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Monday, July 2, 2007

DOH! Simpsons movie misses out on a no-brainer?

Unless you live under a rock, you know The Simpsons have their movie coming out. I’ve actually been under a rock and missed their new Kwik-E-Mart takeover of 7-11 that James has cool pics of. Reminded me of the huge posters that have been up at my local AMC 100-plex. Large hand reaching for a donut. So my first thoughts months ago was: why did they wait so long for this movie to come out. Do people still connect with the Simpsons, and maybe, is this movie 10 years too late?

Now while I can’t speak ancient languages, and I don’t know much about astrophysics and I can’t run a 4/40, I’m pretty sure I can sell sugar though.

So can most of the readers here. The next immediate thought I had was a Dunkin’ Donuts tie-in. (After a quick Google to see if my rock living missed such a promotion, I see that aside from David at AdFreak who had the same exact thought, there’s nothing.)

As Homer might say, Wuh-Wuh-Why? I mean, if you’re going to maximize our junkfood-based media culture, The Simpsons is the one vehicle to do it with. It’s all about cultural references and iconic moments bred for promotions in movies like this. (Homer’s nuke plant and an energy bar tie-in anyone?)

But what bigger reference in the history of the show has there been though than Homer’s battle cry of “Mmmmm, doh-nuts!” A pink frosted donut with sprinkle limited edition Dunkin’ Donut is not just a no-brainer, or a freaking no-brainer, but a big opportunity missed. The K-E-M thing is nice, but donut’s are just one small part of the store experience. Fans remember the “Mmmmm, doh-nuts!” as much as anything.

The only possible reason DD could give is that with new spokesperson Rachael Ray and the ‘America runs on Dunkin’ Donuts’ campaign, they didn’t want to mix up the messages by running different promotions at the same time? (Look at me playing Devil’s Advocate.) I don’t buy it though. There’s no reason the two couldn’t get along. If Wendy’s, Bk and Mickey D’s can all run simultaneous promotions for movies, so too the DD. Considering Ray’s demo and Homer’s sugar proclivities, match made in heaven, no? (Er, DOH?)

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5 comments:

James-H said...

Your links are always good for my traffic, bro. Danka.

A little shout out to Slingshot, who fed me all the interesting crap I blogged about this AM.

James-H said...

They definitely ARE selling pink doinuts at the 7-11s (if you believe the pictures.)

Also: there's a 7-11 in Dallas - at northwest highway - that's doing the conversion.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I kinda figured they would sell plain pink ones through this particualr promo, but DD seems like it coulda given them an even bigger boost. (Unless Southland Corp. said no freaking way to the competition.)

A Simpsons movie tide raises all boats, no?

;-p

Anonymous said...

Maybe DD was hesitant to associate themselves with a morbidly obese, junk food obsessed moron of a character. That's why we love em, but seems like they would want to shy away from a donut-loving fatso now that Americans have realized that eating 20 donuts a day may make you put on a pound or two.

Anonymous said...

I could see that point if it was Mickey D's and they were trying to push their salads, but right now, DD doesn’t make any money if people think it’s not good for oyu. RR is pushing ‘delish’ iced coffee. Hardly the best thing for her trailer park figure.

(Did I just say trailer park? ;-p)