When one thinks of Target, it's certainly fitting to imagine the retailer as an outlet for the teenage girls that form the bulk of The Hunger Games' most dedicated fan base. What may not be so fitting to the Target brand and clientele are the terms like "14-carat gold replicas" and "$999 each." Yet, this is what Target is dangling as one of the marquee features of its exclusive Hunger Games DVD release event.Continue reading...

Paramount Pictures is celebrating its centennial on May 8th with a new logo that debuted in December. If you caught Dr. Seuss' The Lorax you may have noticed Universal Pictures' new animated logo for its 100th anniversary, which is coming up on April 6th.

Created by Weta Digital, it features Brian Tyler's new arrangement of Jerry Goldsmith's classic score. The previous Universal logo premiered with The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997. The Universary is being celebrated throughout 2012 with a Universal100th website featuring such iconic films as To Kill a Mockingbird plus "new films, classic DVDs, essential Blu-Rays, events, online games, competitions, and money-can't-buy prizes." (The Toshiba-sponsored contest's top prize: $1 million paid out as an annuity over 40 years).

Below, watch Universal's new animated logo and trailer promoting its 100th anniversary, along with 100 years of the studio's logos (including the Jurassic Park-introduced logo at :40); a clip of Tyler discussing how he reworked Goldsmith's musical intro to evoke a century of movie moments; and a comparison with Paramount's 100th anniversary logo.Continue reading...

The catchphrase of The Lorax — "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better" — can mean a lot of different things depending on one's perspective when it comes to the marketing of Universal's record-breaking new #1 movie.

To purists, it means that unless consumers speak up, Hollywood's commercialization of Dr. Seuss, including signing a cross-promotional sponsorship deal with an automaker, the movie's environmental message is for naught. To Mazda, the brand that's ponying up for The Lorax tie-in, it means that unless some consumers care an awful lot, sales numbers are not going to get better.

But is the outrage about Mazda's Lorax partnership making "perfect" the enemy of "good" — and overlooking ?Continue reading...

When it comes to creative film tie-ins, this week saw the release of a fictional future TED Talk set in the year 2023 and starring one of the characters from the upcoming sci-fi epic, Prometheus. It's quite an involved, bold bit of marketing, especially as TED 2012 is wrapping up today in Long Beach, CA.

But it's not the only film tie-in going this week, even if some of the rest is a little less creative and a little more… wolfish.Continue reading...

100 likes, 857 dislikes. That's the YouTube tally for the Mazda tie-in commercial for Dr. Seuss' The Lorax movie, based on the animated version of the kids' classic environmental-themed book that's hitting cinemas on March 2nd.

The comment "I'm absolutely disgusted with this! The REAL Lorax would never work with the Onceler. Mazda, stop using Dr. Seuss's material, it's only going to make your company look bad and downright stupid" has been voted up 28 times. Another irate comment, "Consider the movie and car both boycotted. WTF were you thinking?" is par for the course.

The shame of it? It all could have been avoided.Continue reading...

Visitors to Target's Facebook page will notice a Seussified version of the brand's iconic bullseye logo, tied to the retailer's cross-promotional marketing for Dr. Seuss' The Lorax movie, which opens on Friday. Look a little closer, and they'll also notice a tab that promotes group gift-giving.

The pitch for the just-launched FB app, called Give With Friends: "Going in on a group gift? It’s easy peasy with Target’s “Give with Friends”. Just choose an eGiftCard, invite people to pitch in, and surprise someone with something fun from the whole gang. Best part: You never even have to leave Facebook!"

The app is powered by ShopIgniter, a social commerce developer, which aims to create social buying experiences. Kevin Tate, ShopIgniter's CMO, told brandchannel the goal is “bringing ‘commerce’ to the conversation and content that brands have spent the last few years developing on the Social Web. We see Commerce as a key vehicle for these brands to monetize the (significant) investments they've made in their social presence."Continue reading...

Mazda announced this week that it's on board for Universal Pictures' upcoming Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, which opens on March 2nd.

The deal helps Mazda cross-promote its "Seuss-ifed" 2013 Mazda CX-5 crossover SUV with a commercial, above, that features an animated version of the car driving through a valley of Truffula trees. More on The Lorax next week.

Opening this weekend, meanwhile, is a slate of films all featuring some level of product placement. First up: Tyler Perry's Apple Love Good Deeds.Continue reading...