The King Believes In The Power of D'oh!

Burger King is beginning another promotion featuring The Simpson's brand and its characters, and I thought it appropriate to remind us all that rules are made to be broken. What I mean by that is that companies like BK usually focus on the super hype of a movie release to leverage for their all important kids meal business.

Instead, this go round there is no major initiative for the Simpsons -- no movie release, heck to my knowledge not even a DVD. But the power of the Simpsons brand is so massive that it's ongoing brand power is enough to drive all the pull BK needs, or so they hope.

I think they are right. And so apparently does Adweek:

BK's relationship with the yellow, animated family from Springfield goes back 16 years -- during which it has run 10 co-branded programs. "There's enough of a halo effect, and the property has such widespread appeal that it's not really necessary to have a movie or DVD release," said Cindy Syracuse, BK's senior director, cultural marketing.

BK, which launched the hugely popular Simpsonize Me online program around The Simpsons Movie in '07, will be the first partner to get its hands on the famous couch gag that leads every Simpsons show. The fast feeder's ad agency, Campbell Mithun, Minneapolis, has created a live-action TV spot that plays off the opening sequence of the series with the family clowning around on the living room sofa. Collectible premiums in Kids Meals will follow that theme, snapping together to make a wacky tableau under the tagline, "Hang out with the Simpsons." The Pitch Agency, Los Angeles, helped create the program.

With the show's consistent track record, consumer products sales that now top $6 billion, popular Simpsons theme-park attractions in Hollywood and Orlando, and a movie that raked in $527 million worldwide, Fox can afford to cherry pick its Simpsons partners. "We look for the highest level blue-chip brands and partnerships with a major scope," said Howard Nelson, vp of worldwide promotion at Fox Licensing and Merchandising. "You won't see us doing small brand partnerships for this property."

Homer, Marge, Lisa, Santa's Little Helper, Mr. Burns, Smithers, Moe, Apu, Mandula, Side Show Bob, Krusty, and of course Bart can apparently do all that needs to be done, even as they creep toward yet another year -- their 21st I think. How amazing is that. And as much as I hate to endorse the efforts of Fox given their politics, their management of this franchise is clearly genius.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Good News for Yahoo! Now Number Two in Video Plays!

As America's self appointed number one Yahoo booster, I was delighted to read this post on Tech Crunch, which indicated that in Aug/Sep 2008, Yahoo rose to the number
two position in video plays, ahead of Fox, Hulu, MSN, and Nick.



Yes yes, they still pale in comparison to YouTube plays, but if you think about video in the context of a money flow -- that a monetizable vid sends money to the shower, and that a nonmonetizable one is actually an expense to the provider, then the numbers look a lot different. TC's piece says that only about 4% of YT vids are monetizable, whereas Yahoo and Fox and Hulu and MSN have a much higher proportion of professional, prescreened vids that advertisers are delighted to run before or on top of. So Yahoo and YT may be a lot closer in revenue than it looks.

And of course it helps to have an election and a Wall Street meltdown for a property with a politics, news, and finance page view leadership.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Happy Belated Anniversary to HULU! 10/28/2007

It's hard to believe it has only been a year. Now that twinkle sound before every vid is a daily staple for me.