It has been a Ford decade, with the brand appearing in 19 Number Ones in 2001 and 14 Number Ones in 2002. Through 2003 and 2004, Ford appearances decreased slightly, though the brand came back strong in 2005 and 2006. Ford has appeared in over 35 percent of all Number One films in the last six years (82 of 231 films). The next closest brand is Coca-Cola, having appeared in 20 percent fewer Number One films over that same period.

Ford might even be the film product of the century. In the early 1900s Ford sponsored films such as Keystone Coupe, naturally featuring Fords. According to Ford PR legend, the brand also sent the first-ever Model A to best-actress-of-her-time Mary Pickford, who reportedly returned an autograph signed "Mary Pick-A-Ford." To maintain its strength in the next century, Ford has created the Ford Global Brand Entertainment Group, charged with making sure we continue to see onscreen dominance by the auto brand.

For more on Ford onscreen, see its 2005 Brandcameo Award win.

Lastly, a moment of silence for the passing of the original Ford Taurus, which will be the new name of the midsize sedan formerly known as the Five Hundred. From 1987's RoboCop to 2006's Cars, the sometimes background prop, sometimes star, will be sorely missed.

Brandcameo 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award for Product Placement: Everlast
Boxing-equipment brand Everlast has made itself an onscreen necessity for the very reason that it is an off-screen one. Since its founding in 1910, the gold and red has been in countless films in a countless range of roles.

Most recently Everlast's product placement recognition involved its very heavy role in 2005's reality TV show The Contender. Nielsen Media Research cited Everlast's TV presence as so considerable as to put the brand in contention with product-placement heavyweights like Coca-Cola, Ford, and GM. But the truth is that Everlast had moved out of those brands' league long ago. If seamlessness and reality are two of the goals of product placement, it's difficult to think of a better brand than Everlast.

Name a boxing film and there's a better-than-not chance there's an Everlast appearance. Requiem for a Heavyweight? Yes. Raging Bull? Yes. Ali, Cinderella Man, and The Hurricane? You bet. Million Dollar Baby? Cinnte!

In 2006 alone, Annapolis, Black Dahlia and Scary Movie 4 included Everlast appearances. And then of course there is the boxing movie champion of them all: It only made sense that the brand that carried Rocky through his 1976 debut would also co-star in his 2006 exit, Rocky Balboa. Everlast even released a line of branded Rocky gear to commemorate their 20 years together.

The Coca-Cola Kid Award for Achievement in Title: The Devil Wears Prada
The 1985 film The Coca-Cola Kid celebrated one man's struggle with a Coca-Cola franchise. This award celebrates achievement not only in a branded film title, but also in fully incorporating the title brand product in the plot. Former winners include Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Because of Winn-Dixie.

It remains unknown what, if any, effect the Devil Wears Prada title will have on the Prada brand but it's notable that all contenders for this year's award found their brands in a less than welcome characterization, including United 93 and Grounding—Die Letzten Tage der Swissair.

(Worth mentioning: While Devil Wears Prada prominently featured a slew of brands, including Apple, there were very few complaints in the media or online about any of it being "too much" as happened with the less-branded Casino Royale.)

The E.T./Reese's Award for Achievement in Press Coverage: Casino Royale
Mentioning "product placement" and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, often prefaced by terms like "since" or "beginning with," is a prerequisite for product-placement commentaries. Google produces about 1.45 million results for "product placement." Of these, about 321,000 also reference the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. This award goes to the placement receiving the most overall attention in 2006.

With over 586,000 Google results (as of January 31, 2006—including a New Yorker magazine mention!) the winner is James Bond's Casino Royale. More on which later.

Brandcameo 2006 Wayne's World Award for Product Placement Placement: Thank You for Smoking
Well before its time, the film Wayne's World openly skewered product placement (YouTube it here). This award recognizes achievements in winking at the entire enterprise.

Given its over-the-top mockery of brand sponsorship, Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby would certainly seem the logical choice. But even Will Ferrell was no match for Thank You for Smoking, in which an entire subplot consists of our intrepid hero working out a detailed and absurd (yet not quite absurd enough) scheme to put cigarettes into the hands of today's hottest celebrities.

Brandcameo 2006 Award for Best Supporting Support: Belstaff
Studies show that only about 20 percent of an audience exposed to onscreen products can recall particular brands. To capitalize on onscreen roles, brands must employ support measures.

Appearing in four of 2006's most successful and critically acclaimed films (Superman Returns, The Departed, Mission Impossible 3, and X-Men 3), jacket maker Belstaff knows that its brand isn't always easy to identify. To help us look more like Leo (if at least from the neck down) Belstaff has created a site not only highlighting its film appearances but also matching the particular jackets to the films.

Brandcameo 2006 Award for Impact: Night at the Museum
With accountability and ROI crucial to the growth (and acceptance) of the product-placement field, no film in 2006 had a greater immediately measurable impact than Night at the Museum. In the first ten days after the film's release, attendance at the American Museum of Natural History, in which the fictitious story is set, increased by 20 percent.

