So you saw Down With Love, the comedy flick in which Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor recreate the Technicolor heyday of Doris Day and Rock Hudson. And now you think you’re going nuts because you seem to be seeing perky, ’60s-garbed Renée/Doris look-alikes walking up and down the streets.

Relax. It’s not a fantasy. It’s the manifestation of a ground-breaking deal between 20th Century Fox and the Le Château clothing chain. It’s also a striking example of how marketers – including more and more Canadian brands – are getting a lot more sophisticated than they were in the days when paying to have the hero drink a Bud onscreen was cutting edge.

Innovation in movie tie-in programs is the order of the day, especially given that the overall level of activity is a far cry from seven years ago, when David Newton, president of Premier Entertainment Services, opened the Toronto office of the Los Angeles-headquartered company. He says he not only had to educate some Canadian marketers from scratch, but also ‘assure them that product placement isn’t illegal.’

Since then, Newton estimates at least a tenfold rise in the number of Canadian companies that are routinely leveraging movie properties to promote their products.

They’re doing so partly because their small-screen advertising is under attack by ad-skipping PVR technology and partly because, according to a Statistics Canada report released earlier this month, cinema attendance in this country is at a 41-year high.

Another driving force, says Kevin September, Premier’s director of business development, is the presence of so much film production in Canada’s ‘Hollywood North.’

Among the high-profile feature films Premier is currently working with on behalf of a number of clients – which he declined to identify in case the product placements don’t survive the final edit – are Shall We Dance, which is shooting in Winnipeg and stars Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, and Welcome to Mooseport, which stars Gene Hackman and Ray Romano, being shot in and around Toronto.

Apart from Premier, other examples of creative tie-ins include the stars of The Italian Job zooming around in BMW Minis, Spider-Man’s Green Goblin circling around huge billboards for Samsung, Prudential, Cingular, Marriott and Cup of Noodles; and, bizarrely, Emily Watson’s character in Red Dragon cozily serving serial killer Ralph Fiennes from her Mr. Coffee pot.

Product placements that will soon be seen in shot-in-Canada feature films include Molson, Toyota, Pizza Hut and Doritos in Foolproof, which premiers in October and is set to be one of the widest releases in Canadian cinema history.

Even TV channels are getting in on the action. An elaborate and innovative promotional campaign between CHUM Television and Alliance Atlantis, which is producing Foolproof, is already underway. In the first phase, CHUM supported the production by pre-licensing all broadcast rights in English Canada, which will follow the pay television window. Next, a promotional trailer branded with CHUM’s MuchMusic logo debuted in mid-May with the blockbuster Matrix Reloaded. Closer to Foolproof’s release date, CHUM will be executing editorial tie-ins and contests to create awareness of the film. All advertising materials for Foolproof will be CHUM/MuchMusic branded.

And in yet another TV/movie partnership deal, Alliance Atlantis’s Showcase Action channel will leverage Arnold Schwarzenegger’s upcoming T3: Rise of the Machines. Timed for the movie’s release on July 2, a free month’s Showcase Action service will be offered to everyone who purchases a Star Choice satellite system at RadioShack. Additionally, Showcase Action will heighten ‘Arniemania’ with a simultaneous ‘Arnie Double Bill’ movie night.

Meanwhile, Humpty Dumpty Snack Foods Canada is betting on The Hulk as a summer blockbuster to help to publicize what Kitchener, Ont.-based marketing VP Lynda Murray calls the chips’ new ‘explosive flavours.’ Humpty Dumpty bags featuring Hulk packaging, plus in-store displays and Hulk-clad event teams began appearing in stores across the country in mid-May.

Also capitalizing on the Hulk-mania is Windsor, Ont.-headquartered DaimlerChrysler Canada, which is teaming with Universal Studios and Marvel Comics to offer free DVD systems on 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan Sports, plus a family vacation contest. And Toronto-based Maple Leaf Foods’ Top Dogs wieners is sponsoring a Hulk-themed contest whose top prize is a trip to Hollywood.

