Lack of merch

Asp9mm · November 2008

With the release of Casino Royale in 2006 we had a plethora of merchandise to sate our collecting desires. From the relatively inexpensive Corgi models and 1:18 and 1:36 scale cars, poker sets, coasters, moneyclips, racing set, remote control DBS, Sony Ericsson etc. etc. To the high end limited editions such as the Turnbull & Asser sets, Dupont cufflinks, Persols, Omegas, and the list goes on.

This time around, what have we got? Tom Ford glasses, Scalextric and a playing card set. Apart from the Omegas and Sony Ericsson, that's about it. We are not even seeing any decent props coming onto the market. Although this was expected due to the tighter controls on set.

All in all a disapointing year for collectors. And even us lifestylers are having a tougher time of it due to Tom Ford charging the moon for his products

bondaholic007 · November 2008

I am disappointed, I will be getting the 1/18th DBS, But all I have is mainly magazines from QOS

Youknowthename · November 2008

Yes, a sad lack of goodies indeed. I even found myself buying the Tom Ford glasses, 'cause what else am I gonna spend my money on ? Sure, model cars and (expensive) Scalextric sets are coming, but it doesn't live up to the C.R. hausse of materials. Besides that, there is a disappointing amount of product promotion in The Netherlands... not to say hardly any at all.

scaramangasgoldengun · November 2008

I have writen out a list of props and replicas I will be obtaining and making from the film...

I went to see it again yesterday and my opinion has changed,,, enjoyed it a lot more... and I would now give it 9/10 as opposed to my initial 6/10 CR still stands at 10/10

Higgins · November 2008

There is a 1:12 Aston DBS announced by Kyosho. Will surely get this! {:)
The big question is, if it has 1 or 2 doors

PoorMansJB · November 2008

This is a simply a very different film -- emphatically adult, less obvious product placement, etc. -- and thus the promotional opportunities are fewer. Last time we had Sony, Aston, and gaming items seen throughout the film plus limited gadgetry like the AED; this time 'round there's little tie-in to. Perhaps someone will source the taps in M's bathroom ...

Sir Miles · November 2008

Asp9mm wrote:

All in all a disapointing year for collectors.

I was only thinking the very same a few days ago...it's my birthday soon...and with Christmas coming...and a new Bond film out...it's usually very easy to spend my money...but this time... 8-)

superado · November 2008

It does seem that the inflow of movie tie-in books have held up. I think it's great to have a pool of these to pick from compared to around 20 years ago. On the toy front, I don't know if I'll be disappointed if Corgi falls short with their Quantum related offerings, if any, since the 43rd scale magazine car collection has redefined the baseline for Bond diecasts; I do feel bad there isn't much promise of realizing the figure line they previewed last year. I also feel bad that Sideshow has gone to hibernation (hopefully, it's just that) with their figures with still so much to do; then again my figure project backlog is more than enough to keep me from being desperately in serious want for "new" Bond toys.

The Bond Experience · November 2008

And not only the merchandise for joe public but the promotional ties ins are absolutely hidden. I speak to the offerings in the states where although big names like Heineken and Smirnoff SAY they have promotional blitz a call to North East distributors have them shrugging their shoulder in confusion? And these questions were posed by beverage and liquor store owners. I could go on. The lack of VIRAL marketing around this film is obvious I am afraid and if I was a product associated I would have created a relationship marketing segmentation campaign that satiated even the casual Bond fan with items and info that had "legs".

scaramangasgoldengun · November 2008

honestly between now and the next film I will bet that after all of us fans watch the film countless times and once it's released on DVD etc and more analysis of products and items are carried out I bet there is a long list of props and replicas available.... well not marketed as Bond products or items but the same Idea that came of Casino royale Collectables and props ... such as clothing . knifes, replica guns etc ..

Nightshooter · November 2008

Guys in the US, shouldn't we wait for the film to come out here before we start bemoaning the lack of merch? Is it possible that we just have to wait another week or so?

Youknowthename · November 2008

Bondtoys wrote:

There is a 1:12 Aston DBS announced by Kyosho. Will surely get this! {:)
The big question is, if it has 1 or 2 doors

Why not add the impaled drivers' door as a loose extra ?

