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The web of activity around United Airlines' partnership with Spider-Man: Far From Home

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By Kyle O'Brien | Creative Works Editor

July 15, 2019 | 7 min read

United Airlines (UA) announced in January that it would have a role in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. In May, it was revealed that the connection between the airline and the movie would go deeper than a cameo, as a partnership between Columbia Pictures, in conjunction with Marvel Studios and United called for tandem promotions by the companies.

That partnership has continued after the opening of the movie on 2 July, and with the film raking in $847m globally as of 15 July, any money spent seems to be worth it, even if that number wasn’t disclosed to the public. So far, the film’s promotional media campaign has hit a height of $288m in media value.

While a United spokesperson declined to say what UA paid for the product placement – with a UA Boeing 777 aircraft and some of its employees appearing in the film – UA is certainly enthusiastic about its promotion of the film. It even made an in-flight safety video that serves as both a safety warning and as a cautionary tale about not being a crook around Spider-Man.

According to UA, the video highlights United's “enduring commitment to the safety of all our employees and customers who are ‘far from home’. In addition to United employees providing instruction on what to do in the event of an emergency, the video features MileagePlus members who bid miles for the unique opportunity to appear in the video and special appearances by cast members from this summer's highly anticipated film.”

One of UA's employees featured in an Instagram post is a man actually named Peter Parker.

The promotions have continued into the film’s second week of being out in theaters, with a flurry of tweets and Instagram posts, as UA ties the webslinger to its wings.

Spider-Man United tweet

In addition, Newark Liberty International Airport featured signs promoting the movie.

Spider-Man airport

UA even got its Polaris business class into the movie through its amenities kit, branded with Spider-Man images and including Spidey socks, eye mask, earplugs, toothbrush, toothpaste and more.

United Polaris kit

The film is heavily branded, and that goes well beyond the airline partnership. A tweet shows how many brands are involved, with logos surrounding Tom Holland as Spidey, ranging from Audi to Ambien to the Salvation Army.

Spider-Man branding

Poster activity featuring Spiderman-related puns is also located around New Jersey-based Newark Airport, which despite featuring kids from the Bronx in the movie, is the departure for the heroes in the movie while in flight sees passengers handed napkins with the movie's logo printed on, just in case they missed all the rest of the campaign.

See below a picture of Spiderman star Tom Holland posing with fans while filming at the airport last year:

Other brands partnering with the move include Dr Pepper, Papa John's Pizza and Burger King.

Marvel Marketing United Airlines

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