Brands line up for final slice of Harry Potter

By Maisie McCabe, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 08:55AM

Anchor butter, LG and Audi are among the brands that have seized the chance to advertise during the opening week of the final Harry Potter film, released on 15 July and expected to deliver 4.9 million impacts.

Harry Potter: brands line up for final film

According to cinema sales house DCM, ad slots in the first weekend of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2' are already booked up and spots have been snapped up faster than for all previous Potter films.

Audi, the premium car brand, will run its special 150-second Le Mans ad by Bartle Bogle Hegarty before the film, while Anchor, LG and Kellogg's Krave will advertise in 3D during the first week.

The Audi ad, which features Allan McNish who thankfully walked away from an horrific accident during the Le Mans 24-hour race last weekend, will run for the week beginning 15 July.

The three short ads will run for a further four weeks. Carat has booked the 3D Anchor ad to run during the first week, while Mindshare has booked the LG ad to run until mid-August.

Other brands advertising around 'Deathly Hallows: Part 2' include milk brand Cravendale, with media by Carat, and EA Games, with media planning and buying by MediaCom.

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2' is expected to generate £29.4m in ticket sales in its first week, and DCM estimates it will deliver 4.9 million impacts for brands advertising before it.

Simon Rees, managing director at DCM, said: "This Harry Potter is the most anticipated film of the decade and we aren’t surprised brands have been so keen to reach such a huge audience.

"We've had a fantastic run of films lately with 'Hangover 2,' 'Pirates' and 'X-Men' all attracting large numbers of cinemagoers, so it looks like this summer will break records and we'll see a similar picture in the autumn."

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk