You want your new product to stand out as much as possible. What's more appealing than an iconic movie character?
Over the years, many food companies have created movie merchandise. These are often aimed at children. Movie producers can benefit from a wider audience by marketing their movies. What about the food manufacturers themselves? Do movie merchandise boost sales?
Do Movie Merchandise Boost Sales?
Kraft Heinz Company has been involved in many movie merchandise and the answer to that question is "yes."
Recently, the company collaborated with Mattel on a pink sauce "Barbiecue". Officially launched to celebrate the 65th anniversaryThe product celebrates Barbie's 50th anniversary and follows the resurgence of interest in Barbie following the film starring Margot Robertson last year.According to JoJo De Noronha, Kraft Heinz's president for Northern Europe, the Barbie spin-off is behind Kraft Heinz's gradual growth in its mayonnaise category.
Heinz and Paramount recently released a Godfather-related product before Barbie. Noronha claims it is the #1 SKU for pasta sauce in UK supermarket Waitrose. It surpasses the second best SKU with +21 %.
The Godfather is also a popular search term at Ocado, ranking among the top 20 most searched terms.
Cawston Press is a newcomer to movie tie-in merchandise, but its collaboration with Disney to promote Inside Out 2 has proven to be very profitable.
Milly Tuck is the senior brand manager at Cawston Press. She told FoodNavigator that a key goal when creating partnerships like Disney and Pixar x Cawston Press is to increase brand awareness, reach a wider audience and ultimately convert that into increased sales.
Our on-pack campaign, supported by shopper marketing in supermarkets across the country, created mass awareness nationally. The inclusion of familiar Inside Out characters on our packaging drove purchase consideration among our targeted family audiences.
Promotions on the packaging of Inside Out 2 and its characters were part of Disney's partnership with the brand.
What are the links to the film for?
Many of the film tie-ins are aimed at a younger audience, although this is not the only case. Cawston Press' collaboration with a children's film is a good example.
Tuck, a spokesperson for FoodNavigator, said: “All four flavours included in the on-pack promotion are school approved and are a vegan option suitable for family outings, picnics or lunch boxes.
The collaboration aims to build familiarity among consumers. Tuck said familiarity is also a big factor in the decision to partner. Consumers are more likely to buy a product from a trusted brand if they recognize it.
Heinz managed to tap into two different markets for Barbie: those who were interested after the movie came out, as well as those who had been fans since childhood. As with the Cawston Press collaboration, the key was familiarity. In this case, it was the Barbie brand.
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