Tom Cruise wears Oakley-branded sport eyewear prominently in death-defying stunts in “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” putting the EssilorLuxottica label in the spotlight.
Cruise is seen close-up hanging on to a flying prop airplane (image above) while wearing clear wrap-around Oakley sport glasses, and the image is in marketing materials as well as the movie itself.
Getting a star to directly associate is high-quality “story-point product placement.” But this eyewear tie-in with the movie is modest, probably because the Oakley sport eyewear is a prototype. No big advertising spending as with automobile, fragrance and other movie production placements.
“The eyewear blends ultra-light materials, impact resistance, and clarity-enhancing optics – Oakley ECLPS025,” says a company press release, which also quotes Nicolas Garfias, Oakley design vice president.
Oakley now offers the movie-seen eyewear, which is getting attention in specialty retail channels where the “Mission: Impossible” product sells for around $50. News clips indicate Oakley has placed its eyewear in earlier “Mission: Impossible” movies, but the company did not elaborate.
While sport eyewear in the movie are a prototype, an article in HypeBeast says that “the finished product was operational and provided a custom fit to Cruise’s face, as well as a ‘Zero Gravity’ expression that offered the actor an expanded field of view, allowing for enhanced situational awareness.”
“Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning” is the PG-13 thriller from Paramount Pictures that is a blockbuster passing $150 million domestic theatrical boxoffice after 17 days in cinemas. It surged past $450 million in worldwide boxoffice.
EssilorLuxottica is the giant Franco-Italian eyewear conglomerate whose other brands include Ray-Ban and Crizal; and also store chains LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut. Its Oakley brand is based in Southern California.
“For consumer-goods marketers that cajole filmmakers to include their branded products in films, the Holy Grail is getting a story-point product placement,” says the third edition of “Marketing to Moviegoers” academic/business book. With Cruise wearing, the sport eyewear is a story-point achievement.
“Here, the product is not just seen, but is handled by actors, is integral to the story, or is referred to in dialog,” the book “Marketing to Moviegoers” continues. “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.”
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