American basketball star LeBron James starrer ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ is set to hit the theatres in the US on Friday (July 17). Ahead of the release, Warner Bros tied up with about 200 brands, reported Bloomberg. This will lead to a marketing blitz for the sports comedy film on one hand and will generate revenue for the brands on the other.

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Among those 200 brands are tech giant Microsoft, sports company Nike and e-commerce behemoth Amazon, among others. 

Nike is selling at least five sneaker styles tied to the film, there are Space Jam chew toys for pets from BarkBox, McDonald’s is offering Space Jam Happy Meals, the amount of marketing involved can be termed unprecedented.

The studio has also tied up with several clothing brands that include H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, Forever 21, A Bathing Ape, among others.

The original ‘Space Jam’ and its brand tie-ups

The original ‘Space Jam’ starring Michael Jordan was released in 1996. Although the marketing tactics have changed since then, in the original movie, Jordan was seen holding a McDonald’s cup, three Rice Krispies were seen in his kitchen and the basketball star wore Wilson baseball gloves.

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Does such a marketing tactic work?

Although film tie-ups provide huge benefits to the sponsors, the payoff for studios and their partners remains to be seen, Bloomberg reported quoting David A Schweidel, a marketing professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

“I wouldn’t say that you can expect to draw new viewers to the movies with these partnerships,” the professor said.

However, “for the brands, these partnerships can be successful tools at attracting the attention of moviegoers,” Schweidel added.

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Meanwhile, Warner’s Soper and Bryan Warman, the studio’s senior vice president of digital partnerships, said that there’s no way to know exactly who got to know about the movie through brands. It is more about building a vibe, the executive said.