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How product placements may soon be added to classic films

  By Jonty Bloom
  Business reporter

  Published
         14 hours ago

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  Steve McQueen image copyrightGetty Images
  image captionThe late Steve McQueen, who gave a memorable performance
  in the movie The Great Escape, has gone on to advertise a great many
  things posthumously, since his death in 1980

  Product placement is big business for movies and TV series alike, and
  items can now be added digitally to films and programmes both new and
  old.

  Fans of classic war flicks will know the scene - actor Steve McQueen
  revs his motorcycle furiously as he is chased by German soldiers.

  Hoping to use the bike to jump over a barbed wire border fence, and
  reach safety in Switzerland, he pauses to gather his thoughts by a
  barn.

  On the side of the building is a big poster advertising a best-selling
  beer.

  You don't remember the billboard advert? Well it might not have been
  there the last time you watched The Great Escape, but it could well be
  the next.

  Product placement in films is almost as old as the movie industry
  itself. The first example of the phenomenon is said to be the 1919
  Buster Keaton comedy The Garage, which featured the logos of petrol
  firms and motor oil companies.

  Fast-forward to 2019, and the total global product placement industry,
  across films, TV shows and music videos, was said to be worth $20.6bn
  (£15bn) that year, [61]according to a report by data analysis firm PQ
  Media. It is highly lucrative to get a show's leading actor to wear a
  certain item of clothing, or drink a particular coffee, or drive a
  specific car.

  But while previously the product had to actually, physically be there
  when the shots were filmed, the advertising industry is now turning to
  technology that can seamlessly insert computer-generated images.
  A scene from a TV show from Chinese streaming service Tencent Video
  image copyrightMirriad
  image captionSpot the difference between these two stills from a
  Chinese TV show. In the above there is no advert in the top left corner
  A scene from a TV show from Chinese streaming service Tencent Video
  image copyrightMirriad
  image captionBut in this version of the scene, an advert from Coca-Cola
  has been added digitally

  So items can be digitally added to almost any movie or TV show. For
  example, advertisers could put new labels on the champagne bottles in
  Rick's Cafe in Casablanca, add different background neon advertising
  signs to Ocean's 11, or get Charlie Chaplin to promote a fizzy drink.

  And then a few weeks, months or years later the added products can be
  easily switched to different brands.

  One of the firms that has developed the ability to do this is UK
  advertising business Mirriad. Its technology is now being used by a
  Chinese video streaming website, and the makers of hit US TV show
  Modern Family have also tried it out.

  Mirriad's chief executive Stephan Beringer expects such digital product
  placement to become widespread. His firm came up with the process after
  previously making movie special effects.

  "We started out working in movies," he says. "Our chief scientist
  Philip McLauchlan, with his team, came up with the technology that won
  an Academy Award for the film Black Swan.

  "The technology can 'read' an image, it understands the depth, the
  motion, the fabric, anything. So you can introduce new images that
  basically the human eye does not realise has been done after the fact,
  after the production."
  Stephan Beringer image copyrightMirriad
  image captionStephan Beringer's firm has developed the technology from
  its previous work making movie special effects

  The technological development comes at a time when product placement is
  ever more important for advertisers, rising 15% in value globally in
  2019, according to the PQ Media report. After all, most of us are
  increasingly streaming films and TV shows via services such as Netflix
  and Amazon Prime, which do not have advertisement breaks.

  But this high-tech product placement isn't limited to films and TV
  programmes. The music industry, hit by Covid-19 making touring
  impossible, and still recovering from the loss of CD sales, is keen to
  get in on the act.

  James Sandom is the managing director of UK-based Red Light Management,
  which represents musicians and bands including Kaiser Chiefs and Franz
  Ferdinand.

  He believes that many musicians will leap at the chance to add digital
  product placement to their music videos both new and old. "The
  opportunity to carve open a new revenue stream is rare, and the ability
  to retrospectively use existing content and build new content with it
  in mind is exciting," he says.

  So older musical groups could make new money from videos that might be
  decades old. And current artists who proudly sport the latest trainers,
  phones or bags, could have them changed a year later to the newest
  designs, without them having to actually put them on, or re-record a
  video.

  Mexican singer Giovanny Ayala is one of the first artists to use
  Mirriad's technology, which has enabled him to sign a deal with Mexican
  brewer Tecate, to have its bottles and logo appear in his music videos.
  A scene from a Giovanny Ayala music video image copyrightMirriad
  image captionIn this video for Mexican singer Giovanny Ayala cans of
  beer were added digitally

  Mr Beringer says that the next leap forward will be the ability to
  digitally add product banners to live sports or concert broadcasts "in
  real time, or milliseconds after".

  "There is huge demand for that," he says. "So a penalty or VAR decision
  in football could see a new advert pop up behind the referee."

  Roy Taylor, the chief executive of Californian-based business Ryff,
  says his firm is taking digital product insertion one stage further.

  It has developed the technology whereby the product placement is
  targeted at individuals, and changes depending on who is watching.

  So if you like wine then the hero of a film could be drinking a
  particular bottle that you might be tempted to try. Or if you are
  teetotal the star might be sipping on a bottle of branded water.
  Presentational grey line
  New Tech Economy

  [62]New Tech Economy is a series exploring how technological innovation
  is set to shape the new emerging economic landscape.
  Presentational grey line

  Ryff can do this if you are watching a film on a laptop, smartphone or
  smart TV, by tracking what you previously bought or looked at online.
  It works in the same way that online adverts pop up on websites based
  on your past purchasing or viewing history.

  "The technology is an attractive bridge between the demand for
  high-quality content free from intrusive advertising, and alternative
  sources of content provider revenue," says Mr Taylor.

  Cleopatra Veloutsou, professor of brand management at the Adam Smith
  Business School at Glasgow University, says these technological
  developments come as movie and TV advertising firms are trying to catch
  up with their online peers. "They have lost a lot of income, they are
  trying to find creative ways to catch up," she says.

  However, associating your product with a particular film, TV programme
  or musical artist comes with risk, says Tamsin McLaren, a lecturer in
  marketing at the University of Bath's School of Management. "Things can
  go awry if there is a scandal or PR backlash," she says.
  Tamsin McLaren image copyrightTamsin McLaren
  image captionTamsin McLaren says that all forms of product placement
  come with risk

  And film critic Anne Billson cautions that digital product placement
  raises both legal questions and those of artistic integrity.

  "I would be interested in finding out about the legal angle vis-à-vis
  digital reworking of a copyrighted work, or whether the advertisers
  would have to buy the film before they tampered with it," she says.

  "It also calls into question the role of the production designer, who
  has put a lot of thought into the look of something, only for some
  random advertiser to come along at a later date and spoil it with
  changes or additions that might be anachronistic, or that might not
  mesh with their other carefully considered design choices."

  So to return to Steve McQueen, the so-called "king of cool". While his
  image is still used to advertise everything from watches to cars,
  clothes and whisky, retrofitting product placements into his movies
  would be a step too far for some.

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