The box office success of "Social Network" set off an advertisement to insert "clandestine War"

on the morning of July 21 this year, Facebook founder Mark & bull; Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg) announced on his blog that Facebook had a record 500m registered users. When the media around the world rushed to report the news, the propagandists responsible for promoting the film "Social Network" (The Social Network) quickly decided to print the number on the poster of the film. Ldquo; has made 500m friends and it is impossible not to make a few enemies & rdquo;. (You dont get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.)

strong > Market opportunities for 500 million users / strong >

this rapid action shows how quickly people react to advertising opportunities around "social networks".

"the Social Network" is a Columbia film about Mark & bull; Zuckerberg's early experience in founding Facebook. The film topped the box office with $23 million in its first weekend and won the top spot again a week later. Three weeks after its release, the Social Network has grossed more than $60 million in the North American market. This is a very good market performance for a film with a production cost of only 40 million, no big stars and no superheroes.

"the Social Network" triumphantly sang at the box office, and behind it was Columbia's carefully planned marketing strategy. In addition to being able to keenly grasp the news of 500 million users for hype, at the same time, on the basis of using the advantage of the subject matter to target the youth audience, boldly launch a comprehensive publicity campaign for all age groups. With a number of new films released in North America from Oct. 1 to 14, "the Social Network" stands out from a wide range of new films with different themes and target audiences, although the quality of the film is outstanding. But Colombia's ambitious marketing also plays an important role.

the marketing strategy deployed by the distributor for this film does not stop at regular film promotion. Behind the fiery battle at the box office, Colombia has quietly opened up a hidden front, waging a dark battle without gunpowder and a unique brand implantation war (Product Placement) in the Social Network.

the history of brand placement is almost as long as that of the film itself. More than a century before the famous bottle of Sichuan wine appeared in the movie Tangshan earthquake, ldquo; Sunshine soap & rdquo; had already met the earliest moviegoers in the Lumiere brothers' 1816 film. Because of the classic sci-fi film "E.T." released in 1982. Aliens plays a small-ldquo; role & rdquo; and ldquo; Reese Chocolate & rdquo;, in the market further consolidates the important position of brand placement as a means of financing and marketing in the film industry.

strong > War without smoke / strong >

although the investment of "the Social Network" is small, because the film is regarded by Columbia as a key project for next year's ldquo; Olympics & rdquo; (Oscars), it has also been produced with a lot of effort on brand implantation. So on the screen, the audience saw the characters wearing ldquo;The North Face” T-shirts and GAP jackets, drinking Beck‘s beer in the Harvard dorm, not only gossiping on the blog-ldquo;Victoria’s Secret” 's body-building wonder, but also VS's lingerie model talking and laughing as they walked in and out of the bar.

in terms of quantity alone, there are not many products implanted in the Social Network, which does not turn movies into luxury showrooms like the James Bond series. At the same time, we also strive to make the implanted products blend with the plot of the film & ldquo; & rdquo;. Generally speaking, the film is more cautious and convergent in the implantation operation. But & ldquo; obeys the overall situation & the implantation principle of rdquo; does not bind the hands of Colombian marketers. When it comes to dealing with key products, "Social Network" is not only ldquo; soft-rdquo;, but also innovates through the old and creates a new situation of brand implantation in movies.

Social Network tells a true story. What brand of computer the world's youngest billionaire uses in the movie is naturally an once-in-a-lifetime promotion opportunity for computer manufacturers. Since Colombia is a subsidiary of Sony, Sony's VAIO laptop has naturally become the weapon and natural choice for Mark, the protagonist, in creating the world's largest social network. But Sony is not satisfied with just using the film to promote its own products, but also uses brand implantation in the film to launch a proactive attack on the products of its competitor Apple in the market.

Sony's VAIO and Apple's MacBook compete fiercely in the market. In the "Social Network", Sony takes advantage of & ldquo; home court advantage & rdquo;, not only establish a tall image of its own products, but also & ldquo; sinister & rdquo; arranged the competitor's twice & ldquo; dishonorable & rdquo; appearance. For the first time in the film, the user of MacBook is a playboy who often takes drugs and causes trouble, a completely different kind of person from Mark, the Harvard elite who uses VAIO. MacBook's second appearance was even more dramatic. After the protagonist's good friend Eduardo found that he had been deceived by Mark, he confronted Mark. At this time, the computer in Mark's hand is not his usual VAIO, but a MacBook.

in the darkest and most disgraceful moments of the protagonist in the film, audiences always see the Apple logo looming on the screen. At the end of the scene, Eduardo snatches the MacBook from the traitor Mark and smashes it to pieces. This action, which has a strong psychological implication to consumers, is undoubtedly carefully designed by Sony.

earlier this year, Snooki, the drunken protagonist in the popular Reality Show "Jersey Coast", often appeared on camera carrying Coach's bag, reportedly because of a trick devised by a fashion celebrity to crack down on Coach. Interestingly, soon Coach gave CUCCI's bag to Snooki. The reason for this is to associate rival products with ldquo; without taste & rdquo;.

check down, in mainstream filmmaking, using this & ldquo; anti-implant & rdquo;, & ldquo; smear implant & rdquo; strategy, "social network" should be the first.

interestingly, it is the rise of social networks such as Facebook and other new media, as well as the popularity of electronic devices such as iPhone and Tivo that can filter ads, that have had a great impact on traditional advertising methods. Producers find it more and more difficult to effectively spread product information to consumers through traditional advertising channels, so they rely more and more on new product promotion platforms such as product implantation. It is a coincidence, but also symbolic, that Sony has developed a new battlefield for product implantation in the film Social Network.

according to the latest data released by PQ Media, a company that specializes in brand placement, the global amount of paid placement for film and television products reached $3.6 billion in 2009, and the market will continue to grow at a rate of 5% to 10% in the next five years. In such a fierce competition and rapid development of the market, I believe that such products as the "Social Network" in the implant-ldquo; Dark War & rdquo;, will have more wonderful refurbishment & ldquo; sequel-rdquo;.