{"id":32889,"date":"2012-10-10T09:17:19","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T13:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/2012\/10\/bond-investing-james-bond-investing\/"},"modified":"2012-10-10T09:17:19","modified_gmt":"2012-10-10T13:17:19","slug":"bond-investing-james-bond-investing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2012\/10\/10\/bond-investing-james-bond-investing\/","title":{"rendered":"Bond Investing. JAMES Bond Investing."},"content":{"rendered":"

By The Sizemore Letter<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bond is back.\u00a0 And so are the product placements.<\/p>\n

Skyfall<\/em>\u2014the latest film in the James Bond franchise\u2014opens in theaters next month, but the marketing blitz has already begun.\u00a0 This week\u2019s Economist<\/em> opened with a two-page advertising spread for an Omega Seamaster watch\u2014\u201cJames Bond\u2019s Choice\u201d\u2014featuring Daniel Craig.<\/p>\n

Not only does Craig endorse the Omega brand personally (see his Omega profile<\/a>), but his movie character endorses it as well.\u00a0 Per the Omega site<\/a>,<\/p>\n

\u201cAs James Bond appears for the 23rd time on the silver screen in SKYFALL, he will once again depend on the OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean as he takes down yet another onslaught of villains, all the while seducing the newest Bond girl the films are often so famous for.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Omega product page did not specify whether the new Seamaster fired laser beams or if its crown could be used as a grappling hook.<\/p>\n

As I write this article, I cannot help but look down at my wrist and long to see an Omega watch on it. Perhaps it was the not-so-subtle implication that it would boost my appeal to women and help me to defeat the forces of evil.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not alone. Every man secretly wants to be James Bond. \u00a0In Catch Me If You Can<\/em>, Leonardo DiCaprio\u2014playing real-life master con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr.\u2014walks into a tailor shop and orders a suit exactly like the one he saw Sean Connery wear in Goldfinger<\/em>.\u00a0 Who could blame him?<\/p>\n

In any event, I expect that Swatch Group (Switzerland:UHR),<\/strong> Omega\u2019s parent company, will get a nice sales boost in the fourth quarter from the hype generated by 007\u2019s latest adventure.\u00a0 (I don\u2019t know if I should be embarrassed or proud that I\u2019ll probably be one of those sales.\u00a0 And yes, I\u2019ll get the exact same Seamaster model that Bond wears.)<\/p>\n

Today, I\u2019m going to take a look at a handful of other companies that stand to benefit from an endorsement by Britain\u2019s most notorious spy.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, some of the higher-profile product placements\u2014such as Bond\u2019s Aston Martin or his bespoke Tom Ford suit\u2014are not made by publicly traded companies (Aston Martin was recently sold by Ford to a group of private investors, and Tom Ford has never been public).<\/p>\n

Still, we have quite a few traded stocks to choose from.\u00a0 I\u2019ll start with Dutch megabrewer Heineken (HINKY)<\/strong>.\u00a0 Bond purists may be a little disappointed to see 007 drinking a beer rather than his signature vodka martini, but Heineken forked over $45 million to ensure that he does.<\/p>\n

To put this in perspective, Heineken\u2019s paid product placement amounts to nearly a third of the movie\u2019s $150 million production budget.\u00a0 Having not seen the movie yet, I\u2019m curious as to what exactly $45 million buys. I\u2019m imagining a scene of Bond killing the villain with a blow to the side of his skull from a Heineken bottle.\u00a0 Regardless, if viewers leave the theaters and stop to grab a beer on the way home, it might prove to be money well spent.<\/p>\n

Oh, and as a bonus, in addition to being endorsed by Bond, movie junkies may remember that Heineken was also endorsed by the spoof agent Austin Powers in The Spy Who Shagged Me.<\/em>\u00a0 Yeah, baby.<\/p>\n

I continue to view Heineken as an excellent long-term investment in the rise of the emerging market consumer.\u00a0 When it is not quenching the thirst of British intelligence operatives, Heineken and its subsidiary brands are the beers of choice in much of Africa, Latin America and now, after its recent acquisition of Asia Pacific Breweries, Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

Next on the list is Sony Corporation ($<\/span>SNE<\/a>)<\/strong>.\u00a0 007 has toted a Sony mobile phone in the last several movies, and according to the website James Bond Lifestyle<\/a> (yes, it really exists; try the link), he will be carrying a Sony Experia T.<\/p>\n

Sony has fallen on hard times of late, and I doubt if even James Bond is charming enough to convince viewers to forgo an Apple ($<\/span>AAPL<\/a>)<\/strong> iPhone or a\u00a0<\/strong>Samsung Galaxy S3.\u00a0 But then, this is being written by a person who intends to buy an overpriced luxury watch precisely because he saw James Bond wearing it.\u00a0 We shall see if Sony\u2019s plight improves.<\/p>\n

Finally, I\u2019ll leave you with international spirits powerhouse Diageo ($<\/span>DEO<\/a>).<\/strong>\u00a0 Though Heineken will be stealing the limelight in Skyfall<\/em>, Bond is best known for sipping his vodka martinis\u2014and shaken, not stirred.<\/p>\n

Diageo\u2019s Smirnoff\u2014its most popular vodka brand\u2014has long been a mainstay in the Bond film franchise.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be surprised if the general level of Bond buzz translates into higher sales of Smirnoff and of Diageo\u2019s higher-end vodka brands like Ketel One and C\u00eeroc.<\/p>\n

Like Heineken, Diageo is a core holding in Sizemore Capital portfolios as a long-term play on the rise of the emerging market consumer.\u00a0 I consider it one of the few stocks I would be truly willing to \u201cbuy and forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disclosures:\u00a0 DEO, HINKY and UHR are held by Sizemore.\u00a0 Charles<\/em> Sizemore.<\/p>\n

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