The Zero Halliburton luggage company placed one of its briefcases in the film “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and it is even pictured in the movie’s poster. The briefcase that Ben Stiller holds in the “Mitty” movie and poster is a branded model from the luggage manufacturer.
The PG-rated “Mitty” movie was underwhelming at the box office for 20th Century Fox with $55 million domestically and $161 million worldwide. But still that Ben Stiller poster is everywhere!
According to a Zero Halliburton source, product placement outfit UPP Entertainment Marketing that works for the luggage company gave some brief cases free to the property master for the “Mitty” movie, and the brief case eventually ended up in the film and poster. There is no formal promotional tie-in but a Manhattan retailer of Zero Halliburton has luggage piled up around a movie poster in a window display.
The Zero Halliburton briefcase insertion qualifies as a “story-point product placement” because actor Stiller is seen handling it.
As the third edition of the book “Marketing to Moviegoers” states: “For consumer-goods marketers that cajole filmmakers to include their branded products in films, the Holy Grail is getting a story-point placement. Here, the product is not just seen, but it is handled by actors, is integral to the story, or is referred to in dialogue. Consumer research indicates that brand recall for products in the background is about 25 percent but shoots to greater than 50 percent for story-point placements.”
Meanwhile, Burbank, CA-based UPP is an established marketing services outfit whose clients include the American Heart Association, Gatorade, Nintendo, Pop Tarts and shipper UPS.
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