High End?

Remember the first time you watched a James Bond movie, then the second and third times and you began to realise that he liked Aston Martins. He also like a Vodka Martini ‘shaken not stirred’. He also drank anything from Bolly to La Fitte and liked a million other brands.

And there’s the crux of it – brands.

To see the whole huge list of product placement from the first James Bond movie to the most recent, have a look at this .  Placement has the capacity to lift brands from downright ordinary to the most desired thing in the marketplace. Look what Audrey Hepburn did for Tiffany’s in ‘Breakfast at…’!

The reason I was interested in this was that on my many read-throughs of Passage, I realised I’d used quite a few brand names. Of course, the difference between Passage and a James Bond movie is that corporations paid a LOT of money to place their brand names with Bond, James Bond.

In Passage, not so much…

Nevertheless, I made a list yesterday.

Let’s start with cars:

Deux Chevaux, Lisette’s quirky and oh-so-French little car.

An ancient cutdown Desoto held together with baling twine – used as a paddock truck by Joffrey Morrison.

The chocolates:

Cadbury’s Milk Chocolate when Annie is hiking.

Haigh’s chocolates – a bounty thereof for Annie’s 70th 

Lindt – ‘the widow’s friend’.

Wines:

Only Tasmanian wines of course. And nothing but the best.

Freycinet Chardonnay

Lubiana sparkling wine.

Perfumes:

Chanel Number 5 when Annie wants to feel uplifted.

Ralph Lauren as she is blindfolded.

Calèche when Annie finds the stack of letters.

Other goods:

Hermes when Rowena talks about Paris. ‘’Nuff said…’

Gucci scarf of fish, shoes and the alphabet which Alex gave Annie because he said it was her wrapped up in a square of silk.

Then there were the movies:

Sense and Sensibility. What woman doesn’t love Jane Austen?

Edie – the movie that might just be Annie’s watershed moment. A vital inclusion in the story.

The Gods Must be Crazy – Annie and Finn love the quirky nature of the little film.

Something’s Gotta Give – Annie weeps like Erica Barry as she types her story. ‘But Erica got her man…’

The Music:

Michael Bublé – Annie and Alex really enjoy his music.

Pink Floyd – Put Another Brick in the Wall. Alex’s choice for his funeral along with…

Midnight at the Oasis by Maria Muldaur

Nobody Does it Better by Carly Simon

God Only Knows by the Beachboys.

Something’s Gotta Give soundtrack because Annie absolutely loves the music.

Cary Lewincamp solo guitar because Annie finds comfort and calm in the beautiful melodic playing when the road falls away beneath her feet.

So there’s my potential product placement list. Looking over it, some of the products are pretty high end. But you know what? This is a contemporary fiction, with emphasis on the fiction. We can always dream, can’t we? And I’m just allowing my readers to dream with me!

How nice it would be to have the success and popularity of Ian Fleming so that companies want to place their products in a creative situation!