Iron Man 2, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups offer walk-on part in Marvel movie

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups could make you a superhero.  Well, at least get you in a Marvel movie.

“Reese’s is excited to partner with Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment to bring added excitement to Iron Man 2 by offering loyal fans the chance to be featured in a Hollywood blockbuster,” said Michele Buck, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer, The Hershey Company. “In addition, our iconic Reese’s brand is honoring the film’s icon, Tony Stark. We’re teaming with MIT students to launch competing social media campaigns that will drive online buzz for this unique prize.”

An on-pack instant-win promotion will offer a walk-on role in a future Marvel movie.   Click past the cut for the full news release.

- Matt Price

Press release:

Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cups has joined forces with Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment to mark the debut of Iron Man 2 opening May 7th with an action-packed promotion of heroic proportions. Now at retail, Reese’s “Part Chocolate. Part Peanut Butter. All Hero.” on-pack, instant-win promotion celebrates with the chance to win a walk-on role in a future Marvel film. To play a supporting role, the Reese’s brand is taking a page from Iron Man’s roots as a boy genius who attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The iconic brand is hosting an online marketing challenge with select MIT students to drive awareness for the promotion.

“Reese’s is excited to partner with Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment to bring added excitement to Iron Man 2 by offering loyal fans the chance to be featured in a Hollywood blockbuster,” said Michele Buck, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer, The Hershey Company. “In addition, our iconic Reese’s brand is honoring the film’s icon, Tony Stark. We’re teaming with MIT students to launch competing social media campaigns that will drive online buzz for this unique prize.”

Prize of Heroic Proportions

The “Part Chocolate. Part Peanut Butter. All Hero.” promotion invites fans to look inside specially marked King Size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to find a “winning” message. One lucky grand prize winner will receive a walk-on role in a future Marvel film, including travel for themselves and a guest to the film set. In addition, one first runner up will win a trip for two to visit a Marvel film set, one second runner up will be awarded a trip for themselves and a guest to attend a Marvel film premiere and 100 third runners up will receive a Sega Iron Man 2 video game.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Online Challenge

Going back to the origins of Iron Man’s genius, Reese’s has challenged select MIT MBA students to generate awareness for the “Part Chocolate. Part Peanut Butter. All Hero.” promotion online. The digital marketing competition has two teams of three students competing to see which team can drive the most fans to www.reeses.com/ironman2. Each team will represent one of the core ingredients in Reese’s perfect flavor combination – chocolate and peanut butter – with their competing campaigns launching April 5. The social media campaigns can be seen on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and select blogs. Once on the promotion Web site, fans will engage in an interactive online destination where they can unlock exclusive content and create their own Iron Man 2 screen test through photo uploads.

In addition, Iron Man will take a starring role in a national television commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The commercial builds off the brand’s impactful “Perfect” advertising campaign. Just like Iron Man was simply Tony Stark until he built his suit of armor, peanut butter was simply peanut butter until it built a suit of chocolate. The spot will air nationwide April 12, 2010 through May 2, 2010.