Dec 06

Seesaw Celebrates 16 Years of Product Placement

– 6th December 2017 –

In celebration of Seesaw’s 16th birthday, we have put together this infographic to highlight sixteen years of Seesaw Product Placement firsts that we are really proud of.

Having been fortunate enough to represent many of the world’s most famous, premium and luxury lifestyle brands from automotive to travel, fashion to spirits, we have secured over 400 placements since our launch in 2001. Since our inaugural year, we have gone on to secure  exposure in Oscar and BAFTA award winning films as well as Golden Globe and EMMY award winning television productions and music videos by award winning artists. As we have grown so have our services, now encompassing high-profile celebrity influencer programs, music video placements, movie premieres and licencing as well as tour and television sponsorship.

In our 16 years, we have had the opportunity to work with cinema’s most famous characters, including super heroes, super villains, demon barbers, F1 drivers, rock-stars, chocolate factory owners, Gotham’s finest, Metropolis’s menace, an Iron Man, the Iron Lady, Hogwart’s most famous student and Britain’s most famous spy, to name a few.

We’ve had success on the small screen too, with our first placement in the BAFTA awarding winning series The Apprentice, since then our clients have appeared in award-winning high profile dramas and box sets including House, Sherlock, Wallander and The Night Manager.

We are looking forward to the next 16 years and all the firsts they have in store for clients old and new. So If you’d like your company to be a part of our story and the biggest stories in film and television, why not start with a first of your own and send us an email to [email protected] or call +44 208 343 2022.

Oct 30 Blog

Paranormal Product Placement

With Halloween fast approaching, the streets will once again be lined with the paranormal: zombies, vampires, ghosts and more in search of tricks and treats. So, in honour of this now global tradition we shine a light on the films and TV shows that celebrate this holiday and, most importantly, the brands that take a starring role through product placement.

There once was a time where companies were scared of being connected to horror films, yet a rise in this genre’s popularity (especially amongst the hard to reach 15-25 male demographic) has led to a rise in the number of brands using product placement to appeal to that audience. Ever since the Scream and Twilight franchises, the latter of which went to gross over $1 billion, brands have been waking up to the appeal of these films and have not been frightened off by the sometime gruesome content

Most recently with Get Out and Alien: Covenant’s opening weekends drawing in $33million, and over $36million respectively, the genre and the appetite for horror films has gone from strength to strength; culminating in this year’s fright fest by the ultimate master of horror, Stephen King with It (2017) becoming the highest grossing horror film of all time having netted over $600 million globally.

In Get Out, the break out hit which saw a return of $253.1million off just a $4.5million budget, it wasn’t just the Producers who cashed in on the film’s success. Microsoft has a starring role in the film with the Microsoft Lumia 950 phone, the Surface tablet and Bing search engine, all appearing prominently on screen.

Not only do the characters use a Microsoft tablet, but they used Bing – a Microsoft search Engine. This may be the most unrealistic bit of product placment considering that when it comes to search engines Google is the go-to resource used by over 77.43% of people online. Apart from Bring, the tech placement in the film is subtle, giving Microsoft products an organic presence in the film.

Microsoft aren’t the only tech brand to benefit from on screen exposure with the Canon EOS 7D making a cameo, with imagery that look like they could be an advertisement.

Furthermore, our heroes car, a Lincoln MKC, is given screen time front and centre coinciding with it 2017 launch.

Product placement in Alien: Covenant was literally out of this world. A successful science-fiction franchise, directed by Ridley Scott, was the perfect platform for brands to showcase their longevity. From the glossy, black Steinway piano played by Michael Fassbender’s character at the start of the movie  to the AI-driven Audi Lunar Quattro, brands were more than happy to showcase their latest and greatest products in this terrifying movie.

The AI-driven Audi Lunar Quattro in particular demonstrates Audi’s advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence. “The ‘Alien’ franchise is the best way for us to garner suitable attention for the Moon rover developed by Audi, and to showcase Audi’s intelligent technologies in a visionary environment,” said Giovanni Perosino, vice president of international marketing communication at Audi.

Slightly less luxurious but just as impressive, JCB also features prominently in the film, with a fleet of over 20 gold wrapped construction vehicles appearing on screen.

