DreamWorks jumps into FarmVille with a 'Megamind' mega-farm

As the belle of the social-media gaming ball, Zynga's FarmVille has engaged in quite a few corporate hookups of late. There was that 24-hour fling with McDonald's, then another promo with Farmer's Insurance. Now, DreamWorks is promoting its upcoming movie Megamind with a "Mega-Farm" amusement park inside the game—part of a one-day-only promotion tied to the animated movie's premiere today. For those who play the game and annoyingly bug all your Facebook buddies, the promotion includes a "Mega-Grow" formula which helps you instantly grow crops that don't wilt and a collectible decorative item for you to feature in your very own farms. Virtual farmers, rejoice!

DreamWorks penguins wreak havoc in new cinema spot for Intel

Those adorable penguins from Madagascar (and their own show on Nickelodeon) will hit Screenvision theaters this weekend in a new in-cinema spot for Intel. In the ad, one of the penguins (who can tell them apart?) attempts to steal the i5 processor, Pink Panther style, by dodging lasers. Of course, things go horribly wrong, and the poor bird is soon bouncing off the walls. The ad is the latest manifestation of a deal between Intel and DreamWorks. That explains why this spot exists, because it's hard to figure the target audience: kids who buy PCs or adults who get dragged to a lot of CGI films. Probably a bit of both.

Walmart breathing fire into 'How to Train Your Dragon' marketing

Hollywood continues to invade your local Walmart. The chain, which has whipped up special in-store boutiques for Twilight DVD releases, is now doing something similar with DreamWorks Animation. Ahead of next Friday's theatrical release of How to Train Your Dragon—an animated 3-D tale about a teenage Viking dragon-fighter—Walmart is setting aside big areas in its stores for a Viking Ship display and more than 100 licensed products. Months ago, manufacturers like Kraft, Kellogg, Pepsi and Spin Master began working directly with Walmart and DreamWorks to create custom products tied to the movie. The "dragon-ized" products your young Viking will be demanding include foam swords and helmets, apparel, skateboards, hooded towels, sunglasses and snacks. There's virtually no escaping the hype about this movie: Walmart has developed a How to Train Your Dragon activity book that will be distributed at 1,000 McDonald's sites within Walmart stores. And you New York City hipsters without a Walmart, don't be so smug: A 40-foot Viking ship is coming your way, with a two-day docking in the center of Times Square and an appearance by Ugly Betty's America Ferrera, who is one of the voices in the film.

—Posted by Noreen O'Leary

DreamWorks' deal with frozen-food group is cold to the touch

Every once in a while, partnerships between a Hollywood movie and a packaged-goods marketer hit the nail on the head, matching the heart of the former with the brand positioning of the latter. Sometimes they miss by a mile.
  A few years back, for Ice Age: The Meltdown, Fox landed the first-ever tie-in with the National Frozen and Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA). It was a great fit. The movie's tagline were "Subzero heroes" and "Licensed to chill," and the film was released in March, which was National Frozen Food Month. Brilliant! Now, DreamWorks is swooping in partnering with the NFRA on a multi-brand promotion around Monsters vs. Aliens. So, what's the connection? There are a bunch of kid-friendly products involved, like Totino's Pizza Rolls, Kid Cuisine and Welch's juice concentrate. But a thematic link? Any glaciers, snow or meteorites in the movie? Nope. The promotion's tagline, "Join us for monstrous value in the frozen food aisles," connects the two in semantics only. (There's a sweepstakes, coupons, media, in-store point-of-sale materials and Web exposure.) The movie is being released in March, so there's that.
  Not that the lack of a logical thread ever stops anyone. And movie studios salivate over partners who have valuable real estate like grocery stores. Relative newbies that haven't overdone their entertainment ties are all the more appealing. That's fresh meat.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley