A Placement for Everything

As you probably know, product placement in movies and TV shows is big business. And it’s about to get bigger. The advertising industry is now turning to technology that can seamlessly insert computer-generated images, and add products and branding into films and television shows retroactively.

That’s right. Someday you could be watching a classic movie like “Casablanca”, and notice there are new labels on the champagne bottles in Rick’s Café. Or different background neon advertising signs in “Ocean’s 11”. And then a few months or years later, the added products can be easily switched to different brands.

That’s if the UK advertising company Mirriad gets its way. The company, which got its start in special effects, is now using its technology for a Chinese video streaming website, and the makers of the US TV show “Modern Family” have also tried it out.

The music industry, hit hard by the pandemic, is also looking to get in on the act. Older artists could make new money from old videos, and current artists who sport the latest shoes, phones or bags, could have them changed a year later to newer designs, without ever having to put them on, or re-record a video.