– 31st Jan 2017 –
As well as reigning supreme at the box office, La La Land has been setting records during award season. Having recently broken the Golden Globe record for the most wins in the events 74 year history, La La Land is on course to have the same success at the BAFTAs, where it has been nominated for an unprecedented 11 awards and at the Oscars, where it has just received an incredible 14 nominations.
While the film’s continued success with critics and at the box office – it already has made over $175m eclipsing its $30M budget – will further elevate the already stratospheric careers of the film’s stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, the other winners will be the brands that star alongside the films tap dancing duo.
Audiences will no doubt spot Veuve Clicquot at a pool party, the Roli Seaboard on stage with Sebastian (Gosling) and the Stella Artois being drunk in a bar, but the award for most prominent product placement, surely must go to Toyota and their Prius.
As well as scenes of the film’s star Mia (Stone) being stuck in LA traffic behind the wheel of her Prius, one of the most memorable and talked about moments in the film is when she & Sebastian are trying to her parked car after a Hollywood party. When asked by the valet what car she drives, Mia’s response of a Prius is met with a wry smile and a panning shot of a line of parked cars that are almost all Priuses, reinforcing the stereotype of the eco conscious Californian.
But Prius isn’t the only car manufacturer to appear in the movie, with Volvo’s bright blue V60 making a cameo in one of the film’s climatic scenes (unfortunately to reveal any more about the placement would be a spoiler!)
Image Source: Summit Entertainment / Dale Robinette
“La La Land proves that product placement can be just as effective in the more artistic and non-traditional movies as well as big action movies like Bond.” comments Darryl Collis, Director of Seesaw Media, an agency specialising in product placing premium brands in high profile feature films with both critical and commercial success for over 15 years.
Darryl goes on to highlight “To have secured exposure for a client in a film that generates a lot of buzz around award season is an added bonus, as the additional press and publicity the film generates outside the conventional film reviews, also means additional exposure for clients.”
While Prius decided not to capitalise on their exposure, Volvo were more than happy to do so. Volvo sponsored the film’s LA Premiere, which saw leading stars arriving in the XC90 and having photos taken in front of a Volvo logo board, images which travelled globally.
Most noticeably La La Land’s enduring popularity and style has also had been a hit with followers of fashion, keen to emulate Mia’s look; with data site Edited noting that sales of yellow dresses similar to hers has increased by more than 44%.
So what’s next year’s La La Land? The film that will take the audience and critics by storm? Darryl says, “You can never predict what’s going to be a hit, but we are working on two films in particular for clients, that we think will make the headlines at next year’s award season.”