Kimberly-Clark Pushing Disney-Pixar “Cars 2” – How Risky is a Global Multi-Brand Campaign?

Disney-Pixar "Cars 2" and Kimberly-Clark Mulit-brand Marketing PushFrom Jack Neff, Ad Age Mediaworks

Kimberly-Clark has launched a global marketing campaign to coincide with the June 2 release of the Disney-Pixar movie “Cars 2”.

The studio bills this as its “biggest animated feature release ever”, and in return, Kimberly-Clark has begun a “scale event”: a multiple-brand marketing effort pushing an entertainment property in order to capture the attention of major retailers.

Is Kimberly-Clark taking a chance by tying so many brands to one entertainment property — what if the film fails at the box office?

There’s a lot less risk than one might think, said Devery Holmes, CEO of Spark Alliance Marketing, a Calabas, Calif.-based entertainment-marketing firm. “The anticipation and excitement of a property and a film that’s coming out and that relationship the consumer has is what drives awareness interest,” she said. “I’ve had more successful campaigns, believe it or not, with films that have not delivered, but the anticipation and excitement were there.”

As with the case of K-C and “Cars 2,” the promotional programs generally start weeks before the film opens, she said, which mitigates potential fallout should it not generate much opening-week buzz.

Spark Alliance Marketing assists in Marketing Strategy, Development,  Partnership Marketing and National and Global Alliances.