Roooooaaar! – Here comes the new blockbuster ready for the big screen. With its global brand recognition, “Jurassic World” comes with more muscle power than the average big-ticket behemoth. With all its prequels, novels, theme-park attractions and marketing efforts, it is sure that this is one of the most anticipated movie this year.
In this movie, it brings us back through the memory lane to the once familiar Jurassic Park where it all happens in an island with dinosaurs and scientists, wanting to research and breed pre-historic creatures as theme park monsters.
In an effort to attract lucrative sponsors and spike attendances, scientists have engineered a new breed of “dinosaur”, which they call it the Indominus Rex, by mixing different DNAs from different animals. Indominus Rex is not only bigger than the King of dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus aka T-Rex, it also possesses enhanced intelligence and a few other abilities like camouflaging, which makes it a terrifying predator.
This hybrid super-predator then runs amok in the theme park, killing other dinosaurs (for food at first but later for fun) and endangering the lives of the visitors on the island.
However, this hybrid super-predator is not the most controversial plot point in the Jurassic World. Chris Pratt (well-known for his role as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy) who acted as Owen, an animal expert who is able to train the velociraptors became a divisive point among fans who thought the idea of domesticated raptors was either an interesting development or a completely senseless misstep.
The raptors also become one of the key elements in the movie. In the initial sequence, Owen is seen by the raptors as their alpha male. Previously in Jurassic Park, it has also established that the raptors are lion-like pack hunters – led by an alpha that, if necessary, even kills potential challengers to secure the leadership position. As the alpha male, Owen leads the raptors in hunting down the Indominus Rex. After which, the Indominus Rex manages to communicate with the raptors and turns them against Owen.
The dino-hunting team then dies one by one, and starts to escape from the raptors. At the end of the movie, Owen re-establishes his relationship with the raptors and the raptors end up fighting the Indominus Rex, in the act to protect Owen. Adding onto the action, Claire (starred by Bryce Dallas Howard) frees the captivated T-Rex, to join in the fun. The whole fight is quite similar to the fight between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla, however with the addition of another (small) raptor.
Overall the movie is great! It brings you onto the island and equipped you with some background information within twenty minutes into the movie, and it never eases up thereafter with one event flowing effortlessly into the next. The action is so intense and scary, with some gruesome deaths punctuating at the right places. The movie is about 125 minutes and it feels just right as the duration for such a great blockbuster.
Marketing Take-away
Product placement is the conceived insertion of a brand within a movie, broadcast, computer, cable TV programs, blogs, video games, music video, DVDs, magazine, books, musicals, internet and mobile phones and etc.
It is a marketing strategy that has accidentally changed over the years. Nevertheless, the efficiency of the product placement has been spotted by professionals and since then various brands engage in product placement activities in various levels with varying efficiency.
It can be clearly seen that Samsung is one of the key sponsors for the movie. The Samsung Innovation Center is the main building in Main Street of Jurassic World. It features minor theme-park attractions such as Guided tours, Skeleton digging and Hammond Creation Lab. In addition, all the television screens used in the movie are from Samsung.
Jurassic World also features Mercedes-Benz, whose G-Class SUV, Sprinter van and six-wheeled G-Wagen play leading parts, transporting dino-hunting troopers and conquering the jungle’s rough roads.
In Mercedes-Benz promotional materials for the coupe, which the automaker called “strong in every terrain,” movie producer Frank Marshall is quoted as saying, “Unveiling the new GLE Coupé in Jurassic World was a natural fit as we continue our relationship with Mercedes.”
This strategy places the brand in plain sight for audiences to see. The products in a “seen but not said” strategy focus on subtle showings of the products at intermittent times of the story. This creates extra brand awareness for brands. It also helps the audiences to associate their brands with how they are portrayed in the movie. For example, Samsung can be seen as the innovative high-tech brand as shown in the movie. And Mercedes-Benz as the automaker that produces cars that can conquer any terrain. This places the brands in a positive light.
In conclusion, product placement is a great marketing strategy. If done well, it adds reality to a show or movie, because we all use these products in our daily lives. With subtle showings of the products, it can help brands build awareness and establish their brand image. Especially in blockbuster like Jurassic World, brands can reach out to billions over the world with these positive messages.