The Simpsons marketing juggernaut made sure you knew The Simpsons movie was coming out last Friday. It must have worked since the film raked in over 71 million dollars. The best part about the all the advertising, promotions and products you were inundated with? They tied into the movie in a seamless and unforced way. Well done!

All Fun and Games

Movie websites are usually little more than a trailer and a grab bag of generic downloadable media- wallpapers, buddy icons, etc. Besides the Simspons character generator, which is amazingly cool and should have been around for years, The Simpsons movie site featured fun and addictive flash games. One game has Homer on a motorcycle in a metal sphere of death and the other has him wielding a wrecking ball to knock over a police van with his family inside…you know- to rescue them. For those of you who have seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about when I say the games tie in to the movie and are executed flawlessly. I’ll stop here for fear of spoilers.

The Simpsons: Minutes to Meltdown mobile game also deserves a mention for connecting back to the movie. As you can see below, Spider-Pig made the cut! Check this Flickr album here (LINK) fore more pictures- bonus prize to anyone who can spot additional movie tie-ins.

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? We dooo.

You must have been living under Dwayne “The Rock� Johnson if you haven’t heard about the 7-11s that have been converted to Kwik-E-Marts. It’s a very cool idea, mainly because you can buy products that have been featured in The Simpsons for years. Buzz Cola, Squishees and even donuts with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles. The same donut that makes the “O� in the word “Movie� on every poster.

In some sort of cosmic marketing implosion, these products got legitimate product placement in the movie! At one point Bart purchases a can of Buzz Cola and has the label clearly turned towards the camera. Every donut in the film is of the pink frosting variety- there’s even a brief (but plot influencing) scene that features them in large and delicious quantity. It felt like a commentary on product placement, a reward for paying attention to their marketing efforts and an effective commercial to get me to drive to 7-11 after credits rolled. I’ve never been happier to be advertised to.

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