Aston Martin is lucky to still have James Bond

No Time To Die, the 25th James Bond film, releases October 8 in the US, and after seeing it, it’s a satisfying ending for Daniel Craig’s version of that character. The goal of James Bond is alcohol, spirit, guns and cars, not necessarily in that order. The purpose of modern James Bond films is also to sell products, like cars.

Everywhere you look in the new Bond, there is a product that the film is trying to sell. Not explicitly, of course, because it is not a simple advertisement, but implicitly, by product placement. The James Bond films are hardly unique, in this regard, but they are also some of the most egregious. In No Time To Die, for example, Bond uses a Nokia cell phone, which I initially thought was an odd choice (the world’s coolest secret agent uses a … Nokia?) Until what I realize that, of course, this is product placement.

Omega watches also appear. Then there are the cars: a Land Rover Series III, many modern Land Rover Defenders, Range Rover Sport SVR, Aston Martin DBS Superlegerra, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Aston Martin Valhalla, Jaguar XF, Maserati Quattroporte and what I think is a Triumph Bonneville. Oh, and there’s also an Aston Martin DB5.

AWhile typing this blog, I received an email from a marketing agency on behalf of Jaguar. It reads in part:

The Jaguar XF will demonstrate its exceptional performance and exhilarating driving dynamics in a thrilling chase streak in the new James Bond film No Time To Die in US theaters on October 8, 2021.

Shot in Matera, southern Italy, two XF sedans ply the city’s narrow, winding streets, crossing plazas and descending cobbled steps in pursuit of James Bond.

Both XFs are fitted with Jaguar’s all-wheel drive system with Intelligent Driveline Dynamics, which provided incredible levels of traction on low-grip surfaces as the goons at No Time To Die demonstrate that no streets are too small and no bends too tight.

Jaguar, who has the smallest presence of any automaker in the film, is still happy to have the presence he does, who comes from shows that the XF is capable of taking on James Bond and losing. For Jaguar, have their car used by the losers in history is a victory.

For Aston Martin, it’s much more important than that, as there is a strong argument to be made that without the James Bond franchise there simply is no Aston Martin given all the attention. free or not so free as the Bond films have given over the past decades. And while Bond actually started out with a Bentley, Ian Fleming later gave him an Aston Martin DB Mark III, updated to the DB5 for the Goldfinger shoot.

The DB5 was the first Aston Martin in a Bond film and, of course, far from the last; almost half of all Bond films have had Aston Martins. The DB5 is the James Bond’s car, however, and its heavy use in No Time To Die probably cements this for good.

One thing that DB5 doesn’t, really, that’s all for the modern Aston Martin. There are plenty of new Astons in No Time To Die, of course, although none with the lead role in DB5, clear evidence in my mind to believe Neil Layton, an action vehicle supervisor on the movie at who I spoke to, who told me that ultimately the final decision on everything, including the cars, rests with Cary Joji Fukunaga, the director of the film.

Layton said that after I asked how much the cinema and the automakers have collaborated because, of course, they have to, to some extent; No Time To Die’s production actually used two classic DB5s, in addition to eight Aston Martin-built replicas to do stunts. According to the manufacturing notes:

Two of the eight vehicles were built as gadget cars to house the smoke screen, mine distributor, and machine guns. Of the other six, two others were fitted with pods that allow stuntmen to control the car while seated on the roof. This made it possible to film the actors inside the car when it is moving at high speed.

Narratively, the DB5 works too, because in No Time To Die, Daniel Craig’s Bond is old and, at first, retired, and the DB5 in 2021 is a car for old people and retirees. A much younger colleague of Bond in the film, meanwhile, drives a DBS Superlegerra, a car for young people and retirees, or at least a young working secret agent.

All of this product placement, in any case, isn’t just meant to help sell cars per se. Ask a marketing professor for a little time about the inherent value of branding, which is also mostly the goal of Formula 1, which spends a lot of money just to get your brand into the market. conversation. Most people who see No Time To Die will never buy a new Omega or Aston Martin, but the advantage is in the pairing.

And for an Aston Martin who is backed by a canadian billionaire these days, it’s a bit lucky to still have this. Bond will likely live forever, but it’s still an open question whether Aston will. I wondered aloud to Layton if Bond would still be driving a DB5 in 50 years, and, probably because it’s above his pay grade, he didn’t speculate. In any case, I hope not. No Time To Die is an excellent farewell for Craig but also for the DB5. Sooner or later on everything we must turn the page.