Whopper or Big Mac? Buena Vista Home Video says its recent partnership with McDonald’s Restaurants signals little more than a sharing of the wealth among fast food companies.
McDonald’s and Disney recently announced the partnership involving titles from the studio’s Masterpiece Collection, which Disney characterized as the biggest fast food promo ever, in terms of both dollars to be spent and consumer exposure.
The collection includes such titles as Pocahontas, The Aristocats, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and The Lion King. Print, TV and radio ads will support the seven-week promotion, which kicks off March 20 with game piece giveaways for a trivia contest called Masterpiece Collection Trivia Challenge. Primarily geared towards adults, 84 million households will receive the contest via newspaper FSIs on March 31; winners will receive gifts ranging from free McDonald’s food to $1 million in cash.
On April 19, a second phase of the promotion begins with giveaways of plastic characters from Cinderella, Robin Hood, Pocahontas and other videos to buyers of McDonald’s Happy Meals.
The McDonald’s deal comes on the heels of fast food rival Burger King’s partnership with Disney for the February 28 video release of Pocahontas. Burger King has created a series of six toys based on the Pocahontas characters that kids can get when they purchase a Kids Meal for the designated five-week program.
‘This d’es not in any way state or signal that Disney will be doing more with McDonald’s than anyone else,’ says Max Goldberg, Buena Vista Home Video’s vice president