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When Supergirl takes to the screen this Friday, she’ll be the biggest Warner Bros/DC Studios movie ever when it comes to promotional partnerships with 80+ sponsors who are delivering $100 million-plus in media value. That’s not even counting consumer products.
With names such as Ulta Beauty, OPI, Joico, and Kentucky Fried Chicken onboard, Warner Bros Global Partnerships’ aim for the campaign is to sell the edgy aspect of the DC-verse, while creating zeitgeist moments that would intrigue young women and families.
Know that when it comes to partnerships, that dollar amount is comprised of purchased advertisements, retail store space as well as campaign digital and linear impressions. Of those 80, 65 are international partners, 14 are North American with four counting a global reach (Samsung, OPI, American Airlines and Timex).
Another big deal for Warner Bros and DC is that they’re getting repeat business with such returning Superman partners as Timex, Samsung, American Airlines, and Milk-Bone. Similar to last summer in James Gunn’s Superman, the doggy snake product is making a cameo in the Craig Gillespie directed feature take of Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s graphic novel Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
Warners’ m.o. with tentpole partners is to ensure that those coming to the table widen their demographics, earn new customers, and exceed their sales goals via the power of a motion picture tentpole partnership. This weekend, Supergirl is currently expected to open to $50M-$55M at the domestic box office.
Read, when McDonald’s wanted to spur Gen-Z young men to choose the golden arches over any other fast food brand, they created an adult Happy Meal tied to Warner Bros/Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie. It was a tie-in that sources say delivered around $700M in revenue to McDonald’s.
Another example can be seen with Progressive and Superman, which marked the insurance company’s third collaboration with Warner Bros after Barbie and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The brand decided to launch a new product, an accident response service, in connection with the David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult and Rachel Brosnahan movie. The results? Sources say Progressive superseded their sales goal, and doubled their investment, before the pic’s early July $125M+ domestic opening last year.
“We are fortunate to have a number of partners coming back for multiple films because our approach is always rooted in the audience first and foremost – we are committed to not only strengthening the loyalty of brands’ existing customer bases with unique experiences, but also bringing in brand-new customers with bold new stories to really drive business. ” said Warner Bros Co-Head of Global Marketing Dana Nussbaum.
Adds Julie Moore, Warner Bros SVP Global Brand Partnerships, “In a crowded environment, we want our partners to pierce culture and stand out, while driving tickets to Supergirl.”
Here’s a sampling of some of the U.S. and global ad partners flying in for Supergirl:
Kentucky Fried Chicken with a 360-degree campaign and a significant amount of paid media across the World Cup, NBA Finals, in-restaurant, as well as digital, the fast food brand is by far the biggest partner that Kara-Zor El has. The goal here is to sell a rockstar image for fried chicken that young adults want to gobble up (look out, Raising Cane’s and Dave’s Hot Chicken). When it comes to a tentpole promo campaign, the two most lucrative partners are typically fast food and automobile. A few weeks ago, KFC sent shockwaves across social with the first ever, dual-purpose chicken and popcorn bucket with the chain morphing its iconic bucket into a collectible, which got a super-powered upgrade: a collectible lid featuring puppy Krypto. In addition, KFC has five keychains available for customers: two Supergirl versions (super suit and trench coat) as well as Lobo, Ruthye and Krypto. The collectibles are blind-bagged, so finding one’s favorite hero, antihero or very good dog is part of the mission. There’s also two-themed meals with custom sauces and drinks: the Supergirl Ultimate Themed Meal and the Supergirl Combo Meal which come with three inspired sauces form the pic including Supergirl Solar Honey Mustard, Ruthye’s Sweet Revenge Chili and Lobo’s Wild Ranch. There’s also the new Kryptonian Kooler which is an electric-blue blend of Starry, Blue Raspberry Syrup and Clear Strawberry Boba.
Waymo The pitch here by the driverless luxe taxi and Warners is innovation and experience in a play for both men women, particularly the Gen Z set: Both Waymo and Supergirl save the day transporting passengers to a different world one journey at a time. Not to mention, given the movie’s sci-fi setting, Waymo was a good fit. Superman had Toyota since he was (largely) on planet Earth. There are wrapped Supergirl cars in top three markets, Waymo is sponsoring the Brooklyn, NY premiere tonight.