But getting back to Le Château’s spin-off deal with Down With Love: This tie-in climbs to a whole new promotional level and is probably a harbinger of increasingly sophisticated, made-in-Canada tie-ins that are not only more creative and engaging for consumers, but also hook the promotions back to point-of-sale.

‘It’s an amazing partnership, a wild adventure and the first time anything like this has been done in Canada,’ says Montreal-based Cara Vogl, director of promotions for Le Château.

After being approached by 20th Century Fox about a year ago, she says that the Montreal-based apparel chain adapted the Daniel Orlandi-designed costumes worn in the film by Zellweger for a line of 25 garments, plus ’60s-style accessories including hats, sunglasses and handbags.

The launch of the Down With Love clothing line was timed to coincide with the movie’s Canadian premiere in Montreal on May 1, and featured a cocktail party at Le Château’s flagship store in downtown Montreal, across the street from the cinema chosen for the premiere. The collection was modeled at the high-profile event and Canadian jazz singer Michael Bublé performed a couple of the numbers he sings on the film’s soundtrack.

Similar events followed in Toronto and Vancouver and all three parties were co-hosted by Toronto-based Diageo Canada, whose Tanqueray Gin is featured in the film, plus Toronto-based Stila Cosmetics, which launched a Down With Love collection exclusive to Holt Renfrew.

For Le Château, the promotions added up to a home run in terms of sales lift, says Vogl, because the entire movie-inspired collection sold out across Canada within its first six weeks.

Are these particular movie tie-ins likely to resonate effectively with consumers? Peter Heywood, VP of brand strategy at Toronto-headquartered Watt global consultancy, says yes.

‘I think they’re really clever [in that] they obviously recognize that there are features and attributes in the film that people might want to adopt in real life. People, especially young people, are tuning out ads,’ Heywood points out. ‘But there’s an emotional connection to the really successful brands that goes beyond simply what they offer as a product or a service.’

Of course, what’s lending urgency to the spread of product integration and other movie tie-ins is the increasing threat from ad-skipping technology. Although PVR penetration in Canada has yet to be officially measured, Ian MacLean, VP at the Montreal-based iTV Lab at Media Experts, estimates that it now stands at about 45,000 to 50,000 households, with approximately 1.7 million south of the border.

How many of these PVR owners habitually zap commercials is anyone’s guess. But a recent Toronto survey of overall TV viewers concluded that 61% frequently skip advertisements. That number rises to 79% in the 20-to-29 age group and to a whopping 83% among those aged 15 to 18, according to Phil Hart, president of Toronto’s MMI Product Placement.

Marketers are becoming all too aware of this dismal reality. And Humpty Dumpty’s Murray echoes the belief of a lot of marketers when she says her company ‘is absolutely concerned’ about the effects of ad-skipping on the effectiveness of its TV advertising. ‘So we’re looking at alternative ways of connecting with our consumers, as we did with an earlier promotion with How the Grinch Stole Christmas.’

Although she says there was no hard evidence of sales lift because that was such a product-specific movie tie-in – with Christmas-coloured red and green Ringolos and Grinch packaging – Tabitha McIntyre, merchandising and communications manager, says the results encouraged Humpty Dumpty to pursue its current Hulk-themed promotion.

‘While we are not shifting money from our television advertising, which remains a bigger spend for us, we will be increasing our [movie promotions] whenever we see an opportunity to come to market with an innovative product line that’s relative to both the category and the [film] property.’

That is a savvy strategy, says Hart, and he’s now got empirical proof to back up the contention, thanks to the results of an attitudinal study he commissioned ACNielsen to conduct late last year, which he says is the first of its kind in Canada.

‘The key findings were that 100% of participants in our focus groups knew what product placement is and recalled seeing a brand in a movie or TV show,’ says Hart. ‘They responded positively to product placement in principle and said that it adds realism to scenes and characters. So the bottom line is that product placement increases brand loyalty by validating the purchase decisions of users, especially when favourite stars are seen using or consuming a brand’s product.’

