The licensing deal for Little Orbit LLC’s “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” came with an assortment of marketing freebies from DreamWorks Animation LLC that are helping the Santa Ana video game publisher defray some of the cost of promoting the new release (see related story, page 1).
“We are fully integrated with their programs and have been able to partner with some of their other licensees, as well as some of their promotional partners,” said Tamara Johnston, Little Orbit’s director of global marketing. “They have a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign behind the movie itself, so just the fact that they are out there actively promoting the brand helps us.”
The timing of the releases creates numerous opportunities for cross promotion—the game will be available June 10, and the movie hits the big screen on June 13.
Shared Style
Little Orbit relied on DreamWorks’ style guides to develop its own creative assets, such as promotional videos.
“They provided us with character art, backgrounds, logos, and from there we’ve developed our packaging based on their movie art but have tweaked it a little bit in order to make it reflect the game play,” Johnston said. “The point is for us to be really partnered with them. We don’t want to recreate the wheel, we don’t want to design characters differently, we want it to be easily recognized as the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ brand and have that connection with the movie marketing, but we want it just a little different so there is that recognition that this is the video game and not the movie.”
The game trailers are playing on YouTube channels, including DreamWorks’ related to the movie. The trailers are also being shown on websites popular with moms, who can “click-through” to sites where they can purchase the game, such as Amazon, Target or Toys“R”Us.
Johnston’s team also created TV spots using footage from the game that “target the same audience that you’d see at the movies.” The ads are running on the Cartoon Network, MTV Networks Kids & Family Group’s Nicktoons, Disney XD and CW Television Network’s Vortexx.
“We’ve been frugal in our portion of the campaign,” Johnston said. “We’ve been targeted with our TV buy and found ways to achieve the same reach and frequency but with a slightly less expensive buy by using 15-second spots.”
DreamWorks’ art is also prominently displayed on about 36,000 Redbox Automated Retail LLC’s rental kiosks.
“In some ways, it’s sort of like an out-of-home buy, a twist on that traditional media buy, but instead of using billboards, we actually have stickers that will be placed on all of the Redbox kiosks,” she said, adding that the promotion may generate 700 million impressions, which consist of foot traffic and social media of all three companies.
“The movie will be in the Redbox kiosks when the DVD comes out in November. And at that point in time, we may do a repromotion with them online to reboost the rental of the game.”
Other Synergies
Little Orbit is also working with DreamWorks’ other promotional partners, such as the American Automobile Association, to provide prizes for sweepstakes that will run in the July/August issue of its Westways magazine. The publication reaches 5 million households.
The sweepstakes will also be promoted in a member savings guide and on the organization’s website, potentially adding 2 million eyeballs.
Another 200 copies of the games will be handed out at Fox movie theaters—the official theater group for DreamWorks—as part of various marketing campaigns, and will be heavily promoted via DreamWorks’ social media channels.
“It’s terrific exposure for us,” Johnston said. “Some of the properties we are working with this year have 25 million Facebook followers, a rabid fan base. For us, this is huge. We can tap into that audience, and that does not cost us anything except time.”