 

It’s not just the big screen that is seeing a resurgence in the paranormal horror genre, with product placement in paranormal TV shows also on the rise. In reference to a previous tweetPolaroid sales have increased thanks to Stranger Things. With retro products such as Polaroid cameras featuring in the series, it is a fascinating comeback for a brand that was at its height of popularity over 30 years ago. Martin Franklin, the brand’s head of global marketing, has called it the “Stranger Things Effect”. He says “people are enamoured by that 1970s and 1980s aesthetic.”

They also feature Pentax cameras, and go as far as to put them on a poster tease for the new season.

Depending on what you’re doing for Halloween: watching a scary movie, maybe dressing up as Edward or Bella Cullen in Belstaff, the appeal of horror movies to brands is going to last way past the halloweek. So the next time you are in front of the big or small screen, check out how many products you recognise in the that horror-film, it might be more than you think!

High Profile Actresses Deliver Empowering Brand Partnerships

tomb Raider Alicia Vikander Lara Croft

– 27th Sept 2017 –

2016 was a record breaking year for female-led films, with The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film reporting that women fronted 29% of the top 100 grossing films of the year, resulting in a 7% increase on 2015 results.

With a slow but steady rise in female-led films, it’s no surprise that brands have been quick to capitalise on opportunities to associate with strong and empowered characters through product placement and relevant brand partnerships. We take a look at some of the successes – and fails – of these recent partnerships and propose that the time is now for more female-focused brands to capitalise on the success and popularity of films with strong female role models.

Notable female-fronted films of recent years included Amy Adams in ‘Arrival’, Felicity Jones in ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’, Mila Kunis in Bad Moms’ and the ensemble of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones in Ghostbusters’;  a clear sign that Hollywood is addressing the gender bias that has plagued the industry for decades.

Rogue One Poster and Gillette Partnership

CREDIT: DISNEY

However, despite the dominance of Jones’ character in Rogue One’, with her character taking central stage of the promotional posters, the brand partners of the film were typically male/family-skewing. With promotional campaigns from brands such as Gilette, Nissan and Verizon failing to capitalise on the film appealing to a wider female audience.

Ghostbusters stillCREDIT: SONY PICTURES

Similarly the Ghostbusters’ UK promotional run included gender neutral brand partnerships for National Tyres and Autocare, Sony Mobile, O2 Priority and Karcher, none of which used the strong female characters to their advantage. In fact there was very little in the way of women appearing in the campaigns, with brands seemingly to prefer playing on the popularity of the iconic and long-standing franchise than its appeal to a new female generation.

Ghostbusters Karcher Partnership
CREDIT: KARCHER

2017 continues the revolution of female leads taking over the typically male-skewing film genres with Gal Gadot picking up Wonder Woman’s lasso and sword and smashing the 2017 box office. The film took a massive $800 million during the summer, becoming the third highest-grossing film in Warner Brothers history. As a result, the film’s director, Patty Jenkins is soon to become the highest-paid female director in history following confirmation that she will direct the sequel.

Wonder Woman Patty Jenkins
CREDIT: WARNER BROS PICTURES

Whilst ‘Wonder Woman’ cemented tie-ins with brands such as Dr Pepper, Lego, Nascar and a Walgreens Cosmetics line, the film generated some negative press when it was revealed that one of the film’s partners was a female lifestyle brand called thinkThin, offering protein bars, nutritional supplements etc. Naturally this caused a backlash on social media as many were outraged that the film would promote the idea that being thin is synonymous with being a healthy, strong and intelligent woman.

In stark contrast to this, the film’s promotional campaign also coincided with International Women’s day, where the film’s stars Gal Gadot and Chris Pine used the day as a platform to contribute to the pro-feminist conversation and solidify the film as leading the way for the industry to encourage more female focus and leadership. Despite his celebrity draw, Chris Pine was notably absent from the films promotional posters as the studio played to the film’s strength and made the decision to put Gadot’s character front and center of all marketing efforts.

Wonder Woman posters

CREDIT: WARNER BROS PICTURES

It’s not only the comic-book genre that female leads are starting to take over. This year’s Atomic Blonde’ pulled the punches in this Cold War action thriller, billed as a ‘female John Wick’ and actually went on to gross more at the box office than the Keanu Reeves original. Russian Vodka brand Stolichnaya became a natural brand partner with the film’s bold and edgy tone, fitting perfectly with the brand’s current positioning. The product placement of the brand included two verbal mentions by Theron’s character, with the bottle appearing eight times throughout the film.

