Imagine you're a huge automobile manufacturing company. (Imagine harder! You're a complex of buildings, factories, offices and... Oh, never mind. Bad metaphor.)
OK, specifically: Imagine you're a marketing exec at GM. Now imagine the ginormous year-end bonus you're going to get as a result of your collaboration with Paramount Pictures and toy-maker Hasbro on this summer's Transformers movie. Are you imagining swimming in cash? Good job.
Click on the Solstice for more photos.
All of the Autobots--the "good guy" Transformers battling to keep humans safe from the "bad guy" Decepticons--are robots that turn into vehicles manufactured by General Motors. It's not hard to imagine the toy people, the car people and the movie people all toasting each other's success this summer, as they co-brand cars, toys and related products.
Check out our slide show of vehicles "starring" in the film from this spring's promo event hosted by GM and Paramount. Like any other movie stars, they got their own red carpet treatment.
The Transformers are hitting the big screen this July 4, and that means a whole lot of merchandising going on. Among the hordes of Transformers toys are Hasbro's Real Gear Transformers, a series of toy electronics that turn into robots. Remember Soundwave, the Transformer that became a tape deck? This is the next generation. Click for a slide show of all six Real Gear Transformers, plus the real-life gadgets we think they most resemble.
Not effective in the event of a robot invasion.
If you've looked at a television, a movie screen, or a billboard at any time in the last year, you're probably already aware that Transformers is coming. And if you've done any of those things in the last 20 years, you probably already know the story: transforming robots from another planet fight other transforming robots while Earth hangs in the balance.
Let's see...robots, cartoons, new movie coming out...yep, this means merchandising and lots of it. The Transformers movie is going to get toys, toys, and more toys. Transformers is getting everything from action figures to board games to, obviously, video games. Hasbro, the company behind the original Transformers toys, is making the bulk of these products, while Activion is handling the upcoming video game release.
We received a big box from Hasbro today that included previews of their various transforming toys. It came with (and I'm in no way kidding about this) a transforming press kit with secret compartments. The Transformers merchandise they sent ranged from the standard (Transformers action figures) to the curious (a Transformers novel) to the downright awesome (Transformers Nerf gun).
The greatest toy in the bunch is the Transformers Optimus Prime Battle Rig Blaster. It's a big plastic truck that transformers into a Nerf gun shaped like Optimus Prime's blaster. It's huge (even my large fists can fit into it), and even though it won't make you feel like Optimus Prime, it'll at least convince your friends and co-workers that you're a giant lunatic. Granted, I'm probably the only giant lunatic who actually walks around the office with a giant Nerf gun mounted on my hand, but I like to think that simply makes me awesome.
Second greatest toy out of them is the Transformers Optimus Prime Voice Changer. It's a big plastic helmet that transforms your voice and shouts Optimus Prime quotes really, really loudly. It's big enough for even my head to fit inside, so I really have to ask who Hasbro is marketing these toys for.
Among the various Transformers action figures, a handful stand out as particularly interesting. The Transformers Real Gear figures are Transformers based on everyday electronics. Speed Dial 800 is a cell phone, Spy Shot 6 is a digital camera, Power Up VT6 is a portable game system, and so on. We haven't seen them up close yet, but they sound pretty interesting. They don't actually call people, take pictures, or play games, though.
Transformers hits July 4, but you don't have to wait until then to get your Transformers stuff. Hasbro's Transformers toys start to ship June 2, and the video game hits all major consoles June 26.
A recent study claimed that cows produce more milk when listening to music. Will American kids practice better dental hygiene if they have a musical toothbrush? Hasbro is willing to give it a shot.
(Credit:
Hasbro)
After spending about two years developing the product, the company has released a toothbrush that plays two-minute excerpts of songs. And it's not elevator music. Hasbro has been working with some of the big record labels, including Interscope Records, Sony-BMG and EMI-Capital Records. Songs such as Let's Get It Started by the Black Eyed Peas, as well as hits from Kelly Clarkson, Destiny's Child, and the legendary Queen will have tracks on the Tooth Tunes toothbrush.
The two-minute clip is meant to encourage children to brush for the two minutes that the American Dental Association recommends for proper dental hygine. The music commences when the user presses a button on the brush. The music, transmitted into the brusher's head via the brush bristles, is said to improve in sound quality when the brusher uses the correct brushing motion.
Then you spit, rinse and whistle. The brush is priced at $9.99 and will come in 18 varieties, each featuring a different song.
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