Brand: Multiple PartnersCompany: Walt Disney StudiosAgencies: VariousCampaign Title: Chicken Little Film LaunchProduct Category: Theatrical filmTime Frame: Fall 2005Award Category: Multi-Partner Promotion (three or more partners)Marketing OverviewBuena Vista Pictures Marketing partnered with 14 brands to create a multi-tiered campaign to launch Chicken Little, the first fully-CGI animated film from Walt Disney Studios. The line-up featured McDonald's, Kodak, Sears, Kellogg, Procter & Gamble, JollyTime, Get Fit Foods, Oral-B, Kroger, Corn Mazes, Macy's, Samsung, America Online, and NWA WorldVacations. Chicken Little opened on November 4, 2005, kicking off the holiday movie-going season. The challenge was to stand out in a crowded field of theatrical releases and encourage movie-goers of all ages to see the film. Objectives Introduce Chicken Little to a mainstream audience. Present our promotional partners with a breadth of creative options to tailor programs for their specific demographics in imaginative and entertaining ways. Secure a strong opening weekend and sustain box-office momentum throughout the holiday season Strategy & TacticsChicken Little was embraced by both new and existing Disney partners, in part because of a story and characters that provided creative "hooks" for their consumers. By selecting key brands that cover many of the major retail and packaged goods categories, Disney created a marketplace replete with entertaining campaigns and consumer offers that reached nearly every demographic throughout the three-month promotional window. Disney worked with every partner to craft programs that would support the film while allowing each brand to own a specific creative element that "popped" in the marketplace.Chicken Little took center stage at McDonald's in November with a Happy Meal program featuring 100 million toys available in more than 15,000 locations. The eight-piece set of themed toys was promoted via custom-animated TV spots highlighting their playability. McDonald's extended its creative reach by adding new items to its standard P-O-P kit such as coloring sheets, stickers, and table tents.Kodak placed ads in Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Teen People to offer its audience (especially tweens and teens) a free ticket to see Chicken Little when signing up for Kodak Mobile service. The promotion drove consumers online, where they could also get themed cell phone wallpaper.Conducting its first film promotion in many years, Sears chose the title character to kick off its Wish Big campaign. Our feathered friend starred in the TV spot and was also featured in-store, throughout the chain's catalog, and on in-theater banners and popcorn bags. The key offer was two free tickets to Chicken Little with an electronics purchase. In addition, customers received one child's movie ticket when they purchased a specially marked Disney DVD.Chicken Little also starred on 75 million Kellogg packages across more than 25 SKUs, including cereal, Pop-Tarts, and fruit snacks. On-pack premium offers dangled talking bobble heads, chicken-inspired snowboarder caps, and door hangers. Kellogg utilized kid-focused TV advertising, in-store signage, and online elements to bolster the campaign. P&G enlisted its top household brands such as Tide, Downy, Bounce and one dozen others to offer a free movie-inspired baseball hat as a gift-with-purchase. P&G division Gillette's Oral-B focused its promotion on the Stages brand extension and offered kids and moms a chance to enter a Magic of Disney Sweepstakes online. Calls-to-action were presented on-pack, in-store, in print ads, and in a 30-million-piece FSI.JollyTime Popcorn used both traditional (on-pack, print) and nontraditional (featured integration in the film and the official video game released by BV Games) means to support the film.Get Fit Foods promoted its Grapple brand with two sweepstakes themed to Chicken Little's favorite pastimes: karaoke and baseball. A national promotion called "Krazy for Karaoke" was featured on-pack in more than 10,000 stores, while an account-specific "swipe stakes" at Kroger's Ralphs in California was dubbed "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."Disney created 17 original radio spots that played in Kroger stores nationwide via the company's in-store network. In these unique on-air voiceovers, Chicken Little shared holiday hints with shoppers.Disney partnered with more than one dozen Corn Maze operations across the U.S. to design special labyrinths featuring unique images of Chicken Little cut right into the corn. We also took to the streets with a float in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (garnering 50 million impressions). Samsung used Chicken Little as spokesperson for its YP-T8 Digital Audio Player, while America Online featured the character on integrated CD-ROMs. NWA WorldVacations offered grand-prize trips through local TV and print promotions. ResultsChicken Little enjoyed a $40 million opening weekend and had reached $132 million in box-office receipts by the end of 2005.Get Fit Foods received approximately 5,700 entries for its national sweeps and saw an increase in Grapple sales.The Kroger in-store radio campaign ran for six weeks and generated 265.5 million gross impressions and 122 gross rating points.
