in the middle of the film (Evans and Park 2015). This would
not only be beneficial to the brand, but also the franchise as the pun would comply with the
humorous and intellectual character which James Bond is known to have.
However, it must be noted that the brand placement must not be integral to the plot of
the film. Not only would that be highly expensive to accomplish, but would also be the talk in

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the media about how the franchise has highly commercialized the entertainment factor in the
latest film. Therefore, it is in the interest of both the parties.
Placement strategy
The placement strategies of the brand are as follows:
Cross Advertisement: It is never easy to convince a franchise like James Bond to agree on
brand placement in their film at a cheaper price. This is one of the reasons why cross
advertising the film is necessary. Louis Vuitton stores should be promoting the film through
banners and hangers. TV ads should also mention the film at the end of the commercials, as
being their official costume partner. This is a way to create the hype.
Furthermore, it would also be reducing the prices of the brand placement, since the
promotion is mutual. An even more effective way to accomplish that is by promoting the film
through product packaging. This would incur the minimum costs to the brand, and would also
effectively promote the film, which could be a viable proposition to the franchise for cutting
down the charges of the product placement.
A collaboration between two of the industrial giants is always set to create a talk for
some time in the entertainment community. This is also going to ensure that the audiences
anticipate the brand in the movie and the placement does not simply go unnoticed, especially
when it is going to take place for a very limited amount of time.
Social media marketing: Social media is a great platform for brand engagement. The
interactive nature of the platform gives brand an opportunity like no other to get into
interactions with the customers, and even ask for their feedbacks. Casual polls and questions
would be a very effective way to ensure that a majority of the consumer base gets to know
about the tie-up between Louis Vuitton and the latest James Bond movie.

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Sales Promotion: another strategy to be applied is sales promotion. It would not be a bad idea
to offer free movie tickets of the new James Bond movie, on a purchase of $50. Not only
would it be helpful for the sales generation of the brand, but would also help promote the
movie, which could be another proposition for a discount for the brand placement.
Competency: Advertisements and promotions of the James Bond film should be done in such
a way that it states the class of both the brands. Very understandably, derogating other brands
directly or indirectly would be a silly and despicable thing to do for a luxury brand like Louis
Vuitton. However, what could be done is to design commercials in way which puts the
character of James Bond and his elegance and class in the prime focus, and explains why
only Louis Vuitton can be match for the class that high. This would finally cement the
placement of the brand in the film.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that Louis Vuitton is a perfect fit for
the James Bond franchise in terms of the luxury and class. The report summarizes that the
placement of the brand in the film is of mutual benefit to both of the parties, in the sense that
value compliments value, and also because of the positioning of the brand. The placement
strategy involves meticulous placement, which is subtle and not integral to the film’s plot,
possibly incorporating humour as the element to carry the placement in the film.

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References
Anido Freire, N. and Loussaïef, L., 2018. When Advertising Highlights the Binomial Identity
Values of Luxury and CSR Principles: The Examples of Louis Vuitton and Hermès.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 25(4), pp.565-582.
Dahlberg, L., 2016. All Aboard the Louis Vuitton Train!. Pólemos, 10(1), pp.179-195.
Dodds, K. and Funnell, L., 2018. From Casino Royale to Spectre: Daniel Craig's James Bond.
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Evans, N.J. and Park, D., 2015. Rethinking the persuasion knowledge model: Schematic
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