Will Audi Get Its Money's Worth From Iron Man 2 Promotion?
While it's no record breaker, Iron Man 2 is surely a box office winner, grossing $128.1 million in its first 72 hours here making it one of only 15 films in Hollywood history to open with $100 million-plus, and putting its weekend at the fifth-biggest on record.
Product Placement News reports that Audi, Dr. Pepper and Oracle put a combined $3 million into product placements in Iron Man 2, hoping to bolster their brands with consumers. As reported here earlier, Audi has extended their product placement to include a video contest called, the Tony Stark Innovation Challenge.
The contest launched April 28th and runs through June 9, 2010 and finalists will be selected after a public voting period that ends June 13, 2010. Currently only seven videos have been submitted, representing varying levels of production values, stages of concept development and quality of design prototypes.
I asked Audi or America executive, Jessica Thor, to share some of the thinking behind Audi's approach to participating in the Iron Man franchise. Interestingly, as technologically advanced as Audi is, the campaign does not integrate a mobile component, nor does it seem to be generating a flood of submissions, perhaps because the technical threshold to produce compelling, competitive content seems too high.
Leslie: Please describe the studio’s role in the campaign and its guidelines for implementation?
Jessica: Audi of America and the studio collaborated on the development of the campaign in terms of shaping each campaign element so that it felt as an organic part of the overall Iron Man 2 promotion.
Leslie: There seems to be a very clear branding line around how you – and other advertisers – may use Stark Expo and Stark Industries in your marketing story. But contestants can include only Audi trademarks and logos?
Jessica: Correct. We would like to encourage contestants to think outside of the Iron Man story and develop ideas and submissions which could realistically be developed in today’s world.
Leslie: How will you measure success of this campaign for Audi? What metrics will you use?
Jessica: This contest, from a design and technology standpoint, aligns perfectly with our core values as a progressive brand. We wanted to leverage our partnership with Iron Man 2 / Marvel to create deeper engagement by creating a unique experience, enhance the innovative, progressive image of our brand and build our base of fans. We will measure based on various KPIs, including positive media exposure, overall participation / entries, engagement (views, comments, etc.), content shares, volume of online conversation and sentiment.
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