Latest movie has more Audis than Ingolstadt. Steve Moody explains the dynamics behind this mass exposure
TONY STARK IS back driving an Audi R8 for the latest and third Iron Man film, having driven an Acura NSX in last year's Avengers Assemble movie. But it's no whimsical choice because he fancied a change: it's a decision based on a calculation of brand value-fit and the promise of tens of milions of dollars of marketing spend. This trade-off didn't cut it for Avengers Assemble, because Audi felt the film's car scenes 'weren't suited to the brand,'says an insider.
The official line from Audi, and the film's producers Walt Disney and Marvel, is that the electric powered R8 e-tron and Iron Man's suit are a good fit thanks to their 'progressive technology' (ahem). While Audi has pulled sales of the R8 e-tron, it's using the platform to promote next year's A3 e-tron launch to millions; cinemagoers have spent $1.2 billion (£770m) watching the first two Iron Man films in which Audi was also involved. That's a pretty large audience at which to advertise its new tech sub-brand.
Audi will spend more than $10 million on advertising Iron Man 3 and its cars across the world this summer, having supplied an R8 e-tron for Robert Downey Jr's character, an S7 for Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts and A8L,S5 and Q5s for other character and scenes. Even the baddies get A6s.
The result is Audi got to be on-set to advise director Shane Black on how best to show its cars. In Iron Man 3, last shot shows Tony Stark in the R8. In initial takes, Stark's face was in close-up; after a gentle reminder Black pulled back the camera to ensure to e-tron badge on the frame. Audi can even suggest changes to how scenes play out if it thinks its cars will be shown at the wrong angle or in a bad light.
While Audi is booking ad spots at great cost about Tony Stark's commute to work, it says it didn't have to pay a fee to be in the film. Not a cent. The cost are in supplying the cars and making sure everyone knows they were involved. Movie producers like having a car company save them the time and money of sourcing and buying vehicles, but strict agreements are drawn up about how the film will be marketed, and what Audi will spend on it. One of the keys to this deal was the popularity of the film franchise in China, ad execs reckon.
Despite the huge costs involved, Audi is surprisingly relaxed about the placements. There aren't agreements about the amount of on-screen time, as there might be in advertising, and even competitor brands might pop up in the background. The very distant background, mind.
An Audi insider said:'We don't insist that every car in every scene is an Audi.We think some brands overdid it in the past, like Ford with the James Bond franchise. It still has to look right, so there's no point having a town in mid-west America full of A4s and A6s'. Though after Iron Man 3, there might be a few more Audis in Illinois.
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