Brandcameo 2006 Cleo McDowell "My Buns Have No Seeds" Award: Fast Food Nation
The 1988 film Coming to America features a famous plotline pitting the Golden Arches and Big Mac of McDonald's against the Golden Arcs and Big Mick of "McDowell's." This award recognizes the spirit of McDowell's.

Last year's Fast Food Nation featured a subtle-as-Fox-News fictitious fast-food brand called "Mickey's." Given the unsavory nature of the plot's less-than-golden arc(s), we can understand why no real brand would want this placement.

Brandcameo 2006 Award for Breakthrough Performance: Marc Jacobs
In 2006, designer Marc Jacobs allowed his Manhattan boutique to be used as a set for the high-end, very-X adult film La Dolce Vita (yes, the same name as the 1960 Fellini film). The provision? His eponymous brand would be visible. The film also features actors in Marc Jacobs couture. (Jacobs even attended the premiere.)

(Worth mentioning: Porno product placement, while nothing groundbreakingly new, may be getting a boost on both ends of the quality spectrum. See: The Porno Marketing company, the link to which is not even remotely safe for work unless you work for Larry Flint or a Congressman.)

Brandcameo 2006 Chicken Little Award: Casino Royale (Specifically) and James Bond (In General)
The 41 Number One films in 2006 produced 863 brands, or 21 brands per film. Adjusting for films in which brands could not logically appear (e.g., Apocalypto/Pirates of the Caribbean) the average was 23.4 brands per film.

Also noteworthy is that just five of these Number One films accounted for nearly 230 (or 25 percent) of all brands. Such films include Talladega Nights (with 89) and Big Momma's House 2 (with 58). This means that the overall average for a contemporary-set film was even lower.

Meanwhile, Casino Royale produced the slightly above-average 25 brands. And yet it was derided (remember, in the New Yorker even) for overboard product placement. This attention has been a fate suffered by all recent James Bond films. But in fact, the last four James Bond films ('97, '99, '02, and '06) have averaged just 17.5 visible brands per film. This is well below the average for any contemporary-set action film during that time.

(Worth Mentioning: The Departed is getting Oscar buzz while featuring double the number of brands as Casino Royale.)

(Worth Mentioning—The Sequel: The hyper-critically acclaimed and award-nominated Children of Men featured almost zero brands—despite it being a futurescape in which some manner of business still functioned and one would have to assume advertising would still be of at least marginal use given that consumerism was still functioning—except for Bell's whiskey, which had more than one very prominent scene. Mentions of Bell's by the New Yorker: zero. Mentions of this anywhere on the Internet that this committee could find: zero.)

Brandcameo 2006 Award for Not Being Placed: De Beers and Blood Diamond
Award requires no further exposition.

Brandcameo 2006 Repo Man Award for a Better Product Placement Future: New Media Strategies
One of the identifying characteristics of 1984 cult hit Repo Man was its extensive and intentional use of generic product packages, including cans marked "beer" and "food." This award recognizes work in the field of trying to make it clear that this should not happen unintentionally.

A late-2006 survey by New Media Strategies studied product placement conversations on over 40 websites (including Google and Yahoo! Groups, IMDb.com, Television Without Pity, and Ain't It Cool News.) The results showed that more than 68 percent of the comments regarding product placement were either positive or neutral.

More importantly, New Media Strategies vice president of marketing Sam Huxley told the Hollywood Reporter, "It's not just marketers putting out the line that product placement increases realism. People online are saying fake products are more distracting." (Emphasis ours.)

How We Do What We Do
A total of 41 films were Number One during respective weeks at the US box office in 2006.

Several films reigned for more than one week, such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Ice Age 2, while others such as Invincible and Saw 3 dropped quickly from sight. In these films, brandchannel spotted 863 brands. This works out to approximately 21 discernable brands per film, an increase over last year's 20 brands per film and the highest per-film number in the last five years (13.3 brands per film in 2004; 17.5 in 2003; 17 per film in 2002). The low ratio in 2004 is because several Number One films, including those during a stretch from early May through mid-June (Van Helsing, Troy, Shrek 2, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) had no placements at all.

(And also note that these ratios may differ from what we printed in previous Brandcameo Awards reports. We often receive suggestions of placements we might have missed, and the numbers are updated accordingly.)

No two brand appearances in a film are equal. Nobody would argue that Apple's multiple, prominent placements in Accepted are equal to those of McDonald's in Just My Luck. Measuring product placement value and impact continues to be very subjective.

Our margin of error is dependent on films seen in the theater versus DVD. While tracking brands on DVD is easier than tracking brands on the big screen, the benefit of tracking in theatres is that if the brand placement doesn't make an impact on those of us actively looking for it, chances are it isn't registering with the audience much at all.