For the very first time, Tricon Global Restaurants has unified its forces in the battle for kids attention-and it looks like it won’t be the last. Until now, Tricon’s Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC chains have kept their promotions separate, but a recent tie-in with Scholastic’s Animorphs and a reported 1999 promotion for Star Wars’ prequel The Phantom Menace show the chains merging their promotional efforts.

All three chains have been offering proprietary toys based on the Animorphs book and live-action series. Pizza Hut is currently offering five premiums including two self-inking stampers called Anistampers, two encoding/decoding markers called Animarkers and a Yeerk Pool Ship Squirter. The toys are free with kids meals and available until January 4, 1999. This follows on the heels of a promotion at KFC in which five Animorphs toys were given away with kids meals from September 28 through November 15, and a promotion at Taco Bell in which five different toys were included with kids meals from October 15 to November 22.

Tricon is also considering launching a US$50-million tie-in with The Phantom Menace, reported to include a collect-and-win sweepstakes in which the three chains represent three good planets united against the forces of darkness. The promotion will be executed in partnership with Tricon’s long-standing partner, PepsiCo, which is considering the launch of an under-the-cap sweepstakes with cash prizes.

At press time, a Tricon spokesperson declined to discuss the Star Wars prequel promotion, saying it was too early to release further details.