BABIES - Nickelodeon's Rugrats characters combine with Cambell's soup, Lincoln-Mercury and Blockbuster for marketing plans

Brandweek, June 8, 1998 by David Kiley, Tanya Gazdik

Revving its jewel property to both kids and adults, Nickelodeon has filled out its cross-promotional roster for The Rugrats Movie with a host of heavy-hitters that includes Ford's Lincoln-Mercury division, Campbell's Soup, Kraft Kids brands and Nick's sister Viacom division, Blockbuster Entertainment, for a marketing and media onslaught expected to top S200 million for the Thanksgiving release.

The companies join early signees Burger King and Cadbury-Schweppes' Mott's unit fomenting a fall Rugratmania. Nick has amassed a fourth-quarter Rugrats extravaganza it hopes will take its precocious cartoon kids to the next level of all-family entertainment, as Angelica, Chucky, Tommy Pickles, Phil and Lil, et at., get plastered across classic red-and-white soup cans, cereal boxes, cheese packages, lunch snacks and juice boxes, and will be integrated across a range of partner media. Not to mention the exposure they will get at restaurants, grocery stores, mass merchants and, in a coup for an all-family feature, car dealerships. "We're trying to raise Rugrats to icon status by partnering with huge category leaders that speak directly to kids and families," said Pam Kaufman, Nick's vp-promotions marketing, who brokered the property along with Paramount vp-promotions Lisa DiMarzio. "This is our evergreen property." Ford's Lincoln-Mercury division plans a print and TV campaign linking Rugrats with the new '99 model year Mercury Villager minivan, said lan Beavis, Lincoln-Mercury marketing communications manager. The spot, which Beavis called "hysterical," features a combination of animation and live action. Other promotional activities will include placing Mercury Villagers in lobbies of selected movie theaters nationwide, plus flags in 2,600 dealerships, direct mail and the Internet. "It's really a perfect fit for Mercury in terms of personality," Beavis said, with the Rugrats perceived as "a little edgy and off center-a lot like Mercury," per its ongoing and offbeat "Imagine TV" brand campaign. The Rugrats spots rotate in neatly with "Imagine TV," according to Beavis. "There is a similar feeling between them," he said. Recognition of the Rugrats characters is "astonishing," he said, even among people who don't have kids. "[Research showed] by connecting the Rugrats with Mercury, people perceived it as Mercury stepping outside the box and as being more contemporary and family-oriented . . . but not sugarcoated," Beavis said. While hyping the movie, and the TV series that inspired it, Nickelodeon also is using Rugrats, its top-rated show, to build new business. Deals with Molt's and Campbell's Soup will include those companies' first-ever media buys on the No. 1 kids network. Those brands, in order to get the prized Rugrats, also bought into another Nick property, the preschool-targeted Blue's Clues, launching themed product this spring and fall. In Molt's case, the berry-flavored blue applesauce is selling beyond expectations, earning coveted space in such retailers as Wal-Mart, which normally shuns limited-time promotional food products. Mott's, which bows its Rugrats program in September (see Licensing feature, page 47). earlier than the other partners, plans to make it the centerpiece of its back-to-school efforts, concentrating for the first time on talking directly to kids. In August, Campbell's will put Blue the dog on 18 million cans of Alphabet Soup, and will bow Rugrats Pasta with Chicken and Broth. Campbell's Soup will put a game under the label of some 25 million cans, aiming for a sales boost during the key fall season. "We're pushing to make our kid links stronger, to get on kids' radar screen so they'll request soups," said Vince Melchiorre, Red & White Soup's business director. "That's why we're marrying our core equity with Nickelodeon's core equity." Kraft's promotion includes Post Cereals, Handi-Snacks, Oscar Mayer Lunchables and Kraft Singles, with significant POP, themed packaging and media. Blockbuster's program will focus on the video retailer's in-store Kid's Pak, which is doled out with kidvid rentals, and the movie trailer will play on in-store monitors November through January. Coke will also get involved in theaters mid-June through November, offering five Rugrats collectors cups. The movie begins with a new baby in the Pickles family. On route from home to hospital, the Rugrats get lost and have to find their way back. Celeb voices include Whoopi Goldberg, David Spade, Tim Curry and Busta Rhymes, with music provided by the likes of Beck, Jakob Dylan, Lisa Loeb and Iggy Pop. Other promotional activity is planned with licensees such as Oral-B, Farley's and Mattel, plus Paramount's theme parks.