More than 3 million pieces of Simpsons merchandise sold. One million Sprinklicious doughnuts were consumed. And one heck of a marketing coup has been scored.
When Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. decided to turn 12 of its stores into Kwik-E-Marts for the month of July to coincide with the release of The Simpsons Movie, it was an expensive gamble. The real convenience store chain had to order thousands of boxes of fictional products such as KrustyO’s cereal and to publish an issue of Bart’s favorite comic book, Radioactive Man.
There was also reputational risk. The Simpsons’ Kwik-E-Mart – with its proprietor Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, an Indian immigrant with a doctorate in computer science – shamelessly skewers the convenience store industry, which is dominated by 7-Eleven.
But with two days left, 7-Eleven’s cross-promotion with 20th Century Fox has more than paid for itself and earned the retailer a string of kudos from the advertising world and, more important, from the public.
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