Mail Boxes Etc. joins forces with Warner Bros.

Partnering up with another company is a tried and tested way to create a marketing campaign that’s bigger than the sum of your parts. And that’s exactly what Mail Boxes Etc., the parcel delivery franchise, and Warner Bros., the entertainment company, have done with their latest brand mashup.

The two companies have formed a partnership to promote both their brands through Storks, a new animated film that hit the cinemas last week. In the film, storks no longer deliver babies: instead they transport packages for a fictional global internet retail giant. Given that Mail Boxes Etc. is a parcel delivery company in the real world, Warner Bros. reached out to the franchise to see if they’d be interested in helping to promote the film.

They’ve combined their branding and messaging for an integrated campaign spanning online and offline channels under the headline ‘Dispatched by Mail Boxes Etc., delivered by Storks’, which will be rolled out across Mail Boxes Etc.’s 160 stores and featured on a competition landing page.”

“We’ve had a lot of fun with the co-branding and integrating our sales message in the materials with the characters from the movie,” said James Simmons, marketing manager for Mail Boxes Etc. UK and Ireland. “Movie tie-ins are relatively commonplace in the food franchise sector but as far as we’re aware, this is the first time a major movie studio has worked with a UK-based non-food franchise and it has offered our network of franchisees a chance to gain even more exposure for their businesses.”

While it remains to be seen if Storks will help make Mail Boxes” Etc.’s profits soar, this new campaign is sending a clear message to other franchises that when it comes to marketing, the sky’s the limit.