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Kids Eat up Movie Premiums Along with Meals

How does a smaller restaurant chain compete locally with the huge international franchises? One way is to take an established idea – kids’ premiums – and give it a local twist. That’s what Bembo’s, a Peruvian burger chain, is doing by including figurines with their kids’ meals that tie in with the Latin American animation film, Valentino y el Clan del Can.

“Local licenses are very attractive to Latin American chains,” says Angel Morales, managing director at Creative Consumer Concepts International (C3i), the agency that created the figurines, “as it helps them compete at a different level with the large foreign (to their market) chains, such as McDonald’s, Burger King, etc.”

The concept for the toys came from Alpamayo Entertainment, the South American CGI company behind the film. The five figurines in the collection are based on main characters of the movie, which tells the story of a lost dog who joins a circus.

In addition to Bembo’s in Peru, the toys will be distributed in different chains in other Latin American countries. “We have manufactured over 100,000 pieces on the first production run,” Morales says. “We plan to make an additional run once we get additional orders from other markets.”

The promotion was just launching as we went to press, but Morales expected good results. “Figurines do pretty well in foreign markets as a means to drive sales and traffic,” he says. “Especially in South America, restaurants may partner-up with the film distributors to co-promote each other’s product.”

Unexpected Product Works for Fitness Center

When marketing a fitness center, the first promo items that come to mind are probably exercise-related: sports bottles, gym bags, bottled water, etc. But June Hines, of June Hines Pilates, figures that her students already have the fitness accessories they want.

“With water bottles, a lot of people do carry them, but a lot of people don’t,” she says. “Then with the workout bag, it’s the same thing: A lot of people bring their own bag.”

Instead, Hines likes to give her clients a practical gift that everyone can use. For her holiday presentation this past year, she decided to go with an umbrella. “It seemed like a good, practical gift,” she says. “It’s a marketing promotion, too, obviously, because my logo’s out there, so it brings attention.”

Hines says that the umbrella got the reaction that she’d wanted from her students: “They’re saying, ‘What a nice, practical gift,’” she says, “because everybody can use an umbrella – and you always lose one.”

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Trivia Corner

Average length of a coat hanger when straightened: 44 inches.