Product Placement Watch: 'The Tourist' Travels In Style
Posted by Abe Sauer on December 7, 2010 12:00 PM
The trailers and clips for The Tourist depict a Euro-thriller high on style and low on commercialization. But like the twisted, all-is-not-what-it-seems plot of the film itself, The Tourist is engaged in some heavyweight, high-end, surreptitious onscreen selling.
Starting from the bottom up, Salvatore Ferragamo did a deal to shod Jolie's character, Elise, in exclusive shoe designs.
Ferragamo's classic stiletto pump, now dubbed the Elise, has been reissued as a limited edition now in boutiques around the world. The brand's Tourist deal also ties into its DIY Red Carpet project.
Luxury jewelry brand Asprey can be spotted adorning the hands and ears Jolie: its Regent clutch in gold, and Mayfair clutch in black crocodile, are found in her character's hands, while Asprey earrings dangle from her lobes.
Former Asprey CEO Robert Procop, who now runs Robert Procop Exceptional Jewels, wraps Jolie's neck with a showstopper of vintage diamond choker and yellow sapphire earrings, which you can glimpse in the trailer.
Procop and Jolie, by the way, are collaborating on an exclusive line of "statement pieces" that will be sold privately and benefit Jolie's charity, the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict.
That Charles James grey dress hugging Jolie's hips? Don't waste Santa's time by adding it to your Amazon wishlist — it's an original.
British sunglasses designer Tom Davies, meanwhile, shields Jolie's peepers from all the intrigue.
Not to leave Depp out, leather goods brand Bric has supplied the aging heartthrob's stylishly disheveled Tourist character with its Tuscan leather Life Leather Clipper bag.
Then there is, of course, Italy itself. For the second time this year, a major Hollywood film, with the most A-list of A-list stars, takes an Italian vista as its backdrop. Earlier in the year we looked at how George Clooney's The American was practically a tourist board video for the Italian countryside. The Tourist will no doubt inspire tourism to Venice, where much of the intrigue takes place.
In terms of product placement, think about The Tourist in terms of magazine advertising hierarchy; where Iron Man 2 is basically a Maxim "best of" shopping listicle, The Tourist is Ocean Drive.
In both cases, nearly everything's a brand placement, but with the latter you pay extra for the discreet luxury of it not looking so… common.
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