The Volvo XC60 stars in 'New Moon'
Volvo has been playing at product placement and has got the Volvo XC60 to play a starring role in the teen vampire flick New Moon.
Product placement can work with cars in big films. Just look at what the original James Bond films did for Aston Martin, from the DB5 in Goldfinger to the DBS in Casino Royale. Then there’s the Mustang in Bullet, the VW Beetle in the Herbie films, and let’s not forget the Mini in the Italian Job.
Even Volvo has played this game in the past with Simon Templar’s C70 in the big screen version of the iconic 60s TV series. And they had another go – quite successfully – just recently when they put the C30 in to the Vampire teen flick Twilight. That film did good business and it seems more than likely that Volvo recovered more than it cost them. So you can see the logic in Volvo playing the same game in Twilight’s sequel – New Moon.
In New Moon the main character – Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson – gets to blat around in Volvo’s XC60 crossover, although the C30 gets to play a supporting role. We saw the logic of the C30 for a young cool-dude in Twilight, but we’re struggling a bit to see how Volvo think they’re going to turn teenage film goers on to what is essentially a family oriented car – the Volvo XC60. Perhaps they think the kids will go home and persuade mum and dad that the XC60 is a cool car to have as a family runaround.
But then again, the biggest market is probably the US. And teenagers in the US do seem to get in to the sort of cars they just wouldn’t on this side of the pond, particularly if mum and dad have got a few bob. So maybe Volvo think they’ll get a whole raft of well-off teenagers being dropped in to an XC60 by indulgent parents who want their offspring to be safely wrapped up in a Volvo. And at least there’s a cooler looking XC60 – which appeals to a younger market – with the recently released Volvo XC60 R-Design.
Volvo are taking this quite seriously and have issued a trailer focusing on the XC60 in New Moon (video trailer below) and have even sent us an invite to a pre-screening of the film next week in London. We can’t make it, but lots of others will. And they’ll get coverage. Just like this.
Could work.
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