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It Takes a (Mercury) Villager to World Premiere a Rugrat

6 November 1998

It Takes a (Mercury) Villager to World Premiere a Rugrat

    LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 -- Mercury, Nickelodeon and Paramount
Pictures are teaming up for the world premiere of "The Rugrats Movie" at the
legendary Mann's Chinese Theater on Sunday, November 8 at 2 p.m.
    November 8 also marks the inaugural leap onto the big screen for Mercury's
Villager.  While product placement and integrated marketing is nothing new in
the movie industry, Mercury hopes this unique movie placement will move the
car company into a new arena of automotive marketing.  Mercury is using the
Rugrats characters to introduce even more families to the new 1999 Mercury
Villager, which coincides with the movie's release.  The movie features the
Rugrats characters riding around in an animated version of the Villager.
    "The Rugrats Movie offers a tremendous opportunity for us to promote
product interaction with our key, on-the-go family audience," said Ian Beavis,
marketing communications manager for Lincoln Mercury.  "Choosing to align the
Mercury Villager with one of cable TV's highest rated series allows us the
opportunity to talk directly to our customers."
    The Mercury-Rugrats partnership doesn't end on the big screen.  In fact,
the Rugrats appear on TV commercials as spokespeople for the new Villager as
well.  In the ads now playing, characters discuss how their new movie stardom
is going to affect the well being of their "rugrats."  Then, the qualities and
features of the Villager are discussed.
    "Early indications show that the Villager Rugrats commercial is very
popular with both parents and their children," Beavis added.
    Among Sunday's "The Rugrats Movie" attendees will be the producers,
writers, creators and stars of the film, as well as a number of executives of
Lincoln Mercury, based in Irvine.  Others scheduled to attend include Kim
Delaney, Loni Anderson ("WKRP"), comedian Sinbad, French Stewart ("3rd Rock"),
Melissa Joan Hart ("Sabrina the Teenage Witch"), Lisa Loeb, Penny Marshall
("Laverne & Shirley"), Wesley Snipes, Howie Mandel, Rosanna Arquette, James
Woods, and Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond").
    The Rugrats Movie world premiere is a charity event with proceeds
benefiting the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Liver Transplant Program.