USA: Fox has partnered with some unlikely companies to create a unique marketing campaign for their upcoming Simpsons Movie

Just like the irreverent Bart and Homer Simpson, 20th Century Fox's promotional program for "The Simpsons Movie" seems to break all the rules. The studio has lined up only four tie-in partners for what is considered to be one of the summer's tentpole films, and only one -- Burger King -- is a traditional major advertiser buying TV ads to support the film. The other three partners -- 7-Eleven, JetBlue and Vans shoes -- are running non-traditional promotional programs that might be generating headlines but not the multimillion-dollar media buys typical of such films as "Spider-Man 3," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Transformers." As part of a promotion in which life imitates cartoons, the 7-Eleven convenience store chain has transformed 11 of its U.S. outlets and one Canadian location into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional mini-market made famous by the popular animated TV comedy. The Kwik-E-Mart make-over is promotion for "The Simpsons Movie," but 7-Eleven is picking up all the costs. Transforming the stores into Kwik-E-Marts has been no small task. Each building has been repainted and signs changed to make the exterior look like the Kwik-E-Mart in the show. Additionally, the inside décor has also been made to more closely resemble the television market, with Simpsons-themed posters lining the walls, and plastic cut-outs of popular Simpsons characters placed around the store. All of this work has surely paid off for the select 7-Eleven locations. So far, the promotion has been a huge hit, with many Kwik-E-Mart-converted stores reporting a doubling of traffic and sales. "Most people are coming here for the Kwik-E-Mart," says Monica Sari, a Kwik-E-Mart employee at the Burbank store outside Los Angeles. "All the people are crazy, all the time it's busy, all the time long lines. It's good business though." Besides shopping at the Kwik-E-Marts, fans can buy the favourite products of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie - Squishee frozen drinks, pink frosted doughnuts, KrustyO's cereal, Buzz Cola, and Bongo Comics. Simpsons fans appear to have a real-life appetite for the animated brands: the Burbank location has already run out of KrustyO's cereal, Buzz Cola, and the comic books, leaving many patrons disappointed. "It's kind of disappointing that they're out of a lot of the products I heard about, like Buzz Cola, KrustyO's, and the comic books," says one fan and customer, Bryan Kinney. However, Kinney does admit, "The Squishee is pretty cool. It's kind of surreal… it's overwhelming." Despite the shortage of popular products, fans are still flocking to the revamped stores to get their fill of Squishees and more. "When you watch 'The Simpsons,' you imagine that you're a part of the Simpsons phenomena, but when you're actually in the store, it's just a blessing," Donna Kim, a self described "diehard" Simpsons fan, told Reuters. Each of 7-Eleven's nearly 6,400 stores in the U.S. and Canada will carry more than 25 items that are either re-creations of products from the show or collectibles, including a dancing Homer doll, talking key chains, T-shirts and hats. Some promotions and marketing experts noted that there was incredibly stiff competition for tie-in partners this summer. Yet it appears that the decision to sign up a few mostly non-traditional partners who could implement more outside-the-box campaigns befitting "The Simpsons"' irreverent style was intentional. "Our strategy was very succinct for the Simpsons movie for promotional partners, and what we looked for were partners big and small that would incorporate the irreverence and the attitude of the Simpsons that would allow Simpsons fans and non Simpsons fans alike to interact with the Simpsons brand and the Simpsons characters in ways they never could before," says Lisa Licht, Executive Vice-president of Global Marketing Partnerships for 20th Century Fox. "We're dealing with a brand that's been around for eighteen years, there have been a plethora of promotions over the years, and we didn't want it to feel like another Simpsons promotion. We wanted it to feel more event like, bigger, and special. So we looked for partners who would either 'go yellow' in celebration for the Simpsons movie, or incorporate a tactic into their marketing campaign that would allow consumers to experience the Simpsons in a way they're never been able to before." As part of another outside-the-box promotion, JetBlue is partnering with "The Simpsons Movie" for its first official film promotion, labelling itself the "official airline of Springfield," the Simpsons' hometown. On Tuesday (July 17), in a ceremony at Burbank Airport, executives from 20th Century Fox and JetBlue, as well as the entire Simpson's family, christened a JetBlue aircraft featuring the name "Woo-Hoo JetBlue," and a seal featuring the face of Homer Simpson and the tag "The Official Airline of Springfield," printed on the side of the plane. Todd Burke, Vice President of Corporate Communications for JetBlue says that given JetBlue's history with 20th Century Fox, the promotion was a natural tie-in. "JetBlue has been a real good friend of Fox for many years, almost since we started flying. We show Fox in-flight movies, so it was really natural for us to partner with them in celebration of the Simpsons movie, so all of our customers for the next couple of months actually will be able to watch continuous episodes of the Simpsons, as well as, this is the first time we've ever co-branded an airplane and we have over 120 airplanes now in the fleet. So this airplane, 'Woo-hoo JetBlue' is going to be a permanent part of our fleet and will always say 'The Official Airline of Springfield,' so we're really proud to be a part of it." In addition to an online sweepstakes, JetBlue will promote the movie through direct mailings to its 5 million True Blue members, with posters and other movie memorabilia at airport locations and through its in-flight entertainment program. For their tie-in, Vans has hired 12 underground artists to design 14 styles of limited-edition "Simpsons"-inspired sneakers depicting their own interpretations of the animated characters. In total, 1,400 pairs of shoes will be created, and will go on sale July 14 for 100 U.S. dollars a pair at 10 select U.S. boutiques. At a recent party celebrating the sneakers, Matt Groening, the creator of "The Simpsons" explained his position on the promotion. "This was an idea of taking great artists who do really wierd cool designs and doing Simpsons related work and then putting it on a product that people can actually wear. It's the best of both worlds. It's Simpsons crazy pop culture stuff, it's weird grafitti art, and it's an actual commercial product," says Groening of the promotion. Burger King, which has tie-ins with "Transformers" and "Spider-Man" this summer, is running co-branded TV ads to support "The Simpsons Movie." It will feature a line of "Simpsons" toys in kids meals, advertise its Ultimate Double Whopper as Homer's favourite whopper and feature in-store point-of-sale materials. Only time will tell whether or not this unique campaign will pay off for Fox, as Homer Simpson and his family get set to face off at the box office with some tough summer competition. "The Simpsons Movie" opens throughout North America on July 27.

ITN Source | July 25, 2007

Tags:. .shortage. .flocking. .besides. .stiff. .fleet