I've met Mike Ryan, chairman of E-Lites, twice recently.
He was at the E-Cigarette Summit in London on Tuesday.
A few days earlier we had a long chat at another event and he let slip that E-Lites were going to feature in a forthcoming Lily Allen video.
The video was released this week and has attracted a lot of publicity, but for reasons other than product placement.
Described by the Guardian as a "sweary, controversy-stirring ode to gender inequality", 'Hard Out Here' was allegedly "created specifically to drum up controversy, engage a debate and represent the now".
If so it's succeeded. See Lily Allen denies accusations that Hard Out Here music video is racist (Guardian), and Why people are angry about Lily Allen's new video (Time).
With all the arguments about sexism and race, the presence of E-Lites might have gone unnoticed. Not a bit of it.
Marketing reports that E-Lites secures product placement 'first' in Lily Allen's 'Hard Out Here' video.
Meanwhile the New Statesman (which sent a journalist to the E-Cigarette Summit) has listed "five things you need to know about Lily Allen's [new] video". One of them is 'You need electronic cigarettes':
Product placement became legal in 2010, but has kept itself fairly low key since the law changed. There’s no denying that electronic cigarettes E-Lites are after the demographic who know and love Lily Allen’s music videos. Proper bitches smoke electronic cigarettes ...
Released two days ago the video has already been viewed almost three million times.
Mike Ryan and the rest of the E-Lites team must be thrilled.