The famous Despicable Me minions have taken over the skies, and the Internet, to promote Despicable Me 2, one of the summer’s most highly anticipated movies.
To promote Despicable Me 2, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment created the Despicablimp, a 165-foot blimp that has roamed the skies from New York City to Los Angeles for the better part of a year. Created to look like a giant minion, the blimp requires two pilots and a crew of 14 to operate.
Minion lovers were encouraged post pictures of the blimp using Twitter, Instagram, and Flickr while incorporating the hashtag #despicablimp and see their pictures appear on the interactive map found on despicablimp.com. The Despicablimp command center also hasvideos, fun facts, interviews with the pilots, and a Twitter "Despica-feed."
Despicablimp made its first appearance at the Kid’s Choice Awards on March 23, and made one of its final official appearances at the LA world premiere of Despicable Me 2 on June 22. Despicablimp will end its tour on June 30 in San Francisco.
Despicable Me fans can also explore additional "minion madness" with the "Behind the Goggles" feature page, which takes users inside the despicable headquarters. On this page, viewers have access to original sketches and storyboards, concept drawings, and behind the scenes content. "Behind the Goggles" also features some lighter content such as fun videos and fliers from the minion break room.
Social media is heavily integrated into the Despicable Me 2 campaign, with pages on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, and Instagram, which are also linked to the "Behind the Goggles" and "Despicablimp" pages.
Despicable Me (2010) was an enormous success, grossing $542 million dollars and making it among the top 10 most successful animated films of all time. The sequel is expected to be just as successful with an all-star cast including Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Russell Brand and Miranda Cosgrove.