Ulta (US & Mexico) – In a big play to bring young women to the DC-verse, the studio is going deep in the beauty category. Ulta and Supergirl are celebrating “Rebel Summer” further boosted by the slogan “Rock your Look, Find Your Power” with a spot that stars Kara Zor-El herself, Milly Alcock. Customers entering Ulta stores will be encouraged to find their power via three signature looks: Power Glam, Grunge Romance, and Iconic Shimmer. The team-up here with Ulta also features brand collaborations with hair care brand Joico, OPI nail polish and body care product Sol de Janeiro. Joico, in addition to touting their “Hero” hair care products, is offering a Supergirl cosmetic bag when Ulta customers spend $30.00 or more. OPI has a line of Supergirl products including 12 shades of Nail Lacquer and six custom press on nail designs (these are also available at other notable retail outlets, drug stores throughout 14 markets in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe/Middle East. There’s also immersive large-scale window vinyls designed by Supergirl comic book artist Bilquis at select Ulta flagship locations.
Samsung (Global) continues the partnership they started on Superman with promotion across 80 Markets including 6,500 Samsung Stores, 600 stores, along with pervasive digital and social and a massive outdoor push in New York’s Times Square and Hong Kong. Samsung TVs in living rooms around the world will feature Supergirl imagery which can be downloaded from via each console’s art store.
American Airlines (Global) Usually when it comes to airlines and movies, you expect wrapped planes, but there’s a mightier superpower at work here: The Supergirl Shield will serve as the marker on the airline’s flight tracker across 1,475 planes. Who doesn’t watch the flight tracker? There’s also Supergirl + DC Channel on flights, Supergirl mocktails in the lounge, movie-themed perks to their AA advantage members and more.
Milk-Bone (US) After pulling in pet lovers last year on Superman, the doggy treat label is back with a new co-branded product, the Milk‑Bone Krypto Soft & Chewy Mini Treats. In addition, Milk-Bone is hosting a rooftop screening and intergalactic rest-stop for Dogs in NYC for famous dogs and their owners, as well as press and influencers. There will be interactive activities such as a puppy red carpet with step and repeat, gifting suite for dog, and custom comic by DC comic artists with owner and their dog. In addition, Jennifer Holland (aka Agent Emilia Harcourt in the Gunn and Safran DC-verse) will be in attendance. Last year, there were 200K Milk-Bone Superman boxes which sold out in 24 hours. How’s that? They featured a limited run comic-book on the box, Superman: A Friendship Unleashed No. 1 by Ivan Cohen with art by Travis Mercer. This year, we hear the Supergirl Milk-Bone boxes are smaller to fit more volume on store shelves.
Best Friends Animal Society (US) Warner Bros and DC’s “Paws Marketing” continues as Best Friends Animal Society return. On top of co-branded PSAs (millions of dollars in donated media), they’re promoting Supergirl at their ongoing adoption events.
Pumpkin Insurance (US) also returns as a pet sponsor with paid media and promotion across 800 vet clinics and hospitals.
Stanely Steemer (US) The carpet cleaner is doing their first partnership ever. The sell: Even heroes need a clean home, especially heroes with dogs. We hear that Warners locked and loaded the cleaner product upon their watching the teaser trailer with Krypto pee-ing on the floor of Supergirl’s room. Stanley Steemer is pushing their Supergirl themed cleaning package for homes with dirty pets.
Timex Last year, the watchmaker had a limited-edition James Gunn Superman Watch. This year they’ll have a limited edition Blondie x Supergirl Watch with a promotion that spans 42 markets. Why Blondie? Because Kara is a big fan of the ’70s-’80s new wave band.
Coldstone & Pinkberry (US) will serving up themed desserts, activations, and in-restaurant promotions, i.e. Supergirl’s Cosmic Kettle Corn Creation, Supergirl’s Popcorn Supernova Shake. Pinkberry has Supergirl’s Galactic Lemonade and Supergirl’s Galactic Lemonade Frozen Yogurt on the menu.
Supergirl
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Gotta Need Milk (US) It’s so fitting that a superhero and hopeful model citizen would sell something as wholesome as milk. The brand is playing off the “alien” milk in the film. There will be 17M cartons and bottles across 2,700+ stores with activations as well.
Synergy Kombucha (US) The tagline here is ‘The Superhero for your gut’. The largest and fastest growing Kombucha brand in the US will have co-branded bottles across retail and box exclusives plus they’ll be featured out of home with wild postings in L.A. and murals in SoHo, Brooklyn, and NYU. Between Milk and Synergy combined, Supergirl will show up in two areas of key retailers like Walmart.