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Licensing
Giants: Disney and Nickelodeon Give You a View from the Top
By Paul
A. Paterson
Disney's Kim Possible |
They’re
everywhere, adorning shirts and pajamas, lunch boxes and book bags,
paper plates and balloons. Whether jumping off the big screen or a
kid’s 12” television, licensed characters continue to
drive big profits in the toy industry.
"Overall, it is about a $30 billion business, and a hair short
of 50 percent is in the toy sector," said Carol Rehtmeyer, President
of Rehtmeyer Design &
Licensing.
In some cases, the licensed component of a movie or television show
has a huge impact on profits. "Hollywood knows they may make
a couple of million dollars off a movie, but hundreds of millions
of dollars off the licensing," Rehtmeyer said.
Lizzy McGuire |
Today,
an emerging trend is the great success of television-inspired licenses
relative to those developed from films. Long the standard for turning
movie products into licensing gold, the Walt Disney Company
is in fact refocusing its licensing energies off film projects and
onto more of its television properties, including the cartoon hits
Kim Possible and Lizzie McGuire.
"Disney has just dipped its toe in the water relative to licensing
products inspired by Disney Channel programming," said Andy Mooney,
Disney's President of Consumer Products Division. "We feel that
Lizzie and Kim have legs because they are great characters with great
stories that kids can aspire to.
"Products
inspired by television properties have a better chance of succeeding
because the programming itself reminds consumers that the franchise
exists in the marketplace," Mooney continued. "We generally
allow the show to air for an appropriate period of time before deciding
to create products. Such was the case with Lizzie McGuire
and Kim Possible, which both have expanded lines coming to
market this year. Moving forward, we will become more involved in
television planning from inception to completion to see where the
development of products makes the most sense."
Mooney
noted that, historically, Disney didn't make movie project decisions
based on the marketability of the associated characters. Part of the
philosophy now, Mooney says, is to focus more energy on quality licensing
exposure as opposed to simply the number of exposures.
SpongeBob Squarepants |
"Disney
Consumer Products acts as an extension of a licensees R&D department
and is intricately involved with the product creation process, or
is even leading the process in many cases," he explained. "We
have moved away from the "character slapping,” or placing
Disney images on products with varying quality to merely receive a
royalty."
At
least part of the competition of which Mooney speaks comes from the
children's network Nickelodeon, which has on its
broadcasting roster licensing hits that include Dora The Explorer,
SpongeBob Squarepants and Jimmy Neutron. In 2002,
Nickelodeon licensed products generated retail sales of $2.6 billion,
up 20 percent over 2001.
Jim Davey, Vice President of Consumer Product Marketing and Toys,
believes the advantage of television properties is the regularity
with which they are exposed to the consumers. Movies, on the other
hand, have roughly a month to capture the minds and wallets of consumers,
a fact retailers should consider when making decisions on new product
lines and inventory management.
Jimmy Neutron |
"You
may not hit the heights you will with a movie, but you will generate
more consistent sales," said Davey. He advises retailers: "Pick
properties that already have an extensive marketing plan in place,
even if you don't know what that plan is.”
That, Rehtmeyer believes, is the key to any and all success garnered
through licensing.
"The bottom line is how much exposure and how much money is behind
it," she said. (C) TDmonthly Magazine 2003 Visit: www.tdmonthly.com
(C) TDmonthly Magazine 2003 Visit: www.tdmonthly.com
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