Brand Partnerships Will Foot The Bill For 1/3 of 007's Production Budget

Many James Bond fans are up in arms over reports that 007 will be ditching the martini for a fresh Heineken, but really, this is just the beginning in the run-up to the launch of SKYFALL, the 23rd film in the James Bond franchise set to launch this Fall. Word is that MGM and distributor Sony are in the process of lining up $45 million in product placement for the film, which would more than double the previous record for product placement of $20 million in "Minority Report." $45 million also comes out to about one-third of the film's total production budget and 45 times the production budget of Dr. No, the first film in the series.

As for Heineken, the Dutch beer brand will run a wide range of promotion and activation rights in and around the film, including, for the first time, having the participation of James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, in the brand's worldwide campaign. It will also leverage its global relationships with Facebook and Google to initiate digital conversations about SKYFALL amongst its adult consumers. The partnership will be activated in more than 170 countries around the world.

"When two great brands like Heineken(R) and James Bond join together, excitement is guaranteed. We are proud of our long standing partnership," said Alexis Nasard, Chief Commercial Officer, HEINEKEN. "The trust that we have built has allowed us to take the partnership to a new level by linking SKYFALL directly with our award winning global 'Open Your World' campaign. We are confident our activation plan will ignite the conversation with our consumers and film viewers."

"The level of collaboration with Heineken(R) is unprecedented," added SKYFALL producers, Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. "We are excited by the global reach and the creativity that the Heineken team is able to deliver."

Heineken will launch its marketing campaign to support the partnership with James Bond in September.