对中国观众来说,《变形金刚3》里面标志性的符号可不止那些外星铁块块,还有很多中国品牌的植入广告。
Sam, the protagonist played by Shia LaBeouf, appears in a T-shirt from Meters/bonwe – a mid-level clothing retailer well known to many young Chinese and one of four Chinese brands to appear in the film。
主演西亚拉博夫身穿的美特斯邦威T恤是中国一家中等规模服装品牌,深受年轻人喜爱。
The Chinese branding campaign is the largest so far in any single Hollywood movie, highlighting Chinese companies’ determination to go global and also use global marketing techniques to raise their domestic profiles。
中国品牌在好莱坞大片中群雄逐鹿一来表明了自己走向国际的决心,二来也对提高自己在国内的知名度帮助良多。
“The main motivation is to expand their brand recognition in foreign markets, but for others the focus is on the domestic market because the effect with foreign movies is better,” says Didi Zhang at advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather Beijing, which worked with Lenovo on Transformers 3.
“最主要的动机是提高自己的国际知名度,当然还有考虑到国内因素,因为这样子的宣传效果一直很不错,”联想公司营销如是说(联想参与了《变3》的广告植入)。
“In the beginning, the director and the producer had some prejudice against China because they’d never been here,” says Xie Wei at Meters/bonwe, which pioneered Chinese product placement in Hollywood movies with an appearance of its name in Transformers 2. “We invited them to China to come to visit Shanghai and our company, and then their impression of China changed。”
“起初导演和制片人有些排斥中国品牌,因为他们对中国并不了解。”美邦负责人表示。美特斯邦威是中国产品植入美国电影的第一个吃螃蟹的人,虽然第二部的那次露面只是一闪而过。“我们邀请他们来到上海参观我们的公司,之后他们的态度才改观。”
The robots have also been given the Made-in-China touch. Brains, a spiky-haired robot with bulging fluorescent blue eyes, transforms itself out of a Lenovo Edge computer, sold by China’s largest PC maker. A TCL flatscreen television also makes a brief appearance。
除了真人,机器人们也和中国国货来了个亲密接触。小变形金刚Brains就变成了一台联想Edge笔记本电脑,而TCL的平板液晶电视也有惊鸿一瞥的亮相。
One Chinese brand even makes it into the script when a scientist tells Sam that he has to finish his Shuhua Low Lactose Milk – a product of Yili, one of China’s largest dairy companies。
有的广告甚至写进了剧本台词。片中科学家告诉山姆“喝完伊利营养舒化奶”。伊利是中国最大的乳产品企业之一。
“Yili wanted Bumblebee [Sam’s car robot] to drink milk to prop up his energy, but that was rejected by the director,” says Liu Siru at Filmworks, an entertainment marketing company that negotiated the Chinese product placements with Paramount Pictures. Ms Liu adds that it was hard work convincing the film’s producers that a product not available in the US should be placed in the movie。
“伊利起初想让大黄蜂喝他的牛奶,结果被导演拒绝了。”“要知道,说服制片人植入美国本土根本没有的产品是相当困难的。”
Chinese marketing experts believe that their nation’s products will quickly become more visible in global media. Meters/bonwe is pushing large-scale product placement in Plants & Zombies, a computer game. “Transformers 3 will quickly speed up the trend,” said Ms Zhang。
中国的市场营销专家们相信,在不久的将来,中国产品会更加在世界传媒领域崭露头角。美特斯邦威正使得这一营销办法在中国逐渐走俏,因而也出现了《植物大战僵尸》的内植广告。“《变形金刚3》会使得这样的趋势愈演愈烈。”