The Bond Experience · November 2008

Nightshooter, the best marketing campaigns do what's called hyper-marketing, that is to say pre-heating the consumer for products around an event like a movie. Once the film premieres you have an 80% drop of interest after 2 weeks, so the window for those that have tie-ins is short.

Nightshooter · November 2008

The Mantis wrote:

Nightshooter, the best marketing campaigns do what's called hyper-marketing, that is to say pre-heating the consumer for products around an event like a movie. Once the film premieres you have an 80% drop of interest after 2 weeks, so the window for those that have tie-ins is short.

In that case, then the lack of merch IS surprising!

The Bond Experience · November 2008

But like you I still have hope! REALLY wishing that on November 14th I walk into stores and it's raining QoS...:)

superado · November 2008

Maybe there's been a change for the worse in the promotional aspect, in how that's actually being practiced by whoever is in charge of EON marketing this time around.

As for the actual products, here's what I found last night on IMDB by coincidence while googling for QoS diecasts:

For Casino Royale:
Product placements and promotional tie-ins seen in the movie included Virgin Airlines including a Richard Branson cameo; Heineken Beer; Sony Ericsson K800 and K790 camera phones; Sony Electronics including Blu-Ray HD players, discs, & security system; Sony HD5 MP3 player, LCDs & computers such as the VAIO Laptop; Ford Automobiles including Mondeo, Range Rover and Land Rover Defender, Jaguar, Lincoln, Volvo, and the Aston Martin DB5 & DBS; FedEx Freight; Château Angélus; Cybershot Digital Cameras; M's Turnbull & Asser pajamas; Omega Watches; Smirnoff Vodka; and Bollinger Champagne.

For Quantum of Solice:
Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include the Aston Martin DBS and the Ford Motor Company including vehicle makes Volvo, Range Rover, and the new Ka; Corgi International Limited's toy gadgets, die-cast vehicles and action figures; Sony's "Mission for a Million" competition; Omega SA Watches, James Bond wears the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M; Swatch; Coca-Cola's Coke Zero (as in "Zero Zero 7"); Smirnoff Vodka; Bollinger Champagne; Sony Electronics & Sony Ericsson cell phones including the Titanium Silver Edition C902 Cyber-shot Phone; Virgin Atlantic Airlines; four Scalextric toy racing sets; Heineken Pilsener Beer; Avon Products Inc.'s "Bond Girl 007" women's fragrance; UK National Lottery operator Camelot's James Bond scratch card game; Ocean Sky Jets; Orbitz' "Travel Like Bond" Tourism Competition Giveaway; VisitBritain; Tom Ford tailoring for James Bond's clothes; and Activision's Quantum of Solace (2008) (VG) video-game.

I do understand that a tie-in does not necessarily mean a certain product will be specially labeled for the movie, but among the list there still seems to be a large number of items that could be branded as such. Lastly, though it seems that the net effect from the consumers' perspective is less than desired merchandizing, in actuality it was a pretty busy effort by the number of brands shown on the list.

Asp9mm · November 2008

scaramangasgoldengun wrote:

honestly between now and the next film I will bet that after all of us fans watch the film countless times and once it's released on DVD etc and more analysis of products and items are carried out I bet there is a long list of props and replicas available.... well not marketed as Bond products or items but the same Idea that came of Casino royale Collectables and props ... such as clothing . knifes, replica guns etc ..

There are just no decent props coming out. I am predominently a collector of screen used props and production used items, and have several contact withing the prop world. There is just nothing out there this time. A few production items like clappers, call sheets etc have turned up, but that's about it. I'm not talking replicas here as they are fan produced and found. Genuine props were rare for Casino Royale, but for QOS, they are very very very rare.

ddbl007 · November 2008

You'll be lucky.

Over here in sunny ol' England there's almost nothing.

I couldn't even coax one of the movie theater staff into selling me one of the posters they had up... After the 31st!

Walther PPK · November 2008

Yes I noticed that thier seems to be a lack of Merch in the US epsicialy other than the film's soundtrack, the video game and the book Bond on Set there is almost nothing to for me to add to my collection. I still can not believe that Sideshow has yet to any action figure for QOS or Casino Royale, even if the figures are not perfect I like them alot.

PoorMansJB · November 2008

The Mantis wrote:

Nightshooter, the best marketing campaigns do what's called hyper-marketing, that is to say pre-heating the consumer for products around an event like a movie. Once the film premieres you have an 80% drop of interest after 2 weeks, so the window for those that have tie-ins is short.

