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SYDNEY - Product placement is about to enter a golden age. At least that's the view of one of the emerging players on the Australian scene.

Speaking at a session at the Screen Producers Association of Australia's conference on the Gold Coast on Monday, James Grant-Hay, who heads a new company called In Shot, waxed lyrical about the potential of "branded entertainment" and the benefits it can bring to film and television.

On the surface, product placement sounds straightforward enough. Your lead actor has to eat breakfast, so why not get a well-known brand to pay to have its cereal on display? Ditto if your action hero needs to get about in a zippy BMW, the car of choice for 007, who used to drive an Aston Martin.

Yet the reality is no longer so simple. One thing the SPAA panel was united on was that there is a lot more to product placement than getting big name stars to drive luxury cars or sip well-known soft drinks.

"Everybody is seeking to do it but not all are doing it well," argues John Gregory, chief executive of Freehand Group, whose company is producing the Australian version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for the Ten Network. Gregory says an estimated $120 million was spent on product placement in 2004, which may signal a new high growth area. But any deals done still had to be reconciled with the integrity of the program.

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