Dualvertisement

Not every ad is for just one product — or even those of just one company. No, high-profile movies will always attract companies looking to cash in on it. Or, sometimes, two companies are just trying to keep costs down (TV time's expensive), perhaps because neither company could afford to advertise on its own. For whatever reason, you end up with a Dualvertisement: a Crossover in adspace. More formally known as Cross Promotion, this trope's been in existence for at least as long as McDonald's has been giving away licensed toys.

While this has some pros, the cons often outweigh them; rarely do the two items/shows/etc. mesh, and the commercial can end up less interesting and more surreal as a result, or even result in straight up Fridge Logic. Often a part of a larger promotion/marketing campaign, since it takes a lot of effort for two companies to get together.

Compare Commercial Switcheroo, where you lead in with a fake commercial then bring in the real one, and Product Switcheroo Ad, where you open with one product then bring in the actual product later to show up the first one.


 * As mentioned above, kids' meals often come with toys themed after a big-name intellectual property. The fast food joint inevitably makes sure everybody in the country knows. Not every chain engages in these shenanigans, though.
 * Speaking of fast food, Burger King/Hungry Jack's created the Iron Man Burger around the release of Iron Man 2.
 * Their Japanese branch offered a special-edition Whopper promoting the launch of Microsoft Windows 7. Appropriately, it had seven patties, and sold for ¥777.
 * Also, their Rodeo Burger, which was developed to promote the awful Wild Wild West remake film. The food promotion outlasted the film by several years, and managed to get copied by other restaurants.
 * Their BBQ Double Stackticon for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
 * Sometimes convenience stores will have Special Edition branded cups; annoyingly, these are seldom insulated.
 * The American furniture chain Furniture Row has multiple brands which allows a customer to shop their four different brands in the same building in different stores, saving advertising and rent money aplenty. It also makes it very easy to dump a fad furniture trend without closing an entire store (they started out as a waterbed retailer and when that went belly up, they just dumped it and moved on to other brands).
 * In 1985, there was an Italian TV ad where a man drives home a luxury car, checks the hour on a luxury watch, pulls the dress while casually showing the tag (with the name of the stylist), and then enter his home, where a party is going on. It's a spot for Barilla, a brand of pasta (as in spaghetti, rigatoni, etc.).
 * In the 2010 NBA playoffs, you saw this one a lot--there were ads for the new Prince of Persia the Sands of Time movie, interspersed with shots of basketball players doing manly things.
 * ESPN absolutely loves this trope, really. SportsCenter tends to be littered with Enforced Plugs for pretty much every movie Disney (who owns 80% of the network) wants to hype up, and even some non-Disney ones.
 * Since obviously its players are right within its demographics, ESPN's coverage of the Little League World Series is always peppered with Disney Channel cross-promotion nowadays... as in having acts related to Disney Channel's Flavor of the Month perform a Title Theme Tune and appear in Eyecatches, advertisements, etc. In recent years, these have included the Jonas Brothers, High School Musical, etc. Though, beginning in 2010, its been Phineas and Ferb themed, complete with a parody of the show's usual intro.
 * There was a commercial (probably featured on one of those "best commercial" shows) that started out as a Haagen-Dazs ad, complete with a passionate couple in bed with the yogurt. At one point they run out, so the guy goes to the refrigerator to get more... and his attention turns to the Fosters lager near it. Next thing you know, he's drinking beer and watching the game.
 * VISA made a number of entire commercials for real life vacation resorts and such, then noting at the end that said location doesn't accept American Express, so be sure to bring your VISA card instead. They do the same with the Olympic Games.
 * On a more local level, an Austin, Texas, bodyshop had a commercial with a local roofing company owner, where he'd talk about the bodyshop, then move to shilling his own company before being fussed at by the director. Both were advertising hail damage repair.
 * Carlos and Charlie's always makes a point to mention its next-door neighbor, Just For Fun watercraft rental. Lampshaded when one of the spokesfrogs started with the latter name instead of the former.
 * Fittingly considering the series, a lot of adds for the live action Transformers movie doubled as ads for the vehicles that the Autobots transformed into. They even sold a special Ironhide model of the one truck for a while (which, sadly, did not come with rocket launchers or turn into an alien robot).
 * One of the OldSpiceMan YouTube responses was a Cross Promotion for the Gillette Power-Glide razor... only it wasn't, because that would be in poor taste.
 * Goody's and BC, two brands of powdered headache medicine, have started doing cross-promotional radio ads; the two formerly competing products are now both owned by pharmaceutical conglomerate GSK.
 * Rhode Island family-owned furniture chain Cardi's self-produces its local ads. When other local companies use Cardi's production services, the Cardi brothers will have a cameo in those ads as well.
 * Raytheon Sarkos had a press conference showcasing the XOS 2 exoskeleton on the date of the DVD release of Iron Man 2. They even invited Clark Gregg, the actor who played Phil Coulson in the movie, to the demonstration.
 * Dodge once did an ad for one of their vehicles...which also somehow became an ad for two different video games and several other things (I seem to also remember an MP 3 player, a computer and a TV).It's an awful advert due to the constant product placement and the fact that one of the kids in the commercial can't even remember her brother's name.
 * Dodge's sister make Jeep plays up the fact that its vehicles are featured in Call of Duty Black Ops.
 * A Band-Aid™/Neosporin ad features puppets singing their praises and how "when put together/they work exponentially better", just in case you never thought of bandaging those wounds you put goo on.
 * I think that the PR department came up with the tagline after they found out that parents put bandaids on their children without applying neosporin.
 * There was a series of UK adverts advertising common mixed drinks such as Jack Daniels and Coke, Gordons and {Schweppes) Tonic, Smirnoff and Red Bull, etc. Possibly related to this, there was a range of pre-mixed canned drinks on the shelves which featured the brand logos for both products.
 * UK adverts for washing machines often have a short section at the end recommending a particular brand of detergent to use in them.
 * Lampshaded at the end of a trailer for The Muppets: after plugging "The Green Album" (which features covers of famous Muppet songs), a caption appears on screen dubbing it "blatant cross-promotion."
 * Lampshaded in an Old Spice ad that simply has to be seen to be believed.
 * "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't." This jingle was used to plug both Almond Joy and Mounds candy bars.
 * Baby Ruth and Butterfinger candy bars were often mentioned in the same ad in the 80's.
 * The Lorax (new movie) + Denny's (or was it IHOP?); The Lorax himself is eating pancakes in the chain restaurant, and has some light comedy with his buddy. Full of Fridge Logic- why would the Lorax be eating a chain restaurant in an industrialized neighborhood?
 * Thre was also Mazda's ads for their new SkyActive cars, complete with the Lorax and his forest friends shilling for the car, also incidentally promoting the movie on top of that.
 * Jumper + TV provider (directv i think); While playing the standard commercial advertising the shows to be had at low low prices, the main character from Jumper would leap around being mildly interested
 * An advertising campaign by Dole in the 1970s used to sing "...those nice pineapple people, and a great banana too." At the time, Dole's primary products were pineapple products and bananas.
 * A series of radio commercials for website developer americaneagle.com consists of Testimonails from satisfied customers which also shill their own businesses. They usually have something in there like "If you like TV go to tvtropes.org. If you want a website for your business, go to americaneagle.com." (If Fast Eddie had done a commercial, obviously.)
 * There were commercials for Verizon Fi OS high-speed internet featuring Michael Bay, complete with product placement for his Transformers Film Series.
 * A recent (as of March 21, 2012) ad for General Electric turbines mentions that their turbines are used by Budweiser, and then becomes like a Budweiser ad.