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Racing Ahead

By partnering in a Nickelodeon movie rollout, RadioShack scored its biggest win ever in an important category—toy sales

The best-selling remote-controlled toy ever offered at RadioShack, the Jimmy Neutron Ultra Orb, launched with an advertising campaign that concentrated much of its TV advertising firepower on a single network. It was an unusual strategy for the marketing giant, which is one of the largest retailers of remote-controlled toys in the U.S.

While the Orb's rollout was different, it was anything but risky. By the time the animated character Jimmy Neutron premiered as the star of a feature film on Dec. 21, he'd already gotten an estimated $100 million in exposure on Nickelodeon, the network that created him. RadioShack, which got involved in Jimmy’s rollout early on, rode that promotional wave while contributing considerable marketing firepower of its own.

Nickelodeon's partnership with RadioShack began in mid-1999, 18 months before Jimmy Neutron, a quirky young scientist who figures out that all the parents in his town have been kidnapped by aliens, walked onto the big screen. “We were really intrigued with the work RadioShack had done with past movies," explains Laura Nowatka, Nickelodeon's vice president of promotions and marketing. In 1999, the retailer had created a toy based on another animated character, Stuart Little. Not only was it a "cool toy," Nowatka says, but RadioShack unleashed a barrage of advertising and in-store promotion boosting both the movie and the toy. "They understand how to leverage support for a brand," Nowatka says.

The network approached RadioShack through its media buying agency, Carat North America, which liked the idea of a partnership. "Nickelodeon had just done an incredible job of promoting Snow Day, another feature film," explains Catherine Warburton-Scott, Carat's senior vice president and associate director of national broadcast. "If they did the same thing for Jimmy Neutron, we’d be in a wonderful position to benefit from that."

In fact, the campaign to introduce Jimmy would likely end up being even more elaborate than past Nickelodeon movie efforts, because the network had already decided to build a new animated series around his character, and planned to premiere it in fall 2002.

RadioShack reviewed the movie script, secured an exclusivity on remote-controlled cars associated with the film, and came on board. Six months later, in time for holiday retailing, it unveiled the Ultra Orb, a zippy little vehicle patterned on an amusement ride that appears in the Jimmy Neutron movie. The toy features a plastic Jimmy sitting in a cockpit suspended between two giant wheels. "It spins and hops and is a wild and entertaining stunt car," says Jim McDonald, senior vice president of marketing and advertising at RadioShack.

By the time the Orb product was announced at the Toy Fair, Jimmy the animated character had begun to appear on Nickelodeon, in a series of animated shorts that aired between programs. Jimmy had also begun appearing on Nick.com, which featured games and other activities related to the character.

In April, Nickelodeon magazine began featuring Jimmy in either a monthly cartoon or a "Neutron Knows" science quiz. Jimmy also appeared that month in an animated short film that aired leading into the Kids Choice Awards and as a presenter in the awards show itself. By August, Jimmy had appeared twice in animated shorts aired during Nick’s Friday-afternoon cartoon block, while posters promoting the Jimmy Neutron movie had begun to appear in theaters.

Promotion went into high gear in September, with Jimmy appearing in "viral ads" that broke regularly into other Nickelodeon commercials. New online games premiered and Nickelodeon magazine ran Jimmy special supplements. Jive Records released a single from the movie soundtrack and Nick premiered a video of another of the movie’s songs.

In mid-November, Jimmy Neutron Ultra Orbs began appearing in RadioShack stores. Nickelodeon launched a sweepstakes promotion offering the grand-prize winner a trip with three friends to an amusement park, plus $1,000 in spending money. To enter, kids could pick up entry blanks at RadioShack stores, go online or send postcards. Runner-up winners would receive Ultra Orbs.

With the toys in stores and the movie’s Dec. 21 release approaching, RadioShack began a promotional blitz of its own. A $10 million TV and radio campaign aired on dozens of stations and networks, while Jimmy Neutron pages appeared in four different free-standing newspaper inserts, each delivered to an estimated 40 million consumers in the top 150 markets.

Ads for the Orb and movie also appeared in 32-page flyers mailed each month to 15 million of RadioShack’s best customers; in inserts to RadioShack credit card statements and in postcards mailed to customers with children aged 5-12. Jimmy’s image was prominent in RadioShack stores, where cardboard easels promoted the movie, the toy and the sweepstakes.

