Brandchannel, a major online resource about branding, today revealed the winners of its fourth annual brandcameo Product Placement Awards.

Resisting economic slowdown and government opposition, the integration of advertising into different forms of entertainment continues to grow. For 2007, we tracked more brands per number one film than in each of the previous five years, said brandchannel editor Jim Thompson. The brandcameo Product Placement Awards spotlight the best and notorious of this practice, highlighting how they influence us outside of the theater

Brandcameo, the product placement tracker produced by brandchannel, has identified brand appearances in top films since 2001. For a comprehensive list of brand appearances in films in the last seven years, check out http://www.brandchannel.com/brandcameo_films.asp – you might be shocked to find some of your favourite films were actually powerful branding vehicles.

So while Monsters Inc. avoided any kind of product endorsements (apparently a Pixar policy), you couldnt move for the things in Sex and the City. There were over 90 different indirect product endorsements – its amazing they found time for a story!

But in the last year, its Ford that has come out on top, with its third brandcameo Award for Overall Product Placement for its consistent presence, appearing in 57.7 percent of number one films from 2007 to 2008.

Brandchannel’s global community of readers and branding experts selected the following winners in an online poll:

• Most Mouthwatering, placement most likely to prompt an immediate purchase: Louis Vuitton in Sex and the City
• Perfect Fit, best chemistry between a brand and a film: Manolo Blahnik and Sex and the City
• Welcome to Reality, fictional brand that you would most want in real life: Stark Industries in Iron Man
• Scene Stealer, brand that stole the spotlight from its human co-stars: Ford Mustang in I am Legend
• Bomb, placement that ruined enjoyment of a scene: Nokia in Cloverfield
• Odd Couple, most awkward and seemingly ineffective product placement: LG mobile phone in Iron Man
• Film Whore, film that most “sold out” for product placement: Sex and the City

Although Sex in the City was the clear choice as the film which ‘sold out’ for product placement, our readers also praised how it enhanced the desirability of featured luxury brands. Context is key in product placement, said Thompson. On the other hand, LG’s placement of an older model cell phone in the hands of Iron Man’s gadget fan Tony Stark simply failed to impress.

Take a look at the images below to see some of the product placements in situ, and watch the I Am Legend video clip to see the Ford Mustang Scene Stealer placement.

What do you think?

• Does this kind of product placement influence purchasing decisions?
• Is it as effective as more traditional above-the-line campaign initiatives?
• Are we going to see more of this kind of advertising in Australia now that TiVo and Foxtel IQ are providing dedicated PVR services to allow us to skip the ads?