The campaign included an Atomic Blonde/Stoli Pandora station which generated over 31K listeners and the campaign’s display ads totalled more than 23.4 million impression,s while pre-roll videos garnered over 9 million views.


CREDIT: STOLI VODKA

2018 is set to continue the trend of female led feature films. Fans of the 2001 crime thriller Ocean’s 11′ starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt are eagerly awaiting the all-female remake titled Ocean’s 8′ with a high profile cast including Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna and many more.

All we can say about the film so far is that Debbie Ocean, played by Sandra Bullock will attempt to ‘pull off the heist of the century at New York’s star-studded annual Met Gala’ – perhaps providing a golden opportunity for luxury fashion brands given the setting. There’s still a while to wait and see which brands will partner up with the project as the film hits theatres on 8th June 2018.

Oceans 8 still

CREDIT: WARNER BROS PICTURES

Also in the works is the upcoming remake of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ currently titled ‘Nasty Women’ led by Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson. The original starred Steve Martin and Michael Caine and saw two con men try to settle their rivalry by betting on who can swindle a young American heiress out of $50k first. ‘Nasty Women’ sees the gender reversed version of the 1988 comedy where the two characters will engage in a loser-leaves-town contest.

Nasty Women Rebel Wilson Instagram

CREDIT: REBEL WILSON INSTAGRAM

Another project that will feature a strong and powerful woman is ‘Red Sparrow’, with Jennifer Lawrence teaming up with her ‘Hunger Games’ Director to portray a Russian spy seductress. Starring alongside are Joel Edgerton, Ciaran Hinds, Charlotte Rampling and Mary-Louise Parker.

With the first shots of Alicia Vikander in action as everyone’s favourite ‘Tomb Raider’,  Lara Croft in the films recently released trailer, is yet just another example that goes  to prove how much Hollywood sees the benefit of these female focused movies.

 

With the film industries support and the number of strong female role models on screen, there has never been better opportunity for brands, whether gender specific or not, to reach the core female audience.

From on screen integrations and product placement to smart and targeted promotional brand partnerships, more companies are seeing the benefits of choosing to associate with these mega franchises and push forward the message of gender equality in a typically male-dominated industry.

Top 5 2017 Summer music video hits with Product Placement!

JBL Product Placement-Demi Lovato 'Sorry Not Sorry'

The notion of product placement in music videos is pretty commonplace these days, from Justin Bieber to Lady Gaga, brands and artists understand how mutually beneficial the relationship can be. Let’s take a look at a highlight of the top placements right now in the charts;

Pia Mia ft. Jeremih

Brands Spotted: Jeep and Casio

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Pia cruising in a Jeep. Back in 2015, we saw a Jeep Wrangler in her Touch Video. Later in this video Casio G-Shock make an appearance on Pia’s wrist. This isn’t the first time Jeep have teamed with up artists. In 2015, the brand partnered with Brooklyn based band X-Ambassadors and built a campaign around the track ‘Renegade’, which coincidently was the same name as the new model they were launching.

Demi Lovato

Brands Spotted: Jaguar, JBL Audio and Lyft App

Demi Lovato’s latest, “Sorry Not Sorry,” is the highpoint of product placement as the video works its way through endorsements for Jaguar cars, JBL headphones and speakers; ending in a super prominent endorsement for the Lyft app.

Fifth Harmony

Brands Spotted: Dodge Durango

It’s been about seven months since the ladies of Fifth Harmony went down to four when Camila Cabello announced she was leaving the group. Their highly anticipated new single ‘Down’ featured a black Dodge Durango AWD Citadel. Maybe we can look forward to seeing the Dodge Durango as the newest member of the band.

DNCE

Brands Spotted: PepsiThree Olives

The video featured Three Olives in multiple scenes with added activity across DNCE’s social platforms, promoting the partnership.

Hailee Steinfeld

Brands Spotted: Mission

Mission fitness clothing has tapped Hailee Steinfeld to help promote its new VaporActive apparel line. The 20-year-old singer and actress will appear in Mission’s ad campaign and serve as a brand ambassador for the collection. She wore the VaporActive sports bra, compression shorts and HydroActive Max Cooling towel in her new music video.

