The Devil Wears Prada 2: Mercedes-Maybach’s Star Function

When Miranda Priestly, the fictional Runway editrix in The Devil Wears Prada 2, must get someplace — a gathering, a photograph shoot, a Met Gala-like ball — she is chauffeured in a automobile befitting her Wintourian standing: a $300,000 Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. This isn’t any coincidence. Mercedes positioned the automobile there as a part of an intensive promotional marketing campaign it negotiated with Disney, which produced the movie.

“We knew it was the perfect fit,” says Mercedes chief advertising officer Melody Lee. Not solely did the unique solid return, practically guaranteeing a field workplace juggernaut (it’s soared above $400 million globally), the film can be launched concurrent with the launch of the newest iteration of Mercedes’ range-topping limo. Also, the movie’s demographic aligned. According to Lee, the viewers of the unique film, which got here out twenty years in the past, “have grown up and become our target customers.”

Automakers and studios preserve branded leisure groups that keep in shut contact to hunt mutually helpful alternatives. Ideally, the method begins nicely earlier than manufacturing in order that the product placement doesn’t really feel laughably tacked on however slightly organically labored in.

“Cars aren’t just background. They tell us just as much about a character as their costume and environment,” says Ty Ervin, vp advertising partnerships, inventive and product placement at Disney.

Carefully deliberate collaborations “allow the integration to extend far beyond the screen,” Ervin says. In the case of TDWP2, this meant intensive Mercedes advert campaigns that includes the automobile and its filmic connection, a part of an effort to raise the sequel’s profile and assist it — and its autos — change into what Lee hoped can be “a huge cultural moment.”

Other automobile producers make use of this similar course of. According to Sarah Schrode, who headed leisure advertising for General Motors, Chevrolet labored carefully with 2023’s Barbie to assist introduce its 2024 Blazer SS and Hummer EVs, which had been respectively pushed by America Ferrera’s and Ryan Gosling’s characters. It additionally revived its Mattel “Dream Car” heritage by offering Margot Robbie’s titular character with a classic pink Corvette.

But within the realm of automotive product placement, nobody can compete with James Bond. According to Alessandro Usielli, head of Ford international model leisure, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford have all labored with the Bond franchise to introduce new fashions by offering automobiles for the superspy, his coterie of comely conquests and his villainous adversaries.

Not each placement you see onscreen is on the market — and even road-safe. According to Disney’s Ervin, Porsche collaborated on the starship design for the 2019 Star Wars spinoff, The Rise of Skywalker. And Lee notes that in 2025’s F1, Mercedes acted as in-film sponsor of Brad Pitt’s fictional Apex racing crew and supplied a fleet of onscreen autos. The three-pointed star model even labored two of its automobiles into the latest hit cartoon GOAT.

“You wouldn’t think Mercedes-Benz would be in an animated movie, but it’s part of our strategy to reach the next generation,” says Lee.

Movie partnerships create affinity, relevancy, relatability and, finally, gross sales, Lee says. “In one study, three-quarters of viewers searched for a brand after seeing a placement, and more than half went on to buy a product from that brand.”

Even, or particularly, in an period of diminishing field workplace returns, such partnerships stay key. “Product placement is unskippable, unblockable and lives on in long-tail streaming,” says Schrode. Still, with viewers fragmentation, shorter consideration cycles and decreased attendance, placements must be extra iconic. “The bar is higher now. Many times, I’m looking for known IP or very innovative new IP,” she provides.

These challenges have pushed automakers and studios to assume extra holistically about placement. “Instead of a one-off, we build an ecosystem around it,” says Schrode. This contains social content material, behind-the-scenes footage, partnerships with expertise and digital experiences that join onscreen moments to the model’s world.

“When it’s done right, we see incredible amplification,” says Schrode. “The Barbie partnership for GM saw 10 times the engagement on social media than any other posts in the history of the company. That’s a pretty powerful stat.”

This story appeared within the May 20 problem of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click here to subscribe.