D’oh–seems like everyone has already covered the Simpsons/7-11/Kwik-E-Mart conversion story and frankly I thought I had too. Turns out I wrote up a bunch of notes on my Palm and then never got around to posting them. Here’s what made it into the article on ABC News.com:
“‘The Simpsons’ 7-Eleven campaign feels wonderfully fresh to me,” said Drew Neisser, CEO of Renegade Marketing Group. “‘Simpsons’ fans are already buzzing about it.”
7-Eleven only converted 11 stores in the United States and one in Canada, but still managed to create a strong buzz, Neisser said.
“For ‘Simpsons’ fans, this is an inside joke on a colossal scale,” he said. “Among ‘Simpsons’ fans this conversion is sure to enhance their perceptions of 7-Eleven as a cool place to shop. What it is really clever about this is the blending of reality and fiction.”
Neisser said he didn’t foresee any such problems with “The Simpsons” promotion.
“No one is going to freak out and call the cops when their 7-Eleven is suddenly a Kwik-E-Mart,” he said. “My guess is that many won’t even notice but those that do will feel like insiders, which is one the true measures of a successful guerrilla effort.”
Here are the rest of my notes from that interview:
As a small case in point, my 14 year old son told me about the Kwik mart conversion plan when we passed a local 7/11 last week. Having just read about it in the trades I was surprised he knew about it too. Turns out one of his friends told him about it and they both thought it was pretty cool. Considering they are only converting a handful of stores the buzz about it is really strong.
What it is really clever about this is the blending of reality and fiction. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 had an interesting blend of reality and fiction with its Google Maps mash up last summer. This year New York City also declared a week in honor of Spiderman coinciding with the third movie in that series. And the Post Office got into the act with its R2D2-wrapped mail boxes.
All in all I think it is a very clever way of rallying Simpsons fans before the movie launch. This promotion is a smart way of showing how powerful a cultural force the Simpsons has truly become.
AND THIS JUST IN…Fellow Renegades made a field trip to the Kwik-E-Mart in Times Square this week and brought me back a can of Buzz Cola (which I consider a collector’s item of sorts). Speaking of fields, here’s a fun addition to the Simpsons launch campaign that is hot off the press and that… d’oh a deer might enjoy.
Bottom line–Marketing for Good is sometimes simply about making people laugh. I suspect a lot of folks are eagerly awaiting the Simpsons movie including this fan who simply hopes it is as entertaining as the aforementioned promotions.