SMART

Ever wonder how a $100,000 watch ended up on Jon Bernthal's wrist in The Accountant 2?

We put it there. Here is how we did it.

The watch is the Jacob & Co. Palatial Classic, worn by Braxton, Jon Bernthal's character. Through our ongoing dialogue with our production contacts, we spoke with the production to promote our brand clients, and they were looking for an impressive timepiece for the role. We presented Jacob & Co. options to the prop master, coordinated the fittings with wardrobe, and shipped the watch for on-screen use. We also provided a second piece as a double, for stunt work and as a backup for continuity.

From there, it became part of Braxton. The Palatial Classic appears across multiple scenes, totaling more than eight minutes of screen time, and is named directly in the dialogue. The Accountant 2 reached roughly 80 million viewers in the first month on Prime Video after a successful theatrical run. By our own media value model, the placement generated more than $8 million in value.

Few brands ever see how a placement like this comes together. The conversations start early, months before a frame is shot, while the character is still being built on the page. You build a relationship with the people dressing that character: the prop masters and costume designers. You bring options good enough to belong in the story, then you make it easy to say yes, with fittings, doubles, and the right piece in hand before the camera rolls. None of it is guaranteed. A brand can do everything right and still land on the cutting room floor.

That $8M is not the whole story. A watch brand cannot buy what happens when a character like Braxton chooses the piece on screen and talks about it out loud. That becomes a cultural endorsement that pays out every time someone streams the film.

Strategic placement comes down to one thing: the right brand, on the right character, in the right story, with exposure that feels natural and earns its place on screen. That's the difference between being seen and being remembered.

Hal Burg

The new Global Product Placement Forecast 2022-2026 is the 9th edition of the branded entertainment industry’s biennial performance benchmark. Since the launch of the original US Product Placement Forecast in 2005, PQ Media has remained the only provider of credible, consistent and actionable market intelligence covering the fast-growing business of product placement in media.

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