Lenovo taps product placement strategy in latest Transformers movie

In the movie, 'Brains' - complete with its own character traits, voice, temperament and life - transforms into a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge Plus laptop. Ogilvy Entertainment Beijing helped Lenovo negotiate the deal and worked with OgilvyOne Beijing to create a 360-degree marketing campaign that aims to convey the excitement and spirit of the brand’s role in the film.

Lenovo explains that Brains' courage, perseverance and determination to take on challenges in the movie epitomises the energy and vitality of the ThinkPad.

The Transformers cartoon series is popular in China and is one of the reasons Lenovo chose to promote its product through the movie.

Song Qi, senior marketing communications manager at Lenovo's commercial business unit in China, pointed out that product placement in the Transformers movie was part of its global branding strategy and planned expansion. 

"This film really resonates with Chinese audiences as many people that grew up watching the Transformers cartoons also represent the ideal ThinkPad customer,” she added.

Ogilvy & Mather Beijing's entertainment marketing director Didi Zhang said, “Successful cases of branded content and product placements go beyond a simple display of a product or logo. They bring the brand or product to life and integrate it into the film or story in a meaningful way. From the start, we didn’t want the ThinkPad to be obtrusive or distracting; our goal was to make it relevant to the movie so that it would be memorable to viewers.”

The latest Transformers movie has seen a number of Chinese product tie-ups, including dairy giant Yili in China, paper company Double A in Hong Kong, and KFC in Singapore.