Shaken but not stirred...

Bond is back and with him a whole trail of advertising, product endorsements and no doubt some not-so- subtle brand placements in the film itself. Bond may be the best when it comes to getting the women and putting the world to rights, but the whole Bond franchise still leads the way when it comes to using a brand and image to sell a whole load of product.

I can remember being invited some years ago by Smirnoff to a special screening for the release of Goldeneye. The packed cinema cheered at the exact moment when Robbie Coltrane, playing some dodgy Russian businessman, offers Bond a vodka and twists the bottle around on his desk to show for a fleeting couple of seconds the famous Smirnoff red label.

Take a look at all the advertising in this week's papers and glossy magazines and there is a whole raft of brands associated with the film plugging their wares, from Virgin Airways flights to Sony high-definition TVs.

But there is much to be learnt from the whole Bond machine. Using a central theme or generic imagery to promote a whole category is something the drinks industry could use to great effect.

OK, the various wine generics and bodies behind individual drinks categories such as Champagne, gin, port or Cognac may not have the money to back a Bond film, but there are many ways of skinning a commercial cat.

Taking a central image or message, say for port, which all the port houses and brands could use in their marketing, might help in getting through to the consumer.

Could a central generic message or image not be incorporated subtly into the advertising of major brands from that region or drinks category? A Bond-like inversion of some product placement if you like. Cape Town's Table Mountain, for example, is already used by big South African brands like Kumala, Namaqua and First Cape on their labels.

It may be the closest we will ever get to the world of Bond.

Richard Siddle is the editor of Harpers magazine.

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