With "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" -- a comic look at the world of NASCAR and its corporate sponsors that opens Friday -- Sony Pictures has handed such advertisers as Wonder Bread, Old Spice and Perrier an unprecedented vehicle for brand integration that appears to have set records on- and offscreen.

Not only do the film's stars, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Sacha Baron Cohen, appear throughout much of the movie with the logos of their fictitious NASCAR sponsors plastered all over their uniforms, but Ferrell and Reilly also have shown up in uniform on late-night talk shows and the MTV Movie Awards. In addition, the movie's main stars are featured in their NASCAR uniforms in nearly all of the movie trailers, posters, print and Web ads and TV commercials from Sony as well as its promotional partners. Ferrell even stars in uniform as Ricky Bobby in dedicated commercials for Sprint Nextel, sponsors of NASCAR's Nextel Cup series.

Wonder Bread, Old Spice and Perrier are featured on nearly all the licensed product for the movie from diecast cars to apparel and accessories in a merchandising campaign meant to replicate those of NASCAR drivers. Products featuring "Talladega" drivers Ricky Bobby, Cal Naughton Jr. and Jean Girard are being sold at tracks and at retail outlets alongside merchandise for such NASCAR drivers as Tony Stewart (who actually is sponsored by Old Spice), Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"The level of integration on- and offscreen in 'Talladega Nights' is unprecedented," entertainment marketing firm Set Resources Inc. president Aaron Gordon said. "I can't remember ever seeing this much product placement displayed, from the commercials to the trailers for the film to the publicity and press events. It's pretty incredible, and it's pretty unheard of. Everything that has to do with the film has heavy brand integration, and that certainly is a new and great thing for the brands involved."

Branded entertainment firm Alliance vp Mike Mallone, who was instrumental in orchestrating Old Spice's role in the film, added, "This is incredibly rare. I've been in this business now for almost 10 years, and I've never seen a brand this fully integrated into a film with this much screen time. From a brand-integration standpoint, it was out of this world. I think it really is unprecedented."

To top it all off, none of the brands had to pay integration fees for their placements -- an increasingly common occurrence as brands seek more prominent roles in entertainment content. With Ferrell and "Talladega" co-writer and director Adam McKay writing Wonder Bread, Perrier and dozens of other brands into the script to poke fun at the over-the-top corporate sponsorship in NASCAR races, the filmmakers needed the brands' involvement just as much, if not more, than the brands wanted to be in the film -- a rare occurrence in the branded entertainment space.

"We needed to borrow their equity, too," Sony Pictures executive vp worldwide consumer marketing George Leon said. "Creatively, (the product placement) worked for the film. We benefited from it as well on many levels."

Sony and NASCAR executives said Ferrell and McKay chose Wonder Bread as Ricky Bobby's sponsor because it is an iconic American brand that represents fun and fit with the character, and Perrier because they needed a French brand to sponsor Cohen's character, Jean Girard. In the case of Old Spice, Mallone said that after he pitched the brand for basic placement opportunities in the movie, Ferrell and McKay decided on the deodorant as the sponsor for Reilly's character.

According to a Sony Pictures representative, the studio never asks for integration fees on its films but instead seeks backend promotions. In the case of "Talladega," Wonder Bread's parent company, Interstate Bakeries, committed to an in-store and on-pack promotion in tens of thousands of supermarkets nationwide. Old Spice did a full-scale promotion, spending about $2.3 million on TV spots, print ads, online banner ads and activation around NASCAR racetracks -- the money had been set aside to promote Old Spice's association with NASCAR but was then used for the movie promotion. But Perrier, which had prominent story line integration throughout the movie as the sponsor of Ferrell's nemesis -- French driver Girard -- didn't do a backend promotion.

For Interstate Bakeries, currently in Chapter 11, the Wonder Bread role and widespread images of Ferrell covered in the white bread's colorful logos couldn't have come at a better time.

"We jumped at the opportunity, and Sony didn't really ask us for much in return," Interstate chief marketing officer Rich Seban said. "We want to continue to keep this brand a fun and contemporary brand and we think the movie will facilitate that."

Interstate did not have the financial means to do a larger-scale promotion but Leon said the in-store and on-pack promotion alone -- facilitated by Norm Marshall & Associates -- was worth millions in marketing support. Entertainment marketers said what Interstate received in return was worth millions more than it spent.

In the case of Old Spice, Mallone estimated the brand got at least three to four times the value of the $2.3 million it spent on its back-end promotion. "The impressions are in the hundreds of millions, and the value is definitely in the millions. There's no question about that," Mallone said. "My guess is it's got to be an eight-figure value."

Old Spice, owned by Procter & Gamble, got the added benefit of strengthening its association with NASCAR from its role in the film.

"Certainly this exceeds any expectations we had on the front end in terms of the exposure that Sony has generated for the film even prior to its release," Old Spice brand manager Carl Stealey said. "This is going to be a significant return on investment for us; that I can guarantee you. The sheer buzz factor alone of being involved in such a blockbuster movie is unquantifiable."

Entertainment marketers said that Ferrell went above and beyond the norm for A-list celebrities in promoting the movie, not only by showing up nearly everywhere in his Wonder Bread uniform but also by appearing in Nextel's promotional spots without demanding any extra pay.

"I personally salute Will Ferrell for all of his work in promoting this movie," said Norm Marshall, CEO of the company that bears his name. "He had my client's name written all over his uniform while sitting on 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.' From the perspective of talent, he has gone above and beyond to be out there hyping this movie and wearing that uniform. He's definitely in a class by himself."

Among some of the other dozens of brands with mentions or prominent placements in the film are Powerade, Applebee's, Domino's Pizza, Coca-Cola, Country Crock, Checkers Drive-in Restaurants and NASCAR sponsors Tide and M&Ms.