For Toyota, Media Deal Makes One Big Showroom

When Toyota debuts its Matrix sport wagon model early next year, the car will get a huge marketing ride from one of the world’s top entertainment companies.

Matrix, targeted to young car buyers, will be featured in a Universal Studios movie, displayed in a Universal Studios theme park, touted on a Universal Web site and promoted in television ads with music provided by a Universal Studios label. The Matrix could even be included in a Universal interactive computer game.

The massive promotion plans are part of a multimillion-dollar global marketing agreement aimed at making Toyota the official car of Universal Studios.

Car makers have long used movies and television as a way of showcasing their latest models, but Toyota is taking the idea to a new plane by inserting its cars into all the nooks and crannies of where America plays.

“These kinds of alliances outside of movies are becoming more prevalent because they [provide] major sources of eyeballs, whether it’s a theme park or a cartoon,” said Art Spinella, an Oregon-based auto marketing consultant. “I don’t ever recall a car company doing this so visibly on such a broad scale.”

The deal, which was announced this month by the U.S. subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp., is the most aggressive example of how entertainment conglomerates are finding new and seemingly limitless ways to market products across their various businesses, from theme parks to music labels and online games.

It also underscores auto makers’ increasing pursuit of Hollywood to generate buzz and buyers for its cars.

Since BMW introduced its Z3 roadster in the 1995 James Bond film, “GoldenEye,” car manufacturers have revved up their product placement campaigns. From the E-Class Mercedes-Benz in “Men in Black 2” to the Jaguar XK8 in “Swordfish,” cars and other products are showing up more often and more conspicuously in film and television.

The competition can be intense. Despite BMW’s huge success with its Z3 in “GoldenEye,” the company was bumped Thursday by Ford Motor Co., which managed to get an Aston Martin sports car into the next James Bond film, scheduled for release in 2002.

Though there are some signs the public is weary of being bombarded with logos, the entertainment companies are more willing than ever to give starring roles to cars, shampoo products, sodas and countless other products. Such deals lower production costs and, more significantly, help stretch marketing dollars.

“When you align yourself with the right movie and the right star, it increases your cachet,” said Candace Robbins, marketing executive for General Motors Corp., which has marketing agreements with Walt Disney Co. and AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros.

Not Just a One-Time Tie-In

Toyota and Universal touted their alliance, which will extend for up to five years, as the largest ever between an auto company and an entertainment company. Typically, product placements are one-time promotions tied to a single movie.

Under the deal, Toyota, the third-largest vehicle manufacturer in the world, will sponsor theme park attractions such as “Back to the Future--The Ride” at Universal Studios Hollywood and “Men in Black: Alien Attack” at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando.

Toyota gets first dibs to have its vehicles appear in Universal movies, home video and DVD releases. Toyota vehicles will be included in Universal’s interactive games such as “Spyro the Dragon.” Toyota also can use Universal’s vast music labels for promotions.

In return, Universal, a division of French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal, gets a commitment from the Japanese auto maker to spend $100 million over five years in joint promotions of Universal’s products.

As part of the deal, Universal also will receive an undisclosed cash payment. Universal’s senior vice president of global alliances, Stephanie Sperber, would say only that the payment was in the tens of millions.

Universal wanted to expand its relationship with Toyota after the success of a similar agreement between Toyota and Universal Studios Japan.

Steve Sturm, vice president of marketing at Toyota Motor Sales USA, said the deal will give more exposure to Toyota vehicles worldwide through nontraditional advertising.

“Without a formal alliance with a studio, it’s a big challenge,” Sturm said. “We’ve had companies that will get you in a film for a five-second drive-by, but at the end of the day, what kind of value is it?”

Toyota’s deal with Universal may be the most far-reaching to date, but other car makers have paved the way.

General Motors, for example, has had a marketing agreement with Disney for 20 years. The company sponsors the Test Track attraction at Walt Disney World’s Epcot theme park in Orlando. Its Cadillac division has done promotions for Disney Cruise Line and for DisneyQuest and ESPN in Chicago.

GM, which has a long history of placing cars in movies, will feature its new Cadillac CTS and Escalade EXT in Warner Bros.’ upcoming “Matrix II” movie.

In television alone, GM has tripled its product placements this year over last, Robbins said.

Disney and Warner Bros. would not comment on their product placements or marketing agreements.

Ford also has a long history of product placement, from “Leave It to Beaver” in the 1950s to “Jurassic Park,” in which a Ford Explorer took on a T. rex, and “The Fast and the Furious,” which showcased a Ford F150 Lightning pickup truck.

“The interest is growing again because everyone is looking outside the box as to how to promote their products,” said Richard Briggs, senior managing director for Burbank-based Showcase International, which represents Ford in product placements. “You have a much smaller market so you’re looking for new and innovative ways to reach it.”

A trade group representing product placement agencies, the Entertainment Resources and Marketing Assn., has seen its ranks swell to 46 from just a handful 25 years ago.

Even before a script is completed, companies often solicit bids from product agencies. Often, payment is in the form of barter rather than cash. Car companies, for example, may provide production vehicles for the set or studio executive, or help promote the movie.

Trend Sparks Some Complaints

Some filmmakers and moviegoers, though, complain that the trend has made some movies appear too much like commercials for Fortune 500 companies.

“I think there’s evidence that the consumer is getting nauseated by it,” said Mike Kamins, associate professor of business at USC’s Marshall School of Business. “They’ve just got too much of it.”

Some recent movies clearly blur the lines between art and commerce. In the MGM movie “Legally Blonde,” for example, star Reese Witherspoon plugs Cosmopolitan in the same month the magazine splashes her on the front page of the magazine and writes a glowing piece about the movie. The placement was appropriate because it fit the context of the movie, said Kathy Findling, MGM Studios vice president of production resources.

Some critics saw last year’s movie “Cast Away,” the 20th Century Fox hit with Tom Hanks, as a virtual advertisement for FedEx Corp. “That’s an example of product placement taking over a movie,” Kamins said.

A spokeswoman for the film’s producers said FedEx did not pay to have its service featured in the movie, although the company provided access to its facilities.

Some filmmakers are leery of the trend. “Every now and then you’ll see it in movies in which you feel like all you’re doing is being logo-ed,” Academy Award-winning producer Mark Johnson said. “It stands out, and it hurts.”

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Times staff writers Terril Yue Jones and Claudia Eller contributed to this report.

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High Visibility

Faced with a splintered advertising market, auto makers are scrambling to find alternative forms of marketing for their products, using movies, television, theme park rides and even computer games to showcase their latest models and generate buzz.