Brands quietly getting into the film act

DKNY has helped produce a short film that the clothing label says embodies its spirit, but from watching it, you wouldn't know the company was behind it.

The rise of such brand-sponsored short films began with the success of BMW's series - available online - whose plots centered around a driver-for-hire and his vehicle of choice, always a BMW. American Express got into the act in March with a 4-minute online spot starring Jerry Seinfeld and Superman. Both the BMW and American Express shorts have been shown, in part, on TV.

DKNY commissioned two online short films, one that promoted its fall 2003 line, the other its spring 2004 line. No explicit mention of DKNY appears, even though the company was involved in script meetings and casting and the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, an event for which the advertising shorts for the clothing line wouldn't have qualified. The company also plays "Fever" on monitors in stores and on its Web site, though not on TV.

Film Movement (who produced the DKNY films) has also co-produced another short, with Visa, starring Pharrell Williams, of the band N.E.R.D., and The Neptunes, in what the companies call Williams' acting debut. A Visa credit card does pop up a few times in the short, but - as is not the case with the American Express card and Seinfeld - it's never mentioned by name.

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