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Licensed products that are cross-promoting the TF5 movie... and they don't have to make any sense either, as long as a business is willing to shell out the licensing fee.
In America, Schick razors... with a creative razor-bot on the display shelves.
In China, Loreal Men Expert face care products and Clear shampoo.
Okay... Valvoline (oil) made some sense being related to Transformers, but skin care?
I'm sure we will see a lot more show up in the next 7 weeks.
TV commercial on youtube for the Schick razors promotion, featuring Optimus (doesn't speak), and a tiny little razor-bot.
Crush Soda in America has a tie-in promotion, in which you can get a free movie ticket when you buy 3 12-packs of their soft-drink cans.
Coca Cola China is the latest to have a TF5 Movie promotion, with the commercial (on youtube) featuring Bumblebee & Barricade.
(the commercial was filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, as it was probably filmed by Bay's people, and his company is located in LA).
The HD version of the Coca Cola commercial can be seen here.
Note the Bumblebee car at the end - they mustn't have had the movie car on hand so painted up something near enough, but the colour and car model are both wrong.
The music at the end of the commercial is a Chinese version of the Coke song currently on the commercials here.
The special Coke cans can be seen here - there are three of them with robots printed on them (Optimus, Bumblebee and Megatron).
Apparently there is a raffle in China for this promotion, that can win a gift box of the three special Coke cans, plus a Shadow Spark Optimus toy.
Meanwhile, over in Hong Kong, a bedding store called Casablanca, had a 2 week promotion for Transformers bedding, which was only noticed by western fansites two days after it ended (April 28th to May 14th).
There was an Optimus bed set and a Bumblebee bed set, for HK$500 (about AU$85-90).
In the Philippines, 7-11 have started a Movie promotion, giving away 3 different drawstring bags (with minimum purchases that earn stamps), and a raffle at the end of the promo period, with prizes of Nintendo consoles and trips to Universal Studios Singapore.
Some more photos of the various Transformers cans (not just the red Coke cans, but also orange and green, which would be Fanta and Sprite)... as well as a prize pack that doesn't look like the same one that comes with the Shadow Spark toy, as it has a small collector case that we don't yet know what it has inside.Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
Energizer batteries in the Philippines have a movie promotion, involving six weekly challenges, for a chance to win 8 movie tickets and PHP10,000 (which sounds like a lot, but only comes to about AU$270).
There is one winner for each of the six weekly challenges.
Sonic in America (the fast food franchise, not the hedgehog :p ), is giving away Transformers stickers with their kids meals, which notes a related app and possibly prizes.
Plus, for a limited time on their menu, three "transforming" slushes (icy drinks), which have two different colours in them that "transform" when you stir it... -_-
China KFC - two special promo cups that have figures on the top, 3D art on the cup, and has a sound chip in the lid.
Plus, a number of the KFC outlets will be painted up in a Transfomers theme.
It makes you wonder where the breakup of this cross-promotion money goes, as we only ever hear about box office earnings as a yardstick on how successful/profitable a movie is, but if a movie is raking in several hundred million in these promotions, it doesn't get added to the box office earnings. A movie can also be more popular with DVD sales and rentals, and even TV screenings, than at the box office... but the box office takings seem to be the only measurement of success we use, or declared.
The breakdown of earnings from a TF film and its merchandising would be interesting to see. They definitely earn more from merchandising, licensing and promotions than they do from ticket sales. Pixar's Cars, produced on a budget of $120million, made close to $500 million at the box office and over $10 billion in retail sales. This was before Cars 2 was released.Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
For Merchandise and toy sales off the back of a movie, it depends on how much was paid for the licenses (and any royalties on popular Brands) to produce those items... even Disney properties like Cars.Quote:
Originally Posted by tinyJazz
Transformers is a little different, because the toys are being produced by the company that owns the Brand... but since the movie company (Paramount) isn't Hasbro, Paramount's production budget for Transformers movies doesn't get anything from the sale of any Hasbro Toys, unless it was specifically added to the contract (like Michael Bay getting a percentage off EVERY movie toy that Hasbro produces since TF2).
The American "Tastykakes" brand of packaged cakes and muffins, has a competition/promotion running for a variety of prizes, by answering 5 quiz questions.
And if you are likely to be in America in the next four weeks, the movie prop Sqweeks is doing a tour of the country before the Movie comes out, showing up at various conventions and events (list can be seen here - and a photo from one location here).
How times have changed... anyone remember the 2007 movie promo tour, with the big black Sector 7 semi-trailer driving around the country to give Americans a sneak peak at the Movie and it's secret government agency. Ten years later, they get a rusty Vespa-bot touring the country instead... :p
A car detailer/painter in America has a new commercial with Bumblebee... filmed at Paramount Studios backlot.
(photo here is from my tour of the Paramount studios in 2014 with UltraMarginal, showing the same area as the commercial)
http://toycollectors.com.au/bc14/r46.jpg
The Schick Hydrobot from some of the earliest posts of this topic, has been given its own mini-comic by IDW (not sure why)... but you can "buy" it for free from the IDW site (if you have an account, or want to go to the trouble of setting up an account for this).
Some of it has been posted here, but it doesn't make much... any... sense.
US Car Rental company "Enterprise" has a commercial out, featuring Transformers TLK toys (yes, toys), being played with by two children, while the voice-over talks about the car rental company.
It's certainly a new approach, featuring toys like that... but ironically, it is non-Hasbro commercial that gives us our first clear look at the new mould Deluxe Bumblebee toy (from wave 3).
Chinese phone company Meizu, is releasing a special edition Transformers Last Knight themed phone on June 7th, featuring, "a customized body design, as well as customized design on the box casing. There are also customized themes, ringtones, wallpapers and other contents".
