Kraft, Hershey, McDonald's Gear Up for 'Night at the Museum'

Twentieth Century Fox aims squarely at the family with promotions around Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. The film studio is drawing in Kraft, Post cereals, Hershey and tourism board Destination D.C., with multiple contests that give trips to the nation's capital and sleepovers in the vaunted museum.Another major partner, McDonald's, is launching the first of five promotions into 2010 with Fox films, including a program around Night at the Museum. It's the second recent multifilm deal between a Hollywood studio and an A-list marketer, with Paramount inking three movies in a row with Burger King. The fast feeder is heavily promoting Star Trek now and plans similar tonnage behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen next month, as well as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in August.McDonald's, which plans a worldwide campaign for Museum, also has picked Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs from the upcoming Fox slate and will create special themed events in June and July. The marketer will tie in with several more of the studio's broad-appeal comedies into next year.McDonald's and the studio collaborated on a custom animation TV spot to launch the promotion, which will feature Happy Meals with a historical underpinning. Trading cards tucked into the meals have embedded codes so kids can play games at the McWorld Web site.The marketer has seen its business increase in the current economic downturn, and CMO Mary Dillon said execs know consumers are looking for "fun, quality and value" that high-profile entertainment provides.At a time when corporate partnerships are vital in opening films in a packed marketplace, Fox's executive vp-marketing Jeffrey Godsick said the deal "gives us the potential to extend the popularity of these ground-breaking experiences" to audiences worldwide.For the sequel to 2006's massively successful Night at the Museum ($574.4 million worldwide), Hershey is linking top sellers like Kisses, Kit Kat, Milk Duds and Whoppers and creating two sweepstakes. One, dubbed Unleash the Loot, is an instant-win with a $50,000 prize, and a second sends families to the Smithsonian. A themed TV ad—complete with an "alive" dinosaur and an Easter Island statue eating a Hershey Kiss, in theater spots, in-store displays, print and Web microsites also support.Kraft is focusing the tie-in on its Mac & Cheese products and is giving away 10 sleepover trips to the Smithsonian. Co-branded ads will appear across kid-friendly media. Post cereals will hype the movie across 17 million boxes of Alpha-Bits, Cocoa Pebbles, Honeycomb, Golden Crisp and other brands, also giving away Smithsonian trips. Destination D.C., which has worked with Hollywood before on Disney's National Treasure, is putting together travel packages, special events and themed hotel stays for the winners. It's also promoting Museum's shooting locations as must-see stops for any visitors to the capital.

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Kraft, Hershey, McDonald's Gear Up for 'Night at the Museum'

T.L. Stanley

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T.L. Stanley