restaurants

Carl's, Hardee's Tie In With 'Green Hornet' Flick

Hardees-Green-Hornet

CKE Restaurants' Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains are partnering with Sony Pictures Entertainment on a multi-pronged marketing campaign tying into the January release of "The Green Hornet," a 3D film starring Seth Rogen.  

The fit is a natural one, notes CKE EVP of Marketing Brad Haley. "Our target audience of 'young, hungry guys' are big fans of Seth Rogen, cool cars, and comedy and action films," he sums up.

The advertising campaign, spanning television, radio, print and online, will include a Carl's/Hardee's TV commercial featuring Rogen and Jay Chou, who plays Kato in the film. That spot, directed by Phil Joanou and co-created by Rogen and Mendelsohn/Zien Advertising, will air during December.

A beverage promotion with Dr Pepper, launching on Nov. 17, will feature a Green Hornet collectors' cup, an online instant-win game and a sweepstakes. The sweeps' grand prize is a fully loaded, drivable "Black Beauty" car from the film, complete with (non-functional) machine guns and rocket launchers. Other prizes include Southwest Airlines vacation packages, a limited-edition Green Hornet PSPgo systems, a Sony home theater system and Sony electronics items, tickets to the movie, and gift cards for the two restaurant chains.

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Also, starting Nov. 17, Carl's and Hardee's locations will be selling collectors-edition, die-cast metal Black Beauty key chains, which come with a "Save Some Green" coupon pack with offers from Sony, Sony Home Entertainment, Teleflora and EFX Wristbands (plus Carl's/Hardee's "food prizes").

And there's more. The two chains will also feature a limited-time, Green Hornet-themed food item; kids' meal toys; special uniforms for the restaurants' crews; and in-store marketing materials.

In addition, there will be a national tour of the Black Beauty car between November and the film's release. Giveaways, including the Black Beauty keychains, will be distributed during tour stops.

All of these efforts will be supported by "extensive" digital and social media efforts on the two chains' Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, according to CKE.

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