An entertainment magazine, that appears to be produced by (or for) McDonalds in France, has an article this month on the TF5 movie. It is in French, but there is a translation below the scans of the pages, of some of the article.
Not a cross-promotional item, but a cross promotional tour... of America.
We know that Walmart in America is the home of the "Autobot Unite" toyline and the character of Hot Rod, but to really promote the Brand at their stores, they will be doing a five month cross-country visit of 870 of their stores!
The tour is split up into three teams, featuring Optimus on the East coast, Bumblebee in the Central region, and Hot Rod on the West coast... with each team only visiting stores for 3 hours, in order to fit in all those stores between June 12th and November 3rd.
(the "characters" might just be the robot suits... not the actual vehicles)
Caltex Hong Kong have just released their Transformers promotion.
You can get cups with figures on top, a box of tissues or a "talking head" through their promotion.
Unfortunately, my hubs only fills our car with Shell so I'm going to have to beg my friends to see if they use Caltex and would mind helping me get some of these.
It's a very complicated promotion too, sounding like it would cost a fair bit to get everything.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bladestorm
Wave 1 - June 7th to July 16th - Four Transformers Movie Tumblers (Optimus, Bumblebee, Sqweeks, Megatron).
Stamp issue period: June 7th to July 16th
Redemption period: June 16th to July 16th
Earn one stamp for every HK$200 (about AU$35) of Caltex gasoline you purchase. Collect six stamps (about AU$210 of fuel during those six weeks) to redeem a Caltex “Exclusive Movie Tumbler” for free.
(total cost would be about AU$840 of fuel to collect all four)
--------------------
Wave 2 - July 17th to August 29th - Transformers Tissue Box and Talking Heads (Optimus & Bumblebee)
Fuel up for HK$500 (about AU$90) or more of Caltex gasoline to get the Exclusive Movie Box of Tissues for free.
Or
Earn one stamp for every HK$200 (about AU$35) of Caltex gasoline you purchase. Collect four stamps to redeem a Caltex “Exclusive Movie Talking Head Figure” for an additional HK$49 (about AU$9). (total cost would be about AU$149)
To get all seven exclusive items, it would cost about AU$1079, with $1070 of that being fuel purchases during those two months.
That might be possible if you are a delivery driver or have a big commute to work, but HK is a small place, so unless you have friends giving you their stamps, this could be difficult to do.
Four TV commercials for this promotion have been found, and can be seen here. One has Bumblebee fighting barricade, two have a guy in transforming costume, while one just shows the "transforming" frozen drinks (that transform by stirring - which mixes the two colours/flavours together).Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
Barricade is looking bluer and bluer each time I see it... I think Hasbro are going to have to re-release their first wave Barricade toys into "screen accurate" redecoes. (which will probably be in "Platinum Edition" style boxsets later)
My first thought with "Sonic Drive In" was "Drive in theatres"... but it's actually a fast food restaurant format that has a parking area that allows you to stay in your car, order food from the menu board next to your car, pay for it, and you eat it in your car (they bring it out to you). Then you just drive off when you are ready. It's like going through the Maccas Drive thru and then parking in their car park to eat it.
I remember seeing in Happy Days or maybe it was Grease... people parking outside a fast food restaurant, and waitresses would bring out their tray of food that clipped onto the bottom of their car window. That was the 60s... I didn't realise they still had them in America today.
Redbox in America (a movie DVD rental dispensing machine company) has a promo that gets $5 off a TF5 movie ticket for anyone renting the TF4 movie during a limited time.
I'm not sure how much a Redbox DVD rental costs, but it couldn't be much more than $5, which would be like a free rental if you get $5 off a movie ticket.
And a related movie promo in America has a Walmart exclusive movie multipack, with the first four Movies on blu-ray packed with one of the following TFPrime Beast Hunters Legion toys - Bumblebee, Prowl or Soundwave (it's so random - it should have been a movie toy).
How about this for a weak cross promotion for the Last Knight Movie. An Australian car mod show that goes for 35 minutes, has a short mention of the Movie at the start, and the logo at the end. The rest is just about modifying an old 80s car into a super fast car... so unless you like cars, don't worry about watching it just to see/hear the two Transformers references.
For in-store Transformers displays I've never found any better in the world than the Tsim Sha Tsui (Ocean Terminal) ToysRUs store, but this one in Taiwan would be a close second.
Remember the Star Wars themed passenger plane a few years back? Well, China's GX Airlines have decked out one of their Airbus planes with a Transformers theme, both inside and outside.
You get Optimus and Bumblebee painted on the outside of the plane, while the seat covers and overhead luggage bins have the two characters all over them as well.
And if that isn't enough for you, they are selling models of the Transformers plane as well (probably at the airports somewhere).
Some photos from the West Coast leg, with Hot Rod... not a huge exhibit, and the display is only supposed to be there for 3 hours, so probably won't attract too much attention, particularly at certain hours of the day.Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
It's the "end of school year" holidays in America now (they go from August to June), and the back to school advertisements are starting to show up (like they do here just a couple weeks into the end of year school holidays), and one from Walmart includes several contemporary iconic hereos, including Optimus and Bumblebee, to promote licensed clothing for kids to wear when they return to school next month.
(regular American schools don't have uniforms, so they wear casual clothing)
Twice in the last week, I've seen a commercial on TV for Schick Hydro razors, with the transforming razor-bot (but not the ones I was able to find on youtube from last year, including this one).Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
I can't remember if we had the razor-bot commercials here last year following the Transformers movie (which was a cross-promotion in America), and I haven't noticed this transforming razor-bot commercial here before the last week or so.