Historically, though, the Bond films really aren't party to this (especially in the US), in large part because EON is so slow in approving licensees (though I don't think we're going to see anything after-the-fact with this film either, not to the degree we saw it was CR, anyway).

For a host of reasons, the SONY promotion on CR failed in the US and the product placement this time is even less apparent on-screen so I don't think we'll see much of anything in America. SONY's QoS push in the UK is pretty inescapable but I think that owes more to the nature of their mobile phone market than product tie-ins per se.

Even the Harrod's windows struck me as sort of oddly non-specific this time 'round. Yes, they're clearly Bond-inspired, but it's just pretty, expensive stuff, with only a few identifiable items clearly linked to the film.

That said, the Smirnoff campaign is pretty inexplicable regardless. Euro/UK-centric I could understand ... but Duty Free shops only?! Exactly what market segment are they after?!

The Mantis wrote:

But like you I still have hope! REALLY wishing that on November 14th I walk into stores and it's raining QoS...:)

I can tell you it ain't exactly raining QoS in the UK ... and that's frankly the bigger market relative to promotion (not necessarily the bigger market financially, just the market with bigger and more diverse Bond-related promotion in general). The film wasn't even making the cover of many newspapers and magazines (there was a startling lack of coverage the morning after the premiere) as the Bonds normally do.

Bond was still more omnipresent (see below) there than any of us will ever experience in the US, but as I've posted previously, this title is just not going to drive retailers, et al, the way the last few films have ... whether by choice or for want of opportunity.

Here's just one example of something we'd never see in the US for Bond (and the movie isn't even playing in the theatre!):

It completely encircled the building!

superado · November 2008

BTW, where are the larger scale diecasts for QoS?

PoorMansJB · November 2008

superado wrote:

BTW, where are the larger scale diecasts for QoS?

As far as I know, the ERTL/Joyride license expired and the 1/18 scale product is now with Corgi. But given the whole MR/Hornby/Corgi interchange, that could take awhile. The CR figures originally due out a few months ago are now being touted for next summer.

BTW Superado, could you PM me? Will be in your area over the coming weekend.

dak212us · January 2009

I know I'm late to throw in my opinion but:

I don't see any concerted effort among the licensees and The film group to work together to get products out there.

For example, In the US you can take a look at Lucasfilm who in past years has taken actors and gone to San Diego Comic-Con with all it's Licensees including Lego, Hasbro, Sideshow, Gentle Giant, video game companies and even the company who produce the James Bond poker set (they exhibited star wars poker sets). They use this as a springboard to unveil their products together in the U.S. to over 120,000 of the most die hard film fans and collectors and generate huge buzz.

In addition, Daniel Craig not letting them License an action figure of him to Sideshow hurt.
Sideshow's extremely successful but their Bond line is dieing since CR because of this and maybe Sideshow would've started Bond replicas as they've begun with other film properties.

Bond fans have to hunt down scraps of info on every new product. Most film collectors know nothing about Bond stuff. I have friends who collect star wars, star trek, Indiana Jones, Transformers and other film properties. They know nothing about any Bond products because they'd only know of them by being on this forum.

Small properties like Joss Whedon's Firefly, Buffy the Vampire slayer and the Battlestar Galactica TV series have stronger licensed items today then Bond. Not because they have more fans but because there is more promotion within media and at shows that crosses-fan groups and generate excitement.

They're not tapping into the wider fan market of mainstream film collecting to make Bond Licenses succesful.

Walther PPK · February 2009

If only EON had some of us working on marketing QOS then chances are there would be more stuff out there. Oh well I still have lots of other stuff from the older films that I have had my eye getting in the mean time.

Youknowthename · February 2009

Walther PPK wrote:

If only EON had some of us working on marketing QOS then chances are there would be more stuff out there. Oh well I still have lots of other stuff from the older films that I have had my eye getting in the mean time.

Agreed, and I've been spending on old merchandise too. That's mostly money not floating into EON's pockets though....

Minichamps for instance are releasing a set and single models months after QoS premiered....8-)
Besides that, promotion by Omega, Smirnoff, Heineken etc. has been shattered too much worldwide to create maximum result, which is sort of amateurish.

Lack of merch

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