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Commentary October 08, 2025

Wicked Cookware & Bloody Vinyl: Print & Promo Lessons From Recent Creative Movie Tie-Ins

Franchises like Wicked and Saw and movies like The Smashing Machine show how to get clever with promo campaigns.

By  Brendan Menapace

Key Takeaways

• Promotional items like the saw blade-shaped vinyl for Saw VI show how creative twists on traditional formats (like records) can turn merchandise into conversation pieces.

• The Wicked franchise excels by integrating its branding into functional, everyday items like Le Creuset cookware and Ariana Grande fragrances.

• A24’s marketing success stems from its ability to go beyond surface-level branding. By creating merchandise that reflects deeper themes or characters, they turn promotional items into fashion statements and identity markers.

The summer movie rush might be behind us, but the Hollywood marketing machine never slows down. Especially in the streaming era where movie studios are working even harder to capture the audience’s attention (and dollars), there had better be some memorable marketing tie-ins to entice moviegoers to stop their binge-watch of yet another cooking competition or true crime documentary series and spend that hour-and-a-half to two (or three) hours immersed in something else.

And just as music acts have gotten wise to the power of merch to engage fans and fill their coffers as their music royalties dwindle from streaming, so too have movie studios continued to up their game with giveaways, collectors items and retail tie-ins.

We’re taking a look to see how the biggest movie franchises and studios are using everything from print, apparel, home goods and beyond to get their titles in front of people.

Spooky Stereo Season

I’ve never seen any of the Saw movies. I’m not one for gore. I get the gist of it, though, so I know enough to see how clever this vinyl record is. For the release of the 15th anniversary of Saw VI, the movie franchise is putting out a double vinyl LP where the 12” record is shaped like a saw blade and features a “fun” blood-splatter style.

Vinyl is truly back, especially among younger buyers who grew up in the CD and MP3 eras. More than just music, it’s a novelty and a collectors item, so brands have fun with the record designs and their packaging.

You might remember recent promotions that included fun twists on vinyl records and their packaging, like the band Weezer turning their record cover into a knit sweater, or the time Fall Out Boy put real tears into the vinyl pressing. Or, of course, there was the time McDonald’s included a record as part of a merch drop for a new menu item.

Print & Promo Takeaway: Play with shape. Nothing is set in stone (or vinyl). Just because something has traditionally been done one way does not mean it must always be done that way. Think about how you can make small (or big) tweaks to something to better tell a brand story and get people’s attention. These items instantly become conversation starters and enhance the brand they are marketing.

Something ‘Wicked’

There are few movie franchises now bigger than Wicked – at least if we’re not counting anything with a superhero in it. Do witches count as superheroes? Gray area. We’ll have to think on that one.

While we ponder that, we can look at the veritable treasure trove of Wicked-branded merchandise that not only plays into the movies’ wide appeal across different buyer groups, but also ties in its own real-life stars – especially now with the upcoming release of the second movie, Wicked: For Good.

One of the most striking tie-ins comes from kitchenware brand Le Creuset, which released a line of products using the Glinda/Elphaba pink/green motif.

 

These items do a few things very well (beyond braising): They use color to evoke the brand, they use texture for the brand rather than simply printing with screen printing through the designs built into the mold and they promote usability. Yes, these are collectors items, but they’re also fully functional Dutch ovens from one of the most recognizable names in that industry.

Speaking of recognizable names, Wicked also has a line of Ariana Grande fragrances, which is an absolute no-brainer. If the star of your film is one of the biggest stars period, who just also happens to have a line of consumer products, you create a branded collaboration.

As we say in the promotional branding industry: Duh.

There are plenty more Wicked products listed by The Hollywood Reporter, but these two get at the heart of what the franchise is really doing well with its branding initiative.

Print & Promo Takeaway: What these Wicked tie-ins do so well is promote everyday use. Kitchenware items and self-care products are part of people’s daily routines. If they aren’t actively using them, they at least see them when they’re getting ready or in their kitchen.

More than that, though, it shows the strength of using another brand’s reputation to boost your own. It’s seen across a wide variety of decorated merchandise ranging from drinkware to apparel to electronics and beyond. Distributors can use a premium brand to add just a little more “wow” factor or perceived value to their product, no matter who their client is.

A24 Gets It

A24 has gone from a scrappy little movie distribution company to a brand synonymous with good taste and cool movies. It’s almost a joke at this point that anyone who fancies themselves a “film buff” will breathlessly explain why the latest A24 movie was so good. And guess what? They put out a lot of good movies! But what launched them into the cinematic stratosphere was their marketing and aesthetic. Part of that is how they take all of their intellectual properties and not only make promotional merchandise but make things that amplify small details or moments within the film. They expand their cinematic universes and bring props and in-jokes to life by breaking the fourth wall.

One of the distributor’s latest films, The Smashing Machine starring Dwayne Johnson as real-life MMA Fighter Mark Kerr used apparel in a fun way: It marketed Kerr rather than the film. By marketing Kerr, you market the movie and create something that feels less like a billboard or a promotional product. It becomes a tacit identifier of one’s taste and becomes a conversation starter.

Mark Gray Shirt

Image courtesy of A24

A24 also showed that print can be cool with one of its newest products, a printed movie log for people to keep track of the movies they watch, rather than just plugging them into an app.

Print & Promo Takeaway: Yes, promo items like T-shirts or print items can be metaphorical (or literal) billboards. But, that doesn’t mean that your designs have to treat them as such. Dive deeper and take aspects of a brand beyond just the surface-level aesthetic and create something that brings it to life. It’s even better if you can create something that people want to wear as a fashion choice, not just an advertisement choice. Also, don’t be afraid of print. Younger generations are starting to appreciate the novelty of smartphone avoidance, so something like a journal or notebook that has an everyday purpose and call-to-use can go a long way. Like the movies, if A24 is doing it, it’s probably not a bad idea.

Bonus Round: Don’t Do This

In looking at movie merchandise for this story, I came across a few things that made me chuckle. One being this promotional hat for Superman, upon which, for some reason, the designers decided to embroider “Now available on digital” on the side.

The hat is not wrong, per se. The movie is available on digital. But the mistake here is that the design instantly anchors this item into a moment in time – not only because digital streaming might not be the way of the future, much like we once thought DVDs or Betamax were the apex of movie technology. But it also just looks like an advertisement, and the person wearing it looks silly. It’s a slightly less conspicuous version of a guy spinning a sign or wearing a sandwich board.

In short, it’s marketing kryptonite. Batman would never.

Brendan Menapace

Content Director, Print & Promo Marketing

Brendan is the content director for ASI's Print & Promo Marketing media brand, which brings together the promotional products, apparel, commercial print and product decoration industries. His coverage includes in-depth company and personal profiles, trend pieces, and multimedia content.