LPWire: Kodak NASCAR Represents Pirates of the Caribbean

Kodak Teams with Disney to Promote Pirates of the Caribbean through NASCAR

Eastman Kodak Company and The Walt Disney Company announced a joint promotion of Disney's epic motion picture, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, through Kodak's NASCAR marketing program. A Pirates of the Caribbean 'wrap' will adorn the Kodak No. 4 car during the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 5. The movie theme also will appear on the suit worn by driver Stacey Compton.

"NASCAR is the perfect venue to build awareness for a fast-paced, adrenaline-rush-type of motion picture such as Pirates of the Caribbean," said Eric Rodli, president, Entertainment Imaging and senior vice president, Kodak. "This is the first time ever that a Kodak race car has featured a motion-picture film theme - and we wanted to involve our studio partners in this exciting opportunity. Disney is one of our long-standing partners - in fact, Pirates of the Caribbean was shot and printed on Kodak film - so this promotion is just a great fit for both companies."

From producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Pirates of the Caribbean stars Johnny Depp as the roguish yet charming Captain Jack Sparrow whose nemesis Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) steals his ship, the Black Pearl. When Barbossa later attacks the town of Port Royal and kidnaps the governor's daughter, her childhood friend (Orlando Bloom) joins forces with Captain Jack in a gallant attempt to rescue her and recapture the Black Pearl. The movie is scheduled for release on July 9.

"The excitement and pulsating thrills of Pirates of the Caribbean perfectly fits with the spectacular action of NASCAR and their millions of devoted fans," said Brett Dicker, executive vice president, Buena Vista Pictures Marketing, The Walt Disney Studios. "We're proud to be the first movie ever featured on Kodak's race car."

Said Bud Denker, vice president, Brand and Market Development at Kodak, "NASCAR enjoys a fan base of approximately 75 million adults who are three times more likely to purchase a sponsor's product versus that of a non-sponsor. It's a hugely successful marketing venue, and we're really thrilled to partner with Disney to raise awareness for the nationwide release of such an exciting motion picture as Pirates of the Caribbean."

"It's also great exposure for Kodak's motion-picture film products," Denker says. "We will be replacing the corporate logo with that of our new Kodak VISION2 motion picture product line for this promotion - extending Kodak's NASCAR program beyond the company's traditional consumer film products and services marketing."

Disney and Kodak also will host a Pirates of the Caribbean show car at the movie's premiere at Disneyland in Los Angeles. During the week of July 7, the show car will be on display at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Eastman Kodak Company and infoimaging

Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, enhance, preserve, print and enjoy pictures--for memories, for information, for entertainment. The company is a major participant in infoimaging, $385 billion industry composed of devices (digital cameras and PDAs), infrastructure (online networks and delivery systems for images) and services & media (software, film and paper enabling people to access, analyze and print images). Kodak harnesses its technology, market reach and a host of industry partnerships to provide innovative products and services for customers who need the information-rich content that images contain. The company, with sales last year of $12.8 billion, is organized into four major businesses: Photography, providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services; Commercial Imaging, offering image capture, output and storage products and services to businesses and government; Components, delivering flat-panel displays, optics and sensors to original equipment manufacturers; and Health, supplying the healthcare industry with traditional and digital image capture and output products and services.

Editor's Note: For additional information about Kodak, visit our web site on the Internet at: www.kodak.com/

-- Posted by June 24, 2003
Source: Kodak