Hart says he’s using the pro-product integration findings of his study to pitch his agency’s services to potential new customers. One of these is Canadian Tire, whose spokesman confirms that the Canadian retailer’s first-ever product placement deal with MMI is currently being negotiated, but declines to give details.

A big part of the job of agencies like MMI and Premier is to calm their clients’ fears about getting involved in product placement or brand integration. September says that this is accomplished by explaining how closely they examine all scripted opportunities to ensure that clients’ brands wind up in safe on-screen environments.

KremeKo Canada, for example, which Vancouver-based marketing VP Judi Richardson says is just beginning to consider feature film product integration, was offered the chance to showcase Krispy Kreme doughnuts in an upcoming teen-aimed movie called Harold & Kumar Go to Whitecastle. But the answer was no after MMI read the script and found foul language and pot smoking which, says Richardson, ‘is not the image we want to project.’

‘We call it ‘policing the brand,” says September, who describes what can go wrong ‘when a brand manager or someone else with stars in their eyes’ doesn’t check the script. He recalls that someone in the U.S. jumped at the seemingly plum opportunity to have Pledge furniture polish mentioned by the stars of the hit TV series Will & Grace. But the plum turned into a gigantic lemon when the characters implied that spraying Pledge on precious antiques might ruin their finish and decimate their value.

Which is why, when September pitched his agency’s services to SC Johnson, the makers of Pledge, he says he kept a videotape of that episode of Will & Grace handy. Premier won the account.

How effective are pre-movie ads?

Study finds younger filmgoers have higher acceptance levels

Another marketing method for capturing the attention of movie fans is projecting on-screen ads before coming attractions and feature films. Although comparatively new in the U.S., these commercials for captive audiences have been around in Canada for nearly 20 years.

How effective are they? Opinions are decidedly mixed.

Filmgoers have occasionally booed the screen when they’re forced to view ads that delay the movie they’ve paid big bucks to see. And movie critic Roger Ebert recently reported that a class-action suit has been filed to stop commercials in American movie theatres.

But Paul Bolté, VP of cinema marketing sales for Toronto-based Cineplex Odeon, says that not only does his company receive no more than ‘a handful’ of complaints about in-theatre advertising annually, but that an audience survey done in the U.S. by Arbitron from July 2002 to April 2003 concluded that these ads are effective.

‘Over 50% of the participants said that advertising is more enjoyable to watch in the cinema than on television…and the younger [the respondents] were, especially in the 12-to-24 category, the higher the acceptance level is. Plus, the recall levels for cinema ads exceeds those for any other media.’

Another positive note that emerged from the Arbitron study, adds Bolté, is that ‘some people look forward to seeing the new ads in the movie theatres the same way that TV viewers anticipate the innovative creative associated with Super Bowl ads.’

Krispy Kreme rolls into theatres

While working with Toronto’s MMI Product Placement to decide which on-screen opportunities to pursue, KremeKo Canada recently got into showbiz not on-screen, but in cinema lobbies.

In its first such off-site placement since arriving in Canada in 2001, the Markham, Ont.-headquartered company began rolling out kiosks for its legendary Krispy Kreme doughnuts last month in nine Famous Players theatres in Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, Kitchener and Windsor, Ont.

Plans to roll out across the country in some of Famous Players’ 92 locations are in the works, says Toronto-based Nuria Bronfman, VP of corporate affairs, who adds that her company is ‘always looking to expand our range of concessions options [and] Krispy Kreme offers a popular and unique choice that we know our guests will appreciate before, during or after their movie.’

In addition to Krispy Kreme’s signature ‘Original Glazed’ doughnut, moviegoers will be able to munch such other doughnut varieties as ‘Chocolate Iced Ring,’ ‘Chocolate Iced Ring with Sprinkles’ and ‘Chocolate Iced Crème Filled.’