Chapter 808: Crazy Product Placement

"In Snow White and the Huntsman, Charlize Theron handed the director a perfect answer sheet. The queen she played was truly breathtaking and flawless. In comparison, Kristen Stewart's version of Snow White looked like a clay-sculpted loser. Keeping the same expression from beginning to end was one thing, but minor flaws like her eye bags and buck teeth were infinitely magnified."

"The princess is more beautiful than the queen? Magic Mirror, do you have cataracts? The voluptuous, glamorous, and intimidating queen completely crushed the big-mouthed, dead-eyed, and seemingly underdeveloped vampire Snow White. I bet Chris Hemsworth's cup size is bigger than hers! I've already fallen at the hem of the Dark Queen's raven dress..."

Returning to work, Duke also checked the reviews for Snow White and the Huntsman. They were absolutely perfect for a relaxing laugh between his intense work sessions.

Although filming had been going on for many days, Duke didn't have much private interaction with the actors outside of work. The two sides existed on entirely different levels, and unless necessary, those actors wouldn't come to disturb him.

As one of the actual bosses of the film, Duke wasn't stupid enough to mingle closely with the people working for him.

Just like Black Widow, the vast majority of the other actors' action scenes would also be done by stunt doubles. To this end, the crew prepared three doubles for every lead actor. As long as there wasn't a close-up on their face, you could hardly tell them apart from the actors themselves. Throw in some post-production touch-ups, and they would look exactly like the real Avengers.

For people like Robert Downey Jr., the most they had to do in front of the camera was show their faces.

As Duke continued filming, Marvel Pictures and Warner Brothers never slacked on the promotional marketing for The Avengers. Recently, they had even employed some unconventional methods to grab attention.

In late October, a piece of news was wildly retweeted online, drawing fierce media speculation—the script for The Avengers had been leaked!

If a film hadn't even been released yet but its script was already leaked, how severe would the impact be? Unimaginable! Under the careful planning of Marvel Pictures and Warner Brothers, the "script" of The Avengers was exposed and openly auctioned on the internet. This incident easily shifted the public's gaze back onto The Avengers.

The incident stemmed from an email where the sender claimed to hold a full 129-page movie script for The Avengers, with the owning actor's name printed on every single page. After being asked to provide evidence to prove he wasn't just spouting nonsense, the email's owner posted two photos, exposing the actor who had lost the script. It was none other than the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Samuel Jackson!

This section was written on May 8th of that year, and the signature of "Duke Rosenberg" starkly displayed on the paper also confirmed its authenticity.

The media and fans immediately exploded into discussion. Many people waiting to watch a good show hoped the email's owner would release more script content rather than just two pages, so that the smoothly sailing Duke Rosenberg and Warner Brothers would take a massive fall...

However, the entire incident was just a marketing stunt. How could Marvel Pictures and Warner Brothers shoot themselves in the foot?

"The latest news from our publication: the author of the leaked script email for The Avengers currently stated that this is the only copy and he will not make any more, but no one has placed a bid yet. Whether Samuel Jackson will be in trouble remains unknown. As of now, Warner Brothers and Marvel Pictures have yet to make any response."

It dragged on for a full week across the internet and other media. Like any other news, the leaked script of The Avengers inevitably began to cool down, and the copy online still hadn't been sold. Right at this moment, Duke's crew issued a response, drawing eyes back to The Avengers.

At a routine crew press conference, Duke announced that Samuel Jackson himself had paid to buy back the leaked script. Duke stated he would pause the film's production and summon the screenwriters to rewrite the leaked portions of the script.

"How will you prevent the script from leaking again?" a reporter asked.

"To prevent any further accidents with The Avengers script, starting last week, all scripts are being escorted by security guards. They will no longer be forwarded via email."

This was all just hype, and Duke tossed out another shocking statement.

"I demand that actors immediately burn the script after reading it."

After the press conference, the media's attention on The Avengers didn't wane in the slightest. They found a new, highly intriguing question: how were the actors supposed to memorize their lines?

To answer this, countless reporters and paparazzi circled Warner Studios. Anyone from The Avengers crew became a target of pursuit, even the janitors.

So, the actors of The Avengers naturally stepped forward and, at the appropriate time, answered this question for the media and the public.

