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George Leon has been very busy saying no.
The senior vp-global promotions at Sony's Columbia Pictures said it twice for each time he said yes to partners for Spider-Man and Men In Black II this summer. It's all in a day's work when marketers are clamoring to ally with a blockbuster flick - or a hot sports league, a well-connected retailer, or a popular brand.
Sony had its own list of brands it wanted to work with for each film, but also heard pitches from other brands, like Dr Pepper.
Marketers are dialing up partnerships for two reasons: to stretch their budgets and to improve visibility. That's got matchmakers scrutinizing potential deals, from ROI and distribution to image.
"In the last six to eight months, marketers have started realizing they don't have the dollars to break through the clutter on their own," says Jon Kramer, ceo at J. Brown/LMC Group, Stamford, CT. "Today, it's about the value of the brand. Tomorrow, it will be about context - how to use the brand."
Entertainment properties are an obvious choice for a timely blitz, but tie-ins with other brands themselves - think Coca-Cola and ESPN - can lend long-term cachet. ESPN formalized its vetting procedures two years ago. Coke plans to work with 20 to 25 partners next year.
Despite Leon's gatekeeping at Culver City, CA-based Columbia, Dr Pepper elbowed its way into Spider-Man after Sony's promotion department pitched another movie to parent Dr Pepper/Seven UP, Plano, TX.
"We then contacted them after we had heard through various media sources that they had gotten the Spider-Man property from Marvel," says Dr Pepper promotions director Jeff Porter. "We discussed our involvement in the movie over the course of about a year." (Dr Pepper ran an April-July on-pack sweeps awarding a trip to a Spider-Man screening and insider party in New York City.)
"All deals are different," says Leon. Columbia wanted Spider-Man partners that appealed to younger children (Kellogg and Hershey) as well as teens and adults (Dr Pepper, Cingular, and Reebok).
Kellogg's tie-in "started as innocent as could be, with representatives from both companies running into each other at Toy Fair," says Kellogg director of marketing communications Jenny Enochson. "Our partnerships don't happen overnight; we usually take...