Ackermans, Universal launch 'Despicable' promotion

5 Oct 2010

Clothing giant Ackermans have launched a retail promotion across all of its 350 stores in partnership with the #1 US smash hit 3D movie Despicable Me, which opened in cinemas across South Africa on Friday, 1 October 2010.

This promotion offers customers the chance to win an all-expenses-paid family holiday to the UK and to attend a star-studded, red carpet movie premiere in London when they sign for the A-Plus Card or when they spend on their existing A-Plus Card. It's the first time the brand has aligned itself with a movie promotionally, and as a promotional partner they were given access to a full suite of movie assets in order to create the eye-catching point of sale materials and in-store radio spots to help drive consumer engagement with the promotion.

The challenge - to stand out

"The A-Plus Card drive in association with Despicable Me has been an exciting opportunity for the Ackermans A-Plus team' says Angela Beukes, from the A-Plus Marketing team. 'During promotions the challenge for us is to break through all the other messages in the store so that ours really stands out and is noticed. The campaign gives us the opportunity to create in-store theatre for our customers through POS that is engaging, exciting and quite honestly hard to ignore. Furthermore it has given us an opportunity to promote our Card offering in a humorous and fun way - something which normally is very hard to do. We have seen in the past that 'money-can't-buy' prizes really work well to create excitement around a promotion and Universal Studios gave us the opportunity to offer the prize of attending a movie premiere in London in 2011 - which is hugely exciting."

"The choice of movie is ideal for our target market as it's aimed at the whole family and even though the promotion has only just started we feel confident that it will work very well for both Universal Studios and Ackermans."

Despicable Me is the first 3D animated movie from Universal Pictures and debuted at #1 at the US box office where it took over US$56.4 million (about R400 million) on its opening weekend, knocking Twilight off the top spot. As well as state-of-the-art animation it features the vocal talents of comedian Steve Carrell as the voice of bad-guy Gru, with Russell Brand, Jason Segel and Julie Andrews among the supporting cast.

"Smart marketers and Brand Managers are always looking for new ways to drive and grow their business, and an alliance with a movie is a great way of achieving this' says Dan Frost, a founder of Cape town-based COPPERMONKEY Promotions which brokered the promotion. 'By creating this strategic partnership, both the brand and the movie can benefit from additional marketing exposure by association and can ultimately gain new customers. It's a fantastic opportunity for a brand to create a whole new promotional experience or to simply overlay an existing promotion which needs a re-vamp with a new creative angle."

To find out more about Despicable Me go to www.despicablememovie.co.za.

For more information on the promotion or to find out about how your brand or business could be partnering with the next big blockbuster, contact COPPERMONKEY directly - Dan 0826289443 or Charlie on 0723146031.