Tom Hiddleston, who played Loki, revealed to a BBC reporter, "We have to burn the script for the day's shoot every day. It's very interesting... We aren't allowed to take the script home."

Robert Downey Jr. also spoke about the so-called security measures suddenly tightened during filming.

"Marvel has a very complete custody mechanism for everything. I've already signed a new non-disclosure agreement with them."

During an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, Chris Hemsworth, the actor playing Thor, said, "After signing the new non-disclosure agreement, Marvel stopped mailing scripts to actors via E-mail. Instead, they have two security guards specifically escort the scripts into the actors' hands."

This wave of hype didn't end there. Soon after, another media outlet leaked that Samuel Jackson's script wasn't lost on set; it was leaked because his apartment in Burbank was burglarized.

All sorts of related news kept surfacing, keeping people's attention on The Avengers.

The most important aspect of marketing was differentiation. Whether in product, packaging, channels, positioning, or branding, one had to stand out from competitors to remain invincible in the market. Looking at many products that suddenly rose to fame, they either pioneered a new category or did things differently from their rivals. In a modern society flush with media, only creative marketing could draw attention.

It wasn't just Marvel Pictures and Warner Brothers; the film's advertising sponsors were also helping promote The Avengers.

Like Duke's other films, The Avengers featured a massive amount of product placement. From cars to underwear, from banks to insurance companies, all kinds of brands emerged endlessly.

Inside a completed soundstage at Warner Studios, which served as the street for the final battle, various trademarks were plastered everywhere.

Ever since the standalone Iron Man, Tony Stark had always been the fans' favorite tall, rich, and handsome character. The sports car he drove was naturally a target of sponsor bidding. Also, in the script, when Iron Man returned to Stark Tower, he would put on a pair of bracelets at his private bar. Within the film's setting, these bracelets were the remote startup mechanism for the Iron Man Mark VII Armor. In reality, however, it was a meticulously designed product placement!

Colantotte was a famous Japanese magnetic health brand. The bracelets Iron Man would wear in The Avengers were a series specially designed by the brand for the film, priced at $199.

The brand's placement would also get a massive close-up shot in the movie—in the script, as Manhattan fell into a chaotic battle, alien artillery would blow up a store. That store had been allocated to this brand by the commercial development team.

During the subsequent filming, three Asian faces joined the cast. In an explosion scene, Duke placed them at the very front of a crowd fleeing in panic. These three were the brand's owner Katsumi Komatsu, his wife, and his daughter.

The reason for doing so was simple. Duke wasn't just the film's director; he was its biggest boss. And Colantotte had dropped 100 million dollars for this series of custom product placements in The Avengers.

It wasn't just Colantotte. That Manhattan battle would feature countless placements, including Citibank, the underwear brand Aussiebum, insurance companies, and more.

They would each appear in the form of street advertising signs.

For instance, the script had Iron Man crashing in front of a certain phone booth. The already constructed phone booth model bore a massive "Jansport" logo, a famous American backpack brand.

In the footage already shot, when the jet carrying Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow made an emergency landing on the street, it stopped right at the entrance of Citibank.

Just like the Transformers franchise, The Avengers also had Chinese brand placements. In the private jet set they had built, the television Pepper used to watch the live news broadcast clearly displayed the "TCL" logo.

In one of Scarlett's scenes shot earlier, before Black Widow made her entrance, a CG-added train would pass through the frame. The last two cars of the train featured red advertising posters for "Yili Guliduo."

The Avengers would have crazy product placement, but it wouldn't seem abrupt. The main placements all appeared on the film's vehicles and during the final battle on the streets of New York. This was a modern world, after all; it was perfectly normal for trademarks to appear on New York streets. The vehicles couldn't be criticized either—superheroes couldn't just rely on their own two legs to travel, right?

Even though The Avengers hadn't premiered yet, these product placements were enough for the crew to recoup the film's production budget. Such high advertising sponsorships also set a new record for Hollywood film ad revenues.

The advertisers' enthusiasm abruptly lowered the film's revenue pressure, but Duke still didn't slack off in the slightest during filming. After all, the success or failure of The Avengers would determine Marvel Comics' future development trends.