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Campbell Couldn't Resist Uni's Tale of
Mouse and Soup
Todd
Wasserman
BrandWeek
November 30, 2008
"Food companies usually steer clear of associating their
brands with rodents, but when it comes to Universal's
family-friendly Tale of Desperaux, Campbell Soup and
Wendy's have made an exception.
The two brands, along with Mama Rosa's Pizza, Nutella,
Borders and others are tying in with the G-rated
animated film about a heroic mouse (voiced by Matthew
Broderick) which is set for a Dec. 19 release.
With a weekend free of direct competitors, the film is
positioned to do well, said Paul Dergarabedian,
president of Media By Numbers, Los Angeles. Of the 400
or so films to be released this year, Tale of Desperaux
is one of 11 G-rated films, a lineup that includes
Pixar's Wall-E ($223 million domestic gross), Fox's
Horton Hears a Who! ($154 million) and Disney's High
School Musical 3 ($84.2 million.)
"The only thing that changes in a bad economy is the
type of movies people want to see," said Dergarabedian,
who said the preference is for escapism.
Stephanie Sperber, evp of Universal Studios
Partnerships, agreed that the G rating was a draw.
"There's a wholesomeness to this property," she said.
"It's not the sort of cynical, adult-focused kid
property that we've seen recently."
The "sure thing" quality no doubt attracted Campbell,
which rarely engages in cinematic tie-ins, but there was
another draw as well: In the story, which is based on a
2003 children's book by Kate DiCamillo, soup is a rare,
verboten treat. "You can't go wrong with a story that
celebrates soup," said Kim McGough, senior manager of
integrated marketing at Campbell. "We felt like this was
a perfect opportunity."
McGough, who has been with Campbell for three years,
said she can't remember the last time the brand tied in
with a theatrical release, though Campbell's Pepperidge
Farm brand had a link to Fox's Garfield in 2004.
Other tie-ins include:
•Wendy's will offer Desperaux-themed premiums like a
wrist guard, a castle puzzle and film-themed Kids Meal
Bags.
•MaMa Rosa's Pizza will promote the release on 1.5
million units along with co-branded floor graphics,
shelf talkers, danglers and other shopper marketing
media.
•One million units of Nutella will also promote the film
and the brand will offer a sweepstakes with a grand
prize of a screening for the winner and 150 of their
friends.
•Kodak will run a mall-based program with film-themed
posters and large size floor graphics will surround the
Santa Set at each participating mall. |
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