It ain’t Reese’s Pieces but Horse Drive also sign of product placement

In the movies, it's called "product placement" or "embedded marketing."

It's when a particular branded product shows up in a prominent place in a film. It's great advertising for the product, which gets publicity every time the film is presented.

One of the greatest examples of product placement in the movies occurred in Steven Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," when the title character was lured out of a hiding place by young Elliott with Reese's Pieces.

Spielberg reportedly first took the placement idea to the Mars candy company to use M&Ms in the scene. Mars passed on the idea, so Spielberg went to Hershey's and pitched using Hershey Kisses for the scene. But instead, Hershey suggested using its newest product, peanut-butter-flavored Reese's Pieces, for the gig.

The company spent $1 million for the rights, and it paid off handsomely as Reese's Pieces scored a 65 percent increase in sales after the movie was released.

Residents of northwest Las Vegas recently got a different product placement, and they didn't even have to go to the movie theater to see it.

Warrior reader Lynda described her surprise when driving north on U.S. Highway 95 recently:

"I live out in Centennial Hills. I was wondering about Exit 95, Fort Apache Road and Horse Drive, headed to the Mount Charleston turnoff.

"About two weeks, ago workers took down the exit signs, which I thought was because of the nearby highway construction.

"When the signs came back, they now say Skye Canyon and Park Drive. The first time I went to take that exit I thought maybe I had gone too far and passed my exit. Since that exit opened, it has always been Fort Apache and Horse, which are right there. I do not know of the new street names that are now on the signs. Are they changing the names of some of the streets? Are those streets hidden out here somewhere?"

After checking with the city of Las Vegas and the Nevada Department of Transportation, it seems that northwest Las Vegans are witnessing street-style product placement.

Around the beginning of 2015, Olympia Cos., developers of the 1,700-acre, 9,000-home Skye Canyon mixed-use master-planned community, petitioned the city to change Horse Drive to Skye Canyon Park Drive between U.S. 95 and Iron Mountain Road; Fort Apache Road to Skye Canyon Park Drive from U.S. 95 to Moccasin Road; and Hualapai Way to Skye Village Road between Grand Teton Drive and Moccasin Road.

The City Council approved the renaming on Jan. 21.

The city did put the word out through public notices in legal advertisements and with postcards to property owners within 1,000 feet of the proposed changes before a Dec. 9 Planning Commission meeting and the January council meeting.

The city sent out notifications to 1,336 property owners and 46 neighborhood associations.

How much will this cost taxpayers? Nothing, according to city spokesman Jace Radke.

"The application fees were paid by the master developer," Radke said in an email. "The master developer has entered into an agreement with the city in which they will assume all costs and responsibilities for the street name change. The city is seeking to create a sense of place by renaming the streets in a manner reflecting the branding of the community."

If you're wondering whether any home or business on those streets is affected, Radke said there are six addresses on Fort Apache, three associated with utility pedestals and three with residential subdivision common lots.

Once the city green-lighted the name change, the Department of Transportation took over with the highway sign changes.

"The City of Las Vegas subsequently applied for a permit with the Nevada Department of Transportation for sign name changes along state right-of-way," department spokesman Tony Illia said. "The developer, however, assumes all costs and responsibilities associated with those changes. There is no expense to the department."

So it's now a Horse of a different color. And you can bet Olympia didn't pay $1 million for that product placement.

Heavy traffic

Don't look now, but a three-day weekend is just around the corner.

Thousands of people will be in Las Vegas next weekend for Labor Day, the last hurrah of the summer.

As is typical for most three-day weekends, expect local streets in the resort corridor to be packed, and look for northbound Interstate 15 from California to be jammed up Friday and southbound I-15 to be filled late Monday morning through the afternoon.

Meanwhile, up north, the Arizona Department of Transportation has a scary message board on I-15. "Labor Day traffic, expect two-hour delays."

It's hard to imagine it will be that bad, but the department has announced that as of Sunday night, traffic patterns had changed on the highway as the state enters the next phase of replacing Virgin River Bridge No. 6 in the Virgin River Gorge north of Mesquite.

Through the Labor Day weekend, northbound traffic that had been shifted to the southbound lanes for about a mile will shift back to the northbound side. After Labor Day, both directions will be moved to the northbound side, and construction will start on the replacement and widening of the southbound side.

Girders, decks and railings will be replaced in the $27 million project, which began in spring 2014 and is expected to be completed next year.

— Questions and comments should be sent to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number. Follow the Road Warrior on Twitter @RJroadwarrior.

ROAD WORK AHEAD

■ Sewer line work will continue on East Reno Avenue, just east of Haven Street, and eastbound and westbound traffic will be pushed to the north side of the street. Work will be conducted from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Friday.

■ Sewer lines and manhole work will restrict traffic on Tropicana Avenue about 300 feet west of Wetlands Park Lane to about 300 feet east of the intersection. Eastbound and westbound traffic will be pushed to the north side of Broadbent Boulevard and to the south side past the intersection. Restrictions begin about 300 feet from Broadbent and Broadlake Lane with northbound and southbound traffic being pushed to the east side of Broadbent. Work will occur from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., through Oct. 31.

■ Work is shifting on the Oak Meadows Storm Drain and Oakey Sewer Rehabilitation projects with restrictions on vehicle access to El Parque Avenue from Decatur closed Monday and continuing through Sept. 21.

■ Road repairs are planned on state Route 158 (Deer Creek Road), the route connecting Kyle Canyon and Lee Canyon roads in the Spring Mountains. Portions of deteriorating road will be removed and the surface of the 9-mile road repaved in weekday work. All lanes will be open on weekends and non-work hours. Speed limits will be reduced and a pilot car will guide motorists around construction zones, resulting in delays of up to 30 minutes. The project continues through Monday.

■ Craig Road will be restricted to two lanes in each direction at Simmons Street for a water drainage project. There’s no access to Simmons either north or south of Craig. Restrictions on Craig and north of Craig on Simmons will continue through September and the entire project will be completed in February.

■ Sewer line construction work at Patrick Lane and McLeod Drive will close three intersections and restrict lanes through Monday. Patrick Lane and Harrison Drive west of McLeod, Patrick Lane and Stevenson Way, east of McLeod and McLeod and Post Road, south of Patrick will be closed. One southbound lane on McLeod, turning west onto Patrick and one eastbound lane on Patrick, turning north onto McLeod will be open.

■ Overnight lane restrictions are planned on Rampart Boulevard between Canyon Run and Alta drives through mid-September for a sewer line project, repaving and restriping. The project is an expansion of planned work between Lake Mead Boulevard and Canyon Run.

■ Lane restrictions will be in place on northbound and southbound Bermuda Road at Windmill Lane from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Mondaythrough Friday, through Sept. 30. One lane will be open in each direction and sewer line work will be along the center of the street.

■ Tamarus Street will be restricted to one lane in both directions between Warm Springs Road and Eldorado Lane, Mondays through Fridays through Oct. 31 from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. for a sewer line project.

Gasoline Prices

The average gasoline price Friday in the Las Vegas Valley was $3.20 per gallon. It was $3.14 in Nevada. The national average of $2.50 is down 14 cents from a week ago, down 21 cents from a month ago and down 94 cents from a year ago.