Word: disneyized
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...stuff has been surefire ever since parents realized they could fend off a child's tears by handing over the artifact of a cartoon rodent. "Walt Disney started it all," notes Michael Eisner, chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Co. "He was the first man to create consumer products out of filmed entertainment." And so for decades Mickey Mouse and other Disney icons shuttled between love and neglect: they were purchased by doting parents, then cradled in children's arms, then placed on bedroom toy shelves, then exiled to attics, then discarded in sidewalk rummage sales, then discovered...
...this cottage industry has exploded. Welcome to the Toon Age of worldwide retailing, an age when Warner's fearsome Tasmanian Devil becomes a cult figure for kids, dads and inner-city gang members; when no little girl feels chic without her Princess Jasmine dress (from the smash Disney film Aladdin); when Paris designer Karl Lagerfeld ornaments the classic Chanel hat with impish Mickey Mouse ears. Hollywood's animated ephemera are Big Business everywhere: in the Disney themelands and at Warner's Six Flags parks, at chains like K Mart and Toys "R" Us, in sports-stadium concession stands (Michael Jordan...
...took decades, but Disney (and then Warner) hit on a bright idea: eliminate the middleman and market directly to an avid public. In malls throughout the U.S. and around the world, the 268 Disney Stores and the 67 owned by Warner sell not just the usual T shirts and gewgaws but the whole corporate cartoon experience, once removed. These outpost embassies for the Magic Kingdom and Warner's more raucous cartoon realm are more than stores: they are fun fairs, playgrounds, date destinations, suburban social centers...
...they entertain moms and their kids, teens and their older, upwardly mobile sibs, these stores also impress the industry analysts. Says Kurt Barnard, publisher of Barnard's Retail Marketing Report: "Disney and Warner are taking advantage of characters that America has grown up with, that have endeared themselves to the American family for generations. It is a very powerful sales point: leveraging the fame and the hallowed position that these characters occupy in the American home...
There are also powerful profits to be made from quality merchandise featuring barnyard critters. Neither company discloses itemized financial records, but industry analysts estimate that last year the stores' revenue was $465 million for Disney, $380 million for Warner. These are robust figures; they amount to 54% of Disney's total domestic box-office take and 39% of Warner's. Not bad for a fledgling industry where the flop factor is reduced and the stars aren't paid $10 million a picture...