Seems Like Old Times
Brands are making the old new again, bringing decades-old products, once popular with adults, to today’s youngsters. While licensed products from blockbuster movies and TV properties remain strong, other brands at the Licensing Show in New York City this past spring gave consumers a chance to wrap themselves in a blanket of nostalgia.
“Manufacturers and retailers both seem to be a little more receptive to properties that already have a following and are already known in the marketplace,” says Charles Riotto, president of the New York-based Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA). “The reality is it’s a safer bet to back an established brand or re-established character than it is to go out on a limb on a totally new one.”
The trend, now in its third year, crosses all product lines, from toys to consumer goods. Much of the motivation behind buying classic products is purely sentimental, Riotto says. “A lot of these older properties or properties with older-time feelings engender a feel-good attitude. The emotional aspect…has a lot to do with it.”
Step back in time
Kellogg Co., for example, is celebrating its upcoming centennial birthday with a vintage program drawing from its own archive of images on packaging and advertising. Kellogg is partnering with more than 20 licensees to design vintage products in a number of categories, from apparel and home décor, to stationery and publishing. Products will roll out in the fourth quarter, with a heavier emphasis in the first quarter of 2006.
The Joester Loria Group is getting a revival from the good ol’ times, adding extra sizzle with a new line of licensed apparel and accessories for the Pepsi-Cola brand. The new line, which highlights classic Pepsi images from the 1950s and 1960s, rolls out in JCPenney stores this fall; specialty retailers and catalogs will carry Pepsi merchandise for the holidays.
“The pop culture generation is becoming very important,” says Debra Joester, president and CEO of The Joester Loria Group. “[Consumers] are looking for a lot of things that define them. They get a lot of comfort in that.”
Big hair — really big hair — is coming back via DIC Entertainment’s reincarnation of the 1960s pop culture icon, Good Luck Trolls. DIC Entertainment signed a deal with Jakks Pacific’s Play Along division to create a new line of spiky-haired toy figurines, plush and novelty items. They roll out in January 2006.
“Nostalgia resonates with people,” says Jedd Gold, VP-brand marketing and promotions for DIC Entertainment. To attract young consumers, DIC Entertainment is extending the brand’s reach with Trollz, an updated take on the original Troll doll targeting girls six to 12. The company created an online destination at Trollz.com to build buzz before the dolls launch this month. Two DVDs will follow in September by Warner Home Video, Trollz Volume 1: Best Friends for Life and Trollz Volume 2: Magic of the Five.
Warner Bros. Consumer Products is touting a new line of licensed apparel based on its classic Looney Tunes and Hannah Barbera characters. Looney Tunes’ Tweety is the latest character featured on high-end cashmere sweaters, tank tops, swimwear, T-shirts and jewelry.
“Characters bring back really good memories of when we were kids,” says Maribeth Towers-Toth, VP-apparel and accessories domestic licensing for Warner Bros. Consumer Products Inc. “We live in complex times. People are looking for light-hearted things.”
Hasbro is celebrating one of its classics with Monopoly’s 70th anniversary this year, rolling out a special collector’s edition of the board game.
“Monopoly continues to be a classic in everybody’s lives,” says Bryony Bouyer, senior VP-Hasbro Properties Group. “It creates memories that people want to recreate with their kids. Its strong icons can be translated into licensed goods very easily.”
High-end Monopoly accessories (key chains, cuff links and money clips) will hit store shelves this summer from Colibri.
“Monopoly has always been associated with luxury, money and owning it all,” Bouyer says. “The idea is you can give [people] a gift of having it all.”
Hasbro is reviving its 1980s toy robots brand Transformers, highlighting the brand’s “more than meets the eye” concept for boys. To keep the brand current, Hasbo re-invents the toy line every 12 to 18 months with new characters, styles and stories, says Greg Lombardo, brand manager for Transformers.
“Successful classic brands have one thing in common — they have an identifiable or ownable idea that transcends the generations,” Lombardo says. “It’s just a matter of updating the concept for today’s kids. Parents remember how much fun they had with those classic brands and want to share those experiences with their kids.”
The new Transformers Cybertron toy line will debut this fall. Hasbro is working with DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures for a Transformers movie.
Baby boom
Other brands are tapping into evergreen properties to target the very youngest audiences. MGM is energizing its classic Pink Panther brand with a new line, Pink Panther and Pals, which will debut in spring 2006. The line, which will include apparel, toys, accessories housewares, home décor and stationery products, will target infants to two-year-olds.
“This is really an opportunity for people…to extend their affection for the character and to introduce their kids at a younger age,” says Paul Flett, VP-marketing and promotions for MGM Studios, Inc. “It offers consumers more choices of a character they immediately recognize and love.”
DIC Entertainment is expanding its 25-year-old Strawberry Shortcake brand to infants. The Strawberry Shortcake baby line, which rolls out this fall, will target mothers of girls up to 18 months. Products will include bedding, toys, apparel and domestic and bath products.
Targeting younger eyeballs broadens a brand’s demographic reach for its products, Riotto says. It also helps create a fan base and brand loyalty at younger ages, he adds.
“The trend seems to be going younger because kids are more advanced than they were a few years ago,” Riotto says. “Kids pass on certain toys earlier than they used to, so it makes sense to introduce new products at an earlier age.”
Simple still works, however. Consider a new licensed character, Thumbs Up Johnnie. Johnnie began last fall as a book series teaching children life lessons through humor, and will roll out this fall with a new line of licensed goods. These include a Johnnie plush toy and book set, apparel, jewelry and a CD.
“Parents today are looking for things that will teach and entertain [children] at the same time,” says Michelle Bain, the creator and author of the Adventures of Thumbs Up Johnnie book series. “Parents are moving away from the products that over-stimulate their kids. Thumbs Up Johnnie is a modern classic. He focuses on the basics in life. He’s everybody’s thumbprint,” Bain claims.
This fall, the Girls Scouts of America will team with Thumbs Up Johnnie for its Shower Me Beautiful achievement patch program, which teaches youngsters various aspects of hygiene and ties to the scouts’ community outreach program.
On the flip side, Evergreen Concepts, the licensing agent for the Brainy Baby Co. is broadening its reach beyond infants and tots with a new video series targeting kids three to seven. The series, Brainy Kids, will teach youngsters about science, space and bugs. To further feed consumers’ appetite for learning products, Evergreen Concepts will extend the Brainy Baby brand with educational toys, books and CD-ROMs in second quarter of 2006.
“There is so much out there that is goofy. Parents are looking for more,” Dennis Fedoruk, president and CEO of Brainy Baby, says of children’s toys. “They want to make a difference in their child’s education.”
