Namco targets 3.5m Ben 10 fans

A five-month marketing plan could help the latest Ben 10 video game race up the charts.

The hit kids’ TV animated show – which has drawn 3.4m viewers on Cartoon Network in the last three months – has also racked up over 1.3m sales interms of video game units to date.

Namco Bandai is supporting the latest release, Ben 10: Galactic Racing, with a variety ofads around its release today (November 25th) on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and DS. Itwill also arrive on 3DS at a later date.

A 30-second TV ad will run alongside all Cartoon Network programmes until late December, directing viewers to an online microsite. This will also be advertised on the Cartoon Network website.

Print ads are running over a five-month period from October to February. This covers six issues of the official Ben 10 Magazine.

The TV campaign will deliver 3.5 million impacts with a very high opportunity-to-see rate,” Namco Bandai UK’sproduct manager Gary Chantler told MCV. And the official magazine’s ABCs stand at 71,222 per issue so this gives us great reach and frequency with children who we know spend on Ben 10 entertainment.”

Namco Bandai is also working with children’s book and magazine publisher and Ben 10 licensee Egmont. It will promote the game through its website, newsletter and books as well as running competitions.

As previously reported in MCV, Namco Bandai and Cartoon Network will teach over 300,000 kids about the solar system with Ben 10-sponsored learning packs distributed at schools.