bumble bee camaro

Movies offer companies a place to easily advertise to audiences through product placement. By naturally involving a product in a scene, the movie is given a more realistic feel, and a company has a golden opportunity for subliminal advertising. In the Transformers film franchise, General Motors (GM) had the opportunity to not just feature their cars as simple product placement, but to turn them into bonafide stars and help with their global marketing campaign.

Gaining Market Share in China

The global success of the Transformers film franchise, especially in foreign markets like China, make using the cars as characters in the films a great way for GM to try to attract customers in a foreign market. The latest movie demonstrates GM using the movies as a way to enter the lucrative Chinese market.

Many people wondered why GM chose to include the Trax, a compact SUV, in the movie, especially as the typical transformer cars are sports sedans. However, GM wanted to push Trax to the Chinese market, especially as China is set to buy seven million SUVs by 2020.

Since 2010, China has accounted for about one-third of GM’s global sales, which is the largest single market. GM sees the Trax as key to its business strategy in China, which is why they are focusing on promoting that are rather than the yellow Chevrolet Camaro that is the focus of its cross marketing campaigns with Transformers in other markets. This is one of the first instances of an American company using product placement in an American movie to target Chinese consumers.

Attracting a Younger Demographic

By featuring GM vehicles in the Transformers movies, GM has the opportunity to reach a younger demographic. The young, male demographic is a vital one for many industries, especially automakers. The Transformers movies target a young, male demographic, providing the perfect opportunity to showcase attractive cars also targeted for this demographic.

Many children are also fans of the Transformers franchise, and are the target consumers of the associated products such as toys and games. These children will grow up associating GM with Transformers, which might increase their desire to purchase a GM model for their first car.

Showcasing New Models

The movies also provide an opportunity for GM to showcase new models, including concept cars and special editions. The original Transformers film introduced a new Camaro concept car in the role of Bumblebee. This car made an appearance in all the movies, and the popularity led the way to the manufacturing of a special edition of the Camaro for a few years.

Reputation Management

Over the past few years, GM has had to deal with a lot of negative publicity, including recalls, talks of buyouts and bankruptcy, and more. By being associated with a successful global franchise such as Transformers, GM has a venue to improve their reputation. The movies provide a forum for GM to showcase the work of which they are proud and reduce their negative reputation.

Making the Car of the Future

Being in a science-fiction story about cars turning into robots provides GM with a way to subtly spread to customers the idea that their cars are the cars of the future. This enhances their overall reputation, and in turn could increase their market share and improve their sales.

As the movie and television industry become transformed by DVRs and Internet streaming, product placement becomes a very important advertising strategy. When you have a huge, successful franchise that stars vehicles, such as Transformers, having perfectly placed cars provides the opportunity to increase the global market reach. GM has taken advantage of its relationship with Michael Bay and Transformers franchise to increase its market share and improve its reputation.

photo credit: Alex Goy