Enter: Evian (stage left).
Relativity swashbuckler Ryan Kavanaugh is looking to break the mold on product placement in Hollywood by signing a raft of multimillion-dollar deals to brands for starring roles — and cutting out the ad agency.
Kavanaugh has signed three long-term deals that will result in products such as Evian and Oreos showing up not just in Relativity’s movie, TV and digital products, but also in celebrity limos, on the red carpet and perhaps in Kavanaugh’s fridge.
Relativity’s 6-month-old division, called MadVine, revealed Wednesday it had inked partnerships with Evian owner Danone Waters, Mondelez, which owns Oreos, and Pathway Genomics, a gene-testing firm.
Kavanaugh’s new unit is also gunning for a shoe/clothing brand and an airline, among other categories, to help the firm offset production costs on projects and hedge the riskiness of content creation. The deals will bring in upward of $10 million per year, says Relativity CEO Kavanaugh.
Relativity has transformed from a studio once known for lavish flops as well as hits such as Bradley Cooper’s “Limitless” to a much more cautious, diversified business.
Relativity owns TV shows, creates online content and houses a sports representation business, which represents the Houston Rockets’ Dwight Howard and the Knicks’ Amar’e Stoudemire, alongside a fashion division representing designers.
As part of the new agreement, Evian will appear in a TV version of “Limitless,” and an upcoming movie based on Nicholas Sparks’ book “The Best of Me.”
Kavanaugh told The Post the move is part of an effort to both exploit a weakness in the traditional ad-agency offering — which typically pairs one brand with one project — while attempting to further mitigate risk.
“We were definitely more mainstream, but our business model evolved,” he said. “Our model is the exact opposite, while we should have movies that break $100 million, that is not in our models.”
Current projects cost between $20 million and $70 million. “When we lose, we lose a little bit,” he said, adding that Relativity does well in home-entertainment sales versus the competition.
As for brands, “It’s about having them on the red carpet, participating in events and, for airlines, perhaps trip give-aways or incorporated into reality shows. It crosses over so widely, they come in at the green-light stage.”
The brand-placement idea seems to have caught on with Relativity’s own media-buying agency, Aegis’ Carat, which is looking to introduce its other clients to the creative idea.
“Brands make direct relationships all the time. The media agency will help scale the investment,” Angela Courtin, president of Aegis Media US, told The Post.