Brands on the Big Screen – Marketing Lessons from Popular Movies

Katie Robertson – Public Relations Account Executive

Great marketing is absolute cinema… sometimes literally. For decades, companies have taken advantage of high-profile Hollywood blockbusters for visibility, building their branding into the movie, or, in some cases, building a movie around their branding.

These four movies go beyond product placement, putting a brand front and center as the key focus of the plot. All four performed well, both among critics and at the box office, and the brand strategy exhibited by each of them was key in cementing that success.

The Lego Movie – Customer-Centric Branding

To someone who’s never experienced the brand before, the boxed kits and instructions that LEGO sells and the anti-conformity plot of The Lego Movie may seem to be in direct contradiction with each other. However, that’s exactly what makes the movie so impactful.

The movie’s heroes are set apart by their creativity, going beyond the instructions to mix and match kits and make solutions to combat the perfectionist villains and save the day. This movie could have easily gone the other way around and made the heroes the characters who stuck to the rules in the package, building order out of chaos, but it didn’t. By making the choice it did and aligning with customers’ lived experiences rather than the product, LEGO strengthened brand love without feeling like an ad. Instead of selling features and exercising control, it made a movie based on stories, feelings and empowerment that spoke to child and adult fans alike.

Key Marketing Takeaway: To achieve customer centricity, the spotlight needs to be on the customers’ stories and capabilities.

Apollo 13 – Credibility and Trust

When making a movie based on a true story, it can be tempting to play into the drama and sensationalize what really happened. Apollo 13 exemplifies why doing just the opposite can provide both a better story and earn more trust for the central brand.

Throughout the film, the focus remains on the astronaut’s competence under pressure, not the pressure itself. The problems that arise are solved with data, expertise and calm, and none of the issues that occurred in the real mission are exaggerated to raise the stakes for the movie. That restraint adds credibility to NASA’s real-life role in the story and cements the brand’s reliability, transparency, technical ability and accountability. Viewers are easily able to translate their belief in NASA’s credibility to solve the problems in the film to NASA’s credibility to solve the problems it faces in the real world.

Key Marketing Takeaway: Trust is earned through demonstrated competence and honesty, not flashy heroics and over-promising.

Top Gun – Status Sells

After the release of Top Gun in 1986 and its sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, in 2022, recruitment in the U.S. Navy spiked dramatically. In fact, the movie drove so much demand that the Navy set up booths outside theaters to take advantage of audience enthusiasm. The impact these movies had for the brand at the center was unparalleled, and marketing principles offer a clear reason why.

The Top Gun movies take abstract benefits often associated with the U.S. armed forces, like elite training and serving your country, and translate them into concrete desires: speed, status and belonging to an elite group. Tom Cruise’s character Maverick isn’t like other heroes. As the name would imply, he plays by his own rules and trusts instincts over authority. With the addition of some hard-earned lessons and discipline, these traits help Maverick find success and elevate him to an elite status. For people who see themselves as a bit of a maverick, Top Gun introduced them to a path they may not have known existed, and the strategy used by the Navy to capitalize on that momentum drove measurable results.

Key Marketing Takeaway: Sales activation works when audiences connect with the brand and have a clear path to action.

Barbie – Core Identity, Modern Reinvention

No one could escape Barbie in the summer of 2023, and the all-encompassing cultural takeover was a critical part of what makes this movie a masterclass in branding. Barbie’s marketing leaned into experiential tactics, inviting fans to join in on the fun and embrace their own inner Barbie through social media campaigns, fashion, music, memes and more.

Not only was this strategy relevant to modern audiences and effective to sell tickets, but it also played into the core theme of the movie. In the film, the protagonist goes through a bit of an identity crisis and comes out the other end with the realization that she can be whoever she wants to be. It was a fitting message for a doll famous for her dozens of designs and careers, but it was also an impactful takeaway to reassure viewers in their own self-identity. For decades, Barbie as a brand has represented ideals of femininity. This film leaned into the feminine tenants that made up the brand, while also broadening the definition for the challenges, imperfections and diversity of the modern world. In both its marketing and its message, Barbie was an invitation to embrace community and confidence.

Key Marketing Takeaway: Brands win when they evolve without abandoning their core identity.