Kimberly-Clark Drives 'Cars 2' into Stores

Kimberly-Clark leveraged a longstanding promotional partnership with Walt Disney Co. this summer for a tie-in to the studio’s theatrical release of “Cars 2” that gained strong support from key national and regional retailers.The packaged goods maker has been tapping into the strength of Disney properties for more than 12 years to add a marketing halo to Huggies and other kids brands via licensed packaging and thematic promotions.K-C has found particular success with campaigns that tie into the Hollywood giant’s major animated releases, which allow the company to “ride that wave of support” that Disney always orchestrates for the billion-dollar merchandise programs accompanying the films, Ken Johnson, K-C’s senior manager of brand shopper marketing, said while speaking at the Institute’s spring conference.The summer-long “Cars 2” effort went beyond the kid-focused products to unite every key brand – Kleenex, Scott, Viva and Cottonelle, in addition to Huggies and Pull-Ups – for a large-scale national campaign that was bolstered by account-specific activity at 22 retailers, according to reports. The national campaign centered on an incentive offer for free licensed merchandise with purchase. Shoppers submitted on-pack codes to a dedicated area of K-C’s website to earn prizes such as $10 Visa prepaid cards, free movie tickets and licensed toys from Mattel Inc., Lego and Hallmark Cards’ Crayola. A $20 purchase scored a $4 item; $50 garnered a $10 reward.The campaign also boasted brand-specific promotions, such as the in-pack giveaway of 3-D glasses on Kleenex packaging that let wearers read a “Cars 2” e-book on a Disney website. In-theater advertising, a direct-mail piece, packaging graphics, SmartSource shelf talkers and a national FSI that dropped on June 5 generated awareness for the overall campaign.The most buzz-worthy of the customized activity was a program for Walmart that sent smartphone-wielding shoppers around stores to scan UPCs from promotional packaging throughout June. Conducted by location-based mobile shopping application CheckPoints, Venice, Calif., the effort prompted the app’s roughly 1 million users to scan barcodes to earn points redeemable for standard rewards, such as gift cards to retailers including Target, The Home Depot and Amazon.com, frequent-flier miles for Delta and Alaska airlines, and charity donations. Once they earned those internal points, participants received messages about K-C’s national promotion.“Kimberly-Clark is using innovative marketing to engage shoppers with our brands and incentivize them to add more K-C products to their shopping baskets,” Richard Moulton, K-C’s director of shopper marketing, said in a release publicizing the effort. The app “offers us an easy way to reach consumers on the go … and stock up on our leading brands at Walmart.”Among other programs:Toys “R” Us promised a $10 “Cars 2”-themed store gift card with purchase of $50 in promotional product from Huggies, Scott or Kleenex from June 10-17. (Since adopting more of an “all things kids” strategy several years ago, the specialty retailer and sister chain Babies “R” Us have become a key account not only for Huggies, but for K-C’s other top brands as well.)Mid-Atlantic retailer A&P and sister chain Pathmark conducted a one-week gift-with-purchase offer dangling a free child’s movie ticket or a cell-phone skin adorned with characters from the film with purchase of $30 in eligible product. Redemption information was automatically printed at checkout. The promotion ran June 10-16, about one week ahead of the movie’s June 24 premiere.Eastern supermarket co-op ShopRite offered a free die-cast car with a $15 purchase of participating brands. That promotion ran June 5-12.Safeway’s Chicago-based Dominick’s chain offered a voucher for a free movie ticket with $25 purchase of select K-C SKUs. The promotion was touted in a co-equity overlay that ran alongside the aforementioned June 5 FSI.Southeastern grocer Publix delivered a $10 store gift card with purchase of $35 in K-C product in a single transaction. The offer was valid from June 5-30.Kroger aligned K-C’s portfolio with brands from two of the film’s other promotional partners, Kellogg Co. and Nestlé, to provide $5 in instant savings on a purchase of five SKUs from June 12-25.

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