By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – The partnership between the cinema and corporate marketing has been a long-standing one, predominantly in children's or sci-fi films. Now 007 wants to cash in with adult audiences. It's working. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
The billboards along North Texas expressways can tell the story. Long before the new James Bond movie "Die Another Day" opened this past weekend, there was that cute 20-foot tall Pierce Bronson face selling me watches and vodka. Actually I didn't think twice about until I read that Harry Potter lost its top box-office spot to "Die Another Day." The new Bond flick not only came in first in its debut weekend, but made it the best debut for the 007 legacy.
Sure, you could thank Pierce and Halle Berry for their promotional jaunting around the world, but corporate marketing, as bold and yet subtle as it might be, played a mammoth part in the profitability.
Here's part of the breakdown. In the new film Bond only drinks Finlandia Vodka. He also snubs the BMW for a classier (?) Aston Martin. Ford Motor Company, owner of the Aston Martin brand, paid $35 million for the honors. And if you like the coral-colored Ford Thunderbird Jinx (Berry) is driving around, it's yours for a mere $43,000. It's the first-ever vehicle to actually have a "007" logo on its dash. But hurry, there are only 700 of these for sale.
If that special man on your list has been nudging you for a watch, how about Omega's limited edition James Bond Seamaster? For a little over $2000, he could be one of the 10,007 lucky owners. For the rest of us cheapies, Swatch has a new collection of twenty Bond watches. See, there are twenty Bond films. And there's no "7" in the amount being produced.
And Revlon is adding a limited edition 007 Color Collection. And if I thought I could look like Halle Berry by using it, I'd buy a lifetime supply. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.