Film: Brave
Brands Spotted: 0 (if you don't count Scotland)
Standout Placement: N/A
Most Memorable Placement (positive): N/A
Most Memorable Placement (negative): N/A
Overall Product Placement Integration Grade (1-10): N/A
Comments: Some critics have called Brave, Disney/Pixar's new film, formulaic. It's an easy conclusion to reach. The idea behind Brave appears to be taking the popularity of young women archers (cue The Hunger Games, and already a Brave-themed attraction at Disney Parks), pinching some themes from other recent popular franchises (How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek), updating the Disney Princess juggernaut, and wrapping the whole thing in the aura of an earlier epic Scottish tale of bravery (Braveheart*). But Brave's guts aren't the only formulaic element of the film.Continue reading...

Disney Pixar's latest film Brave opens today and promises to clean up at the box office. The film's official partner, Visit Scotland, is hoping audiences will want to "Experience the land that inspired Disney-Pixar’s Brave" (even as the Atlanta Braves have their legal issues with the movie).

Brave's opening means that Madagascar 3, the nation's top film for two weeks running, is about to be forgotten until DVD time. As Madagascar 3 pushes off, and with Brave's Scotland tie-in in mind, we have one nagging question before it goes: why the hit animated franchise failed to make the obvious marketing tie-in with New York's Central Park Zoo? Continue reading...

Disney recently held its first National Princess Week in the U.S. with Julie Andrews and Target as the co-sponsor, and it's gearing up for its next generation of princess in the new girl-power Pixar movie that opens on June 18th: Brave, the story of "the heroic journey of Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald), a skilled archer and headstrong daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson)."

And despite the recent resignation of the creator of the Disney Princess product line and critics such as author Peggy Orenstein (her book's title says it all: "Cinderella Ate My Daughter") of the view of womanhood that Disney Princess represents, the female dream team at Disney is bigger than ever overseas. With that in mind, all young Disney Princess lovers, start begging your parents to play a holiday trip to London — Harrods has announced a partnership with Disney that will have the princesses dominating the store’s windows when the Christmas holiday season hits.

Of course, the princesses won’t be wearing any old get-ups. They’ll be outfitted in dresses created by such designers as Oscar de la Renta, Versace, and Elie Saab, according to a press release from Harrods.Continue reading...

Add another brand to the roster suiting up for the NFL Draft tonight: Disney Pixar, which released this promo for its upcoming animated feature, Brave, with appropriate tongue-in-cheek references. The movie is scheduled for release on June 22.