By Marcy Magiera
The following is an excerpt from TLL’s feature story on entertainment/character licensed brands. See the complete run-down here, including retail sales by product category and retail distribution.
Like the entire entertainment/character universe, which began to grow in 2013 but really took off in 2014, Frozen was introduced with the Disney film in 2013, but did not reach its full potential until 2014, after retailers who were initially caught off guard by the movie’s popularity rushed to catch up.
Star Wars, however, is a powerful evergreen license and products tied to new movie The Force Awakens hit retail with a campaign larger and earlier than ever before, as respondents to last year’s The Licensing Letter’s Annual Licensing Business Survey predicted it would. Disney threw the merchandising window wide open with a unique 18-hour global unboxing marathon broadcast live on YouTube to celebrate the debut of The Force Awakens products on Sept. 4 for a retail holiday dubbed “Force Friday,” a full 15 weeks before the movie hit theaters on Dec. 18 (as opposed to the usual six weeks).
“It was hard to get anything besides Star Wars on shelf,” says one agent. “Anything that did get on wouldn’t be taken very deep.”
Like Frozen before it, Star Wars stole from other brands, said Survey respondents—even brands outside the entertainment/character property type. Demand for music licensed apparel and other products, for instance, was softed (down 1.7%, per Survey findings), according to one agent, because of competition from Star Wars and other movies. “We found that it was a bit soft at mass market and in young men’s” for music properties, the agent says. “A couple of movie properties were capturing the consumer—Minions and Star Wars. The buyers were allocating dollars to those brands.”
The Force Awakens may have grabbed an overwhelming share of attention in 2015 from consumers, the media and others, but it was not the only property driving sales of entertainment licensed goods.
Other franchise properties also were successful during the year, some of them pure entertainment/character licenses, and others toy licenses that crossover into entertainment. Frozen continue to sell well, although possibly not at the same level as in 2014, according to Survey respondents. “Frozen still garnered a lot of space, says one licensee.
Properties mentioned as market leaders include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Minions, Avengers, Paw Patrol, Minecraft and DinoTrux. Imports from outside the U.S. that were gaining traction stateside during the year include Peppa Pig and Yo-Kai Watch, the hot Japanese kids’ property that launched in the U.S. in fall 2015. “Minions had a lot of presence at retail going into the holidays,” recalls a licensor. “And Frozen is one of those things people keep chasing.”