7-Eleven, Inc and 20th Century Fox
The Simpsons TV Series is seen in over 60 countries, 20 different languages and averages 60 million viewers a week.
The long awaited and planned Simpsons Movie was released in the US in 2007, competing for box office with Movies which included Spider Man 3, Transformers, Shrek the 3rd, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Fox’s own Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Live Free or Die Hard.
As the Simpsons franchise had been saturated globally for 18 years, the primary marketing objective was to create a never-been-done before campaign which refreshed and renewed the public’s interest in the franchise. There was also an opportunity to gain support from all business units within Newscorp, as well key brand partners to truly make the Simpsons Movie a cultural celebration and a Box Office success.
20th Century Fox created a distinction between the TV show and the Movie by reinforcing the color yellow as being distinctive and specific to the Simpsons property, hence the theme “the world’s gone yellow in celebration of the Simpson’s Movie” and the integration of the beloved characters into all possible executions.
Executions
The main activity included Sweepstakes overlay (never been done before) of a chance to be animated into a Simpsons episode, dedicated radio ads in around 37 markets and a NY Post scratch and win contest in which 868,000 cards were inserted into the Sunday papers
gave consumers chances to win Simpsons prizes.
- 7-Eleven became Kwik-E-Mart12 7-Eleven stores across the country were converted into Kwik-E-Marts. Stores were wrapped to look like Kwik-E-Marts with Simpsons characters on the roof of the stores and along store walls, as standees of the characters inside the stores and as window clings in the freezer doors and windows.
Products from the fictional Kwik-E-Mart came to life such as Krusty O’s, Buzz Cola, Squishee’s and the Radioactive Man comic book were available for purchase by consumers.
- Burger King created the “Simpsonizer” which allowed people to create a Simpsons avatar and 16 talking Kid’s meal premiums based on the characters from the movie. Media support included three television spots while also being promoted on the MySpace homepage, radio, online, blog buzz and POP in 11,000 restaurants worldwide.
- Jet Blue became the official airline of Springfield and supported the promotion through themed “Springfield Fares” where special fares were offered to cities and states that had a major airport near a Springfield and ran Simpsons TV show marathons in-flight. The airline even unveiled the “Woo Hoo! Jet Blue” aircraft.
- XBOX created a limited edition yellow XBOX in celebration of the Simpson's Movie.
Results
The results of these various promotions were incredible. Countless news stories were written about the innovative and creative marketing efforts done to promote the movie. Approximately 40 million photos were uploaded to the SimpsonizeMe.com website as well as there being 750 million hits to the website. People stood in line for hours for the opportunity to view a real-life Kwik-E-Mart and buy fictional Simpsons products at locations around the country. The Wall Street Journal recently touted the Simpsons ad campaign as one of the best of 2007.
The Simpsons Movie won the number 1 spot for the opening weekend at US$74 million, went on to gross US$526 million globally and was nominated for a Golden Globe in the best animated feature film category. Aside from being critically acclaimed as a feature film, the Promotion Marketing campaign was recognised as being the most innovative of the year.
Detailed sales results are not for publication.