Beyond the Weinermobile
George Leon (below) is, finally, in the Guinness Book of World Records. The Fox Family Worldwide exec bounced his way in with a 5,000-cubic-foot playground called the Traveling Universe. The mega-balloon is touring Wal-Mart stores in 30 cities to plug Fox’s Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy TV show and bump Wal-Mart’s sales of Power Rangers goodies. Kids enter at “Terra Venture,” a city inside a spaceship, and bounce through four “planets” connected by tunnels. Each planet has inflatable obstacles like rocks and slides; there’s also a crater moon, a black hole, and meteor showers, enhanced by black lights, strobe lights, and a soundtrack.
“We wanted to build the weirdest zero-gravity environment for kids – and adults,” says Leon, vp-promotions, who walked through the structure himself at its Miami debut to make sure adults would fit.
The tour is exclusively for Wal-Mart, the biggest seller of Power Rangers gear. In exchange for the parking lot events, Wal-Mart dedicates extra displays to Power Rangers, and partners with Fox affiliates to drive traffic to stores. Last year, Fox brought a virtual reality rocket ride to Wal-Mart stores, and Power Rangers sales shot up 400 percent when the event was in town, Leon says. Now in its second year on the road, “we’ve got the formula set” to support on-air promotions, affiliates, and licensees, and “give back to fans, because the property is very interactive,” he explains.
Retailers crave that kind of interaction between shoppers and the brand. Wal-Mart calls it “retailtainment,” and manufacturers are lining up in Bentonville to pitch parking lot parties. Most come with two or three proposals; Wal-Mart marketing managers ask buyers which ones to accept. “A lot of people want to do events with us, but if the brand’s not a good seller for us, it doesn’t make sense,” says marketing manager Randy Hughes.
When he asked toy and apparel buyers about Power Rangers, “one buyer said it’s a no-brainer,” Hughes says. Fox chose the cities, then Wal-Mart chose the stores and obtained zoning permits for the oversized structure. Wal-Mart insists on exclusivity, and if Fox offers the tour to other retailers next year, “we’d like rights of first refusal,” Hughes says. “But it’s their money, they can do what they want with it.”
Wal-Mart may be the biggest fan of in-store entertainment, but it’s not the only one. “The entire marketplace demands it,” Leon says. “Retailers want the easiest, turn-key event they can get to drive traffic.” What the brand gets, of course, is display support and a face-to-face with fans at the shelf.
Fox’s March-October tour follows an on-air sweeps that ran in February. Grand prize is a visit from the Traveling Universe and a party. “We’ll blow it up wherever the winner asks us to – his house, school, the local park,” Leon says. “At first, we figured only rich kids could win, because they’re the only ones who would have a spare 5,000 square feet to put it. So we decided to put it wherever the winner asks.”
How much does it cost to build your own universe? Leon won’t say, but admits the inflatable theme park was “very expensive. This is our yearly big-budget promotion.” The tour is executed by Los Angeles event marketing agency Barking Dog Promotions.