RadioShack produced one TV commercial for the campaign. In it, the animated Jimmy zooms in from outer space in an Orb-like ship that suddenly morphs into the Ultra Orb. As the Orb whooshes past a trio of bored kids, their expressions perk up and their hair whooshes into slick, poofed Jimmy hairstyles.

Nickelodeon got a big share of the TV buy and was the only network purchased for its ability to target kids, says Carat’s Warburton-Scott. In addition, RadioShack rotated the Ultra Orb spot into its regular TV buy, which includes prime time on all of the broadcast networks and more than a dozen cable networks. "We advertised to kids, but also to their parents and grandparents," McDonald says.

A few weeks into the new year, results from the year-long promotional effort were in: Jimmy Neutron had grossed $80 million at the box office, while RadioShack had sold just about every Ultra Orb it had manufactured, despite an extremely soft toy market. "We broke records," McDonald says. "We sold more Ultra Orbs than any other remote-controlled vehicle in our history."

McDonald has his eye on Jimmy Neutron’s debut in a TV series this fall. "I don’t know whether the Orb will be in the TV series, but we’re interested in selling more of this toy," he says. At Nickelodeon, Nowatka has been thinking even farther ahead. "Our next holiday movie will be about the Wild Thornberries," she says, noting that the TV series of the same name revolves around a family that travels to exotic locations in a Humvee that morphs when it goes in the water. "There’s so much we can do with this," Nowatka says. "It’s going to be fun."

In mid-November, Jimmy Neutron Ultra Orbs began appearing in RadioShack stores. Nickelodeon launched a sweepstakes promotion offering the grand-prize winner a trip with three friends to an amusement park, plus $1,000 in spending money. To enter, kids could pick up entry blanks at RadioShack stores, go online or send postcards. Runner-up winners would receive Ultra Orbs.

With the toys in stores and the movie's Dec. 21 release approaching, RadioShack began a promotional blitz of its own. A $10 million TV and radio campaign aired on dozens of stations and networks, while Jimmy Neutron pages appeared in four different free-standing newspaper inserts, each delivered to an estimated 40 million consumers in the top 150 markets.

Ads for the Orb and movie also appeared in 32-page flyers mailed each month to 15 million of RadioShack’s best customers; in inserts to RadioShack credit card statements and in postcards mailed to customers with children aged 5-12. Jimmy’s image was prominent in RadioShack stores, where cardboard easels promoted the movie, the toy and the sweepstakes.

RadioShack produced one TV commercial for the campaign. In it, the animated Jimmy zooms in from outer space in an Orb-like ship that suddenly morphs into the Ultra Orb. As the Orb whooshes past a trio of bored kids, their expressions perk up and their hair whooshes into slick, poofed Jimmy hairstyles.

Nickelodeon got a big share of the TV buy and was the only network purchased for its ability to target kids, says Carat’s Warburton-Scott. In addition, RadioShack rotated the Ultra Orb spot into its regular TV buy, which includes prime time on all of the broadcast networks and more than a dozen cable networks. "We advertised to kids, but also to their parents and grandparents," McDonald says.

A few weeks into the new year, results from the year-long promotional effort were in: Jimmy Neutron had grossed $80 million at the box office, while RadioShack had sold just about every Ultra Orb it had manufactured, despite an extremely soft toy market. "We broke records," McDonald says. “We sold more Ultra Orbs than any other remote-controlled vehicle in our history.”

McDonald has his eye on Jimmy Neutron’s debut in a TV series this fall. "I don’t know whether the Orb will be in the TV series, but we’re interested in selling more of this toy," he says. At Nickelodeon, Nowatka has been thinking even farther ahead. "Our next holiday movie will be about the Wild Thornberries," she says, noting that the TV series of the same name revolves around a family that travels to exotic locations in a Humvee that morphs when it goes in the water. “There’s so much we can do with this,” Nowatka says. "It's going to be fun."

“We advertised to kids, but also to their parents and grandparents.”

—Jim McDonald, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Advertising, RadioShack

Reprinted with the permission of Adweek Magazines.

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