From Wicked laundry pods to The Devil Wears Prada Diet Coke: Movie brand collabs need to stop

When a new Hollywood blockbuster drops, you can pretty much guarantee it's coming with a brand collaboration or two. From Wicked Crocs to Devil Wears Prada Diet Coke, this growing branding tool is taking over the cinema sphere, making consumerism the hottest movie marketing trend of today.

Brand and movie collaborations aren't new; product placement has been around since the dawn of cinema, subconsciously inviting us to buy whatever exciting new product Hollywood stars are flaunting. Today, the world of movies and branding is a completely different story. It's bold, unapologetic and seemingly not going away anytime soon.

For some, the concept of slapping a movie IP on a brand might seem a little... sacrilegious. Is the art or cinema no longer sacred? Is film not safe from the clutches of consumerism? I regret to inform you that in some cases, it is not.

My ultimate branding pet peeve is a brand collab for the sake of it – take Coca-Cola's recent collab with The Devil Wears Prada 2. A custom Diet Coke can adorned with the signature pitchfork heel logo aims to capture the chic vibe of the movie – the result is a flat collaboration that feels tenuous and disjointed.

Or take the mountain of collabs that came with the Barbie movie, for example. Barbie makeup, Barbie hair products, fashion lines, ice cream, roller skates, rugs, toothpaste – it was all-out collab fatigue, with over 100 brands teaming up for the film's release. Both Wicked films followed a similar trend, leading to such an oversaturation of brand collabs that the film franchise was inescapable and alienating for some. Crocs, dish soap, mac and cheese, controversial dolls and more filled the shelves with pink and green (and little substance).

While I'd argue that many movie-brand collabs are manufactured for the sake of it, some collaborations make perfect use of the marketing medium. Take Marty Supreme's collaboration with Wheaties, inspired by the ping pong champs' iconic line, "it's only a matter of time before I'm staring at you from the cover of a Wheaties box." Authentically cheesy, retro and on brand, the collaboration was a perfect use of this marketing trend, leveraging playfulness and exclusivity to create a tangible brand experience.

It's not that brand collabs are inherently bad; it's just that many of them aren't strategically good. Pasting your IP over any ol' brand leads to an oversaturisation that quickly becomes tiring, but it works. The truth is, fans will flock to buy branded merchandise, even if it's as tenuous as Wicked-branded laundry pods. Do I think movie-brand collabs are going to cease? Absolutely not, but I'd love to see more campaigns that feel considered, rather than crude.

For more creative insight, check out these 8 branding mistakes that will make you seem amateur or take a look at how Gen Alpha is already transforming the branding sphere.