How much would a company pay to get the most popular actor in America to portray one of its executives as a hero in the highest-grossing movie of the holiday season?

Would such exposure be worth the price of one 30-second Super Bowl ad? Or 10 such spots at, say, $2.5 million apiece?

FedEx Corp. hit the product-placement jackpot with "Cast Away," a movie in which Tom Hanks plays a FedEx engineer who survives four years alone on a South Pacific island.

And in what may become the marketing equivalent of a bargain like buying Manhattan Island for $24, FedEx got the priceless publicity for free.

"People find it hard to believe, but we didn't pay a dime to be in the movie," said Sandra Munoz, a FedEx spokeswoman at the company's Memphis headquarters. "The moviemakers approached us. And we had to think long and hard about whether to participate."

The decision was complicated because the movie includes a horrific crash of a FedEx plane, an accident that kills the four-member crew and strands Hanks' character on the island. And while FedEx has never had a fatal crash since it began flying planes in 1972, the company that invented next-morning deliveries was reluctant to draw attention to the possibility that such an event could happen. (Two FedEx jets have been destroyed in landing accidents and a third was wrecked by an in-flight cargo fire.)

But Munoz said FedEx decided that the script highlighting the company's humble origins, its global reach and can-do spirit outweighed the aircraft disaster. FedEx provided filming locations at its package sorting hubs in Memphis, Los Angeles and Moscow, as well as airplanes, trucks, uniforms and logistical support.

A team of FedEx marketers oversaw production through more than two years of filming.

"As we stepped back and looked at it, we thought, `It's not product placement, we're a character in this movie,'" said Gail Christensen, managing director for global brand management at FedEx. "It's not just a product on the screen. It transcends product placement."

United Parcel Service, a fierce FedEx competitor, also places its products in high-profile movies and TV shows. But the delivery giant usually takes a subtle, almost subliminal approach.

UPS envelopes are frequently in the background during office scenes in "West Wing" and "Ally McBeal." And brown UPS delivery vans and uniformed couriers have appeared in movies ranging from "Godzilla" to "George of the Jungle."

"We've found that product placement can be a valuable promotional tool," said Ken Sternad, a UPS spokesman.

UPS doesn't pay to place its products in movies and TV shows, but it does trade services. For example, the company shipped an elephant to Hawaii for filming "George of the Jungle."