For some, product placements are part of the pull to watch. One Emily in Paris premiere attendee in Paris told Vogue Business’s Laure Guilbault that they want to watch the series, in part, because they’re curious about the brands involved. This person works in fashion, but in 2025, this curiosity is no longer limited to those who work in the industry — just look at TikTok, where viewers dissect product placements and features as soon as a buzzy series drops. This heightened awareness means that brands — and studios — need to get placements right. So what’s the strategy?
Anti-ads
For years, brands incorporating products have been central to the creation of films. Only in the past, consumers were less attuned to the advertising mechanisms going on behind the scenes, as they were less fatigued by the constant marketing they’re subject to via media, social or otherwise.
To work in the current media environment, more than ever, product placements need to blend into and support the stories in which they’re included. It needs to feel like world-building, not a cameo, says Nikita Walia, strategy director at brand and venture studio Unnamed. “The best placements make sense for who the character is: they help you understand them, not remind you there was a marketing budget,” she says.
Emily in Paris seems to have got it right with its Fendi storyline. Here, there’s a narrative built around the brand. Main character Emily Cooper pitches the launch of city-specific Fendi Baguettes, with a “fake-but-real” bag for Los Angeles. “It’s very meta and self-referential. That’s where fashion is headed,” she tells her boss, Sylvie. The Fendi executives like the idea. That Emily is in Fendi’s home city of Rome this season makes it all the more fitting.
The play on dupe culture is tongue in cheek, and thus doesn’t feel overly produced. Product placements are, after all, at their best when they don’t take themselves too seriously, says Louis Pisano, author of the “Discoursted” Substack, like the Chanel makeup machine in The Fifth Element, or tap into emotion, like the heartfelt moment in Forrest Gump when the titular character receives a pair of Nikes. “The emotion needs to be on what’s happening in the scene — and then, ‘Oh look, it’s a brand!’, not ‘Oh…it’s a brand,’” he says.
