The Hollywood tradition of product placement will soar to a new level when Steven Spielberg-produced action film Transformers is unleashed on US cinema-goers today.
Based on the successful line of toys launched during the 1980s which spawned a popular cartoon series and several comic books, the new movie version of Transformers has become one of the most talked about films in years.
But while film buffs marvel at the spectacular computer-generated pyrotechnics, US automaker General Motors (GM) is hoping that big box-office will translate into big car sales.
Four GM models have prominent roles in the film, which sees them "transform" from cars into robot warriors battling to save planet Earth from destruction against evil rival robots.
The GM vehicles, which unsurprisingly feature in the film as the good guys on the side of mankind, have featured prominently in pre-release publicity for the film.
Dino Bernacchi, associate director of marketing alliances and branded entertainment at GM, said Transformers represents a rare convergence of big-business and Hollywood.
"We try to find properties where the cars are the stars, and literally our cars are the stars of this movie," Bernacchi told the Hollywood Reporter. "You don't get any more heroic than the roles that our four vehicles play."
The car-robot given pride of place in the film, a Chevrolet Camaro, went out of production in 2002 but is set to be re-launched next year.
Alongside the Camaro is a gas-guzzling Hummer H2, a GMC Topkick pick-up truck and a low-cost Pontiac Solstice convertible.
"I think this is a once in motion picture history-type opportunity for an automotive company where you have a film that actually incorporates multiple cars that are actually characters in the film," LeeAnne Stables, senior vice-president of worldwide marketing partnerships at Paramount studios, told the Reporter.
According to movie industry press reports, GM did not pay for the right to feature in Transformers, but instead has helped offset the huge promotional costs of the film by featuring the movie in recent advertising campaigns for its cars.
In exchange, Transformers director Michael Bay (Armageddon, The Rock and Bad Boys) has directed five separated commercials for GM.
Park Choong-whan, a professor of marketing at the University of Southern California, described GM's Transformers tie-in as "probably the most aggressive form of product placement strategy."
But Park also warned that the campaign could backfire.
"People may discount the true effect that may be possible from this tie-in because they already know about it," he said. "There's is a kind of boomerang effect ... If prior attitudes of the people towards General Motors are negative, then it may not have a strong impact at all."
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS