Warner Bros earmarks £3m for UK Speed Racer push

Warner Bros. plans to notch up its first major chart hit with movie tie-in Speed Racer – and is ready to unleash its biggest ever marketing campaign to ensure its success.

From the creators of The Matrix trilogy, the Speed Racer movie is tipped by many to kick off summer blockbuster season in style, and also marks the first triple-A title to emerge from the newly formed Warner games publishing operation.

And the firm plans to integrate the release of both movie and game to achieve the fullest impact, says Warner marketing exec Phil Lamb.

Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment will be taking full advantage of the resources that are available as part of the Warner Brothers infrastructure,” he told MCV.

As it is a film release we will be teaming up with the Warner theatrical department to ensure that the game gets visibility across as much of their marketing activities as possible. We have also been working to ensure that the game is featured where possible as part of the theatricals PR and cinema advertising campaign.

But our campaign is not all focused around cross promotions – with Warner Brothers’ strong media buying power WBIE has an effective stand alone media campaign centred around kids TV, cinema and online exposure.

If the film is a success at box office we would expect the performance of the game will follow suit – and with a 3m marketing campaign behind it we believe it has a good chance to perform in this relatively quiet window.”