Rail stations, train lines, and railway museums are logical venues for certain experiential initiatives. Not surprisingly, a large percentage—although not all—of these ventures involve licensed entertainment properties that feature trains as characters, themes, or critical elements of their fictional universe. Four examples from 2021 and 2022 illustrate: Warner Bros. France paired with railroad company SNCF […]
Tag Archives | Harry Potter
Counting Down the Days to Christmas
Advent calendars are getting more sophisticated each year, featuring increasingly elaborate packaging, daily surprises of higher value, and a growing range of themes and categories, from jerky, healing crystals, and nail polish to cat food, instant noodles, and wine. Licensors across property types have gotten into the game, typically either through in-house-produced examples or with […]
It’s Anyone’s Game
TV competition shows are a growing area of interest for brand extension, particularly for properties from the worlds of board games, interactive gaming, and character/entertainment. Some of the IPs, gaming-based and otherwise, that are lending their names to current and upcoming reality competition shows include: Harry Potter. A four-part quiz show, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament […]
An Extra Scary Halloween
Halloween, coming up this Saturday, is naturally forcing consumers, marketers, and retailers to adapt their approach for the COVID era. How will that impact sales of Halloween-related products? The National Retail Federation predicts overall spending for the holiday will fall 8%, from $8.8 billion in 2019 to $8 billion this year, although those who do […]
Lending a Helping Hand
Many companies active in the global licensing and consumer products business are doing what they can to support medical professionals and consumers during the COVID-19 crisis. In addition to being the right thing to do, their efforts help keep some of their workers employed, utilize existing capacity and already-purchased materials, and give them a positive […]
Hooked on Knitting and Crochet
The knitting and crocheting space represents one of the niche opportunities whose rise can be attributed to the Maker and Urban Craft movements over the past 15 years. Interest in knitting and crocheting has grown among all age groups, particularly millennials and Gen Zs. As a result, a number of properties—from pop culture icons to […]
Drink Up
Themed pop-up bars and clubs represent an up-and-coming form of experiential initiative. Recent examples include both enterprises that are officially licensed or otherwise tied to a licensed entertainment property and those that are unofficially inspired by licensed IP: The Plaza Hotel in New York oversaw a rebranding of The Rose Club, its noted jazz venue, […]
Team Mentality
The biggest entertainment/character licensors and their licensees are enhancing fans’ sense of belonging and engagement with a bit of team spirit. Initiatives take different forms: Choosing sides. Several of Disney/Lucafilm’s licensed Star Wars products, from NVidia’s computer graphics processing units (GPUs) to Ample Hills’ ice cream, give consumers two alternatives from which to select, the […]