Fictional brand

A fictional brand is a nonexistent brand depicted in books, comics, films, music, television shows and video games respectively. The fictional brand may be designed to imitate, satirize or differentiate itself from a real corporate brand.

Permission is typically sought before using trademarked brands in media to avoid legal proceedings. Fictional brands can overcome situations where the creators do not want to pay for permission, where a trademark owner is unwilling to approve the use of their brand, or where the product is shown in a negative light. For example, the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street used the fictional department store C.F. Cole's in the film, after Macy's declined to have one of their department stores filmed in the remake. Historically, many movie studios also avoided existing brands to make the films more escapist and to avoid taking attention away from star performers. Paid product placement has gradually become more frequent as it became a lucrative part of the film industry.

More recently, fictional brands have been used for commercial purposes through the process of reverse product placement. Consumer attachment to those brands in the fictional world may be leveraged through "defictionalisation" or "productisation" in the real world. It has been suggested that the fictional brands represent brand potential rather than brand reality; they are in effect, “protobrands” that can be leveraged and transformed into registered trademarks which can derive revenue for their owners through reverse product placement or, more accurately, reverse brand placement. Examples include Harry Potter's Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, now available as real candy manufactured by the Jelly Belly Company; Duff Beer, a beer brand now available for consumption in Europe which initially appeared in The Simpsons; and Staples' Dunder Mifflin paper, from the TV show The Office.