7-Eleven has converted a number of its stores into Kwik-E-Marts and is marketing the fictional products in its other stores to promote the upcoming Simpsons movie and to prove that the company can market itself with a sense of humor.
So 7-11 gets the joke about Kwik-e-Mart: Great, cause every morning I was waking up wondering if 7-11 had seen the hint in the Simpsons, if I should call them to let them know, gosh what a stress. Alright, why is 7-11's idea not so great, not to say dull.
The Simpsons producers are living it large: the marketing stunt is at the expense of the 7-11 executive team. The Fox/7-Eleven deal is an example of a practice called reverse product placement. Instead of just putting products prominently in a movie or TV show, fake goods move from the screen to reality.
The store will be selling KrustyO's, Buzz Cola and Squishee (renamed "woohoo vanilla'). The Duff beer has not been added to the merchandising experience, for ethical reasons.
The U.S. locations where a 7-Eleven store was transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart are New York City; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Burbank, Calif.; Los Angeles; Henderson, Nev.; Orlando, Fla.; Mountain View, Calif.; Seattle; and Bladensburg, Md.
In addition to the redesigning of the store, James L.Brooks (better know this guy if you're reading this article) threw in another idea in the pot: holding a contest to let one fan be drawn into a future episode of the TV show. Fans may log on here and play the Kwik-e-Mart game.
However, as Angela Natividad notes on Adrants, the idea has been used and developed before.
Actually, the James L.Brooks idea to have the loyal consumer turned into a simpsons' cartoon character is not new either: The winner of the "Who shot Mr Burns?" episodes was getting the same prize.
Actually, for those of you who don't know who's the winner of this competition, there was none. Fox had messed up its result sampling methodology, leading the winner the be an old lady who had wrongly guessed Smithers. A prize for guessing the correct answer was to be placed in a Simpsons episode. This never happened.
So don't get me wrong, the marketing stunt is great. As a Simpsons lover, I am going to drive about an hour to see the closest Kwik-e-Marted 7-11 just cause I'm a fan.
However, as usual, the advertising agencies, which are getting paid for creating new ideas, are once again re-using old stuff.
This is so recurrent, it is wearing me out. As a marketing and communications specialist, I am always a little disappointed by huge advertising agencies showing such lack of creativity. The worse is that the ones with the ideas are the ones getting the fat pay check in ad agencies. What a hoax man!