 

The number of product placements in music videos has been increasing in recent years, and the trend is likely to continue in the future. As traditional record sales and royalty profits have declined, Artists increasingly look to brand integration partnerships to find new sources of income. Brands are happy to invest as the platform delivers reach to an ever growing audience looking for short form shareable content

With numerous music opportunities for brands to get involved with, Seesaw Media are busier than ever working closely with the major music labels both in the UK & the US to activate partnerships for clients.

Product Placement Gets Back to Reality

Love Island and Reality TV - Product Placement

In recent weeks a reality TV phenomena has swept across the British nation as it seems UK audiences can’t get enough of ITV2’s latest reality output ‘Love Island’. Viewers up and down the country have become obsessed with the series, with BBC News commenting on the show and even UK opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn backing Marcel to win.

With a reported 4.5 million tweets sent about the show, 2.5m sent during the episodes and a record 13.3million viewers so far, brands too are drawn to the show looking to capitalise on every opportunity from product placement to licensing.

Ministry of Sound is a recent example of an organic product placement, hosting a ‘Ministry of Sound Summer Party’ in the Love Island villa just as two new faces arrived. Featuring a branded pool party, with a mix of branded floats, album signage, pillows, sunglasses, balloons as well as verbal mentions by the cast members, the audience were in no doubt of the placement. One day after the episode aired, Ministry of Sound’s new album ‘Marbella Collection 2017’ hit number 1 in both the Dance and Official Albums Chart, showcasing the power of Product Placement within TV.

 

 

Another product that has appeared on the show and has become immensely popular, is the Love Island water bottle. Contestants in the house have personalised bottles which they carry throughout the series. ITV are monetising the placement by making the products available to purchase through their official Love Island app whereby they can also use the app to vote.

The shows producers have also negotiated licensing deals with most prominently Primark producing Love Island clothing and merchandise featuring the contestants many catchphrases.

Love Island Primark Tshirts
Love Island Primark Tshirts

When the contestants leave the series is when they truly benefit as loved-up couple Dom and Jess have proved. These ex-Love Island contestants, have been inundated with offers to promote brands on their Instagram pages since their departure to a combined 1.6million followers. Brands including AX Paris, Boohoo Man, Nutri Buddy, Sony Playstation’s Destiny video game all see the benefit of tying in with the shows new personalities.

The Love Island phenomenon wont be limited just to the UK as ITV are set to make millions from selling the Love Island format worldwide. ITV are hoping to emulate the success of Big Brother, which started in Holland and resulted in the format being replicated in more than 40 countries around the world.

Big Brother has also been a popular platform for product placement, with brands including Morrisons, Maximuscle, Very.co.uk, Microsoft, L’Oreal and Weetabix  choosing the series to promote commercial partnerships.

Big Brother Product Placement - Maximuscle and Weetabix
Big Brother Product Placement – Maximuscle and Weetabix

Film Distributor Lionsgate partnered with Big Brother to raise awareness and generate buzz of the film ‘Nerve’. To integrate the placement, a ‘Nerve Centre’ was created in the house with viewers asked to tweet dares for the housemates. Verbal mentions were included when housemates were asked if they ‘had the Nerve’ before each task and advertisements for the film created to top and tail the ad breaks also promoted a Nerve competition for viewers.

Big Brother Product Placement - Nerve
Big Brother Product Placement – Nerve

Probably the most famous of all reality stars, the Kardashians, have been entertaining viewers and promoting brands since 2007. From the clothes they wear to the restaurants they dine in, with a global audience on offer, brands find placing in the show very appealing. The Lumee phone case is a great example of placement where the case is used by several members of the Kardashian family not just as a phone case, but showing the functionality of the product as it lights up for better selfie images.

The Kardashians Product Placement - Lumee
The Kardashians Product Placement – Lumee

Extending to social placements, The Kardashians reportedly charge as much as $300,000 per placement, with brands including Fit Tea, Lyfe Tea, Lilly Lashes, Hype Energy and many more all benefitting from the Queens of Instagram promoting their products.

Kardashians Product Placement - Fit Tea
Kardashians Product Placement – Fit Tea

It’s clear that as the appetite of reality TV grows more and more brands are realising the benefits of being placed in or associated with this latest television sensation, especially when it comes to targeting the hard to reach millennials.