India’s licensing fraternity is infamous for pronouncing a verdict without checking the veracity. Part of the problem is the fragmented retail and the other part is our rather short term view of things.
The Trade which is predominantly “Mom and Pop “retail are always looking for something new. To believe that any property/brand can work over decades as an evergreen is certainly a “No”. It’s against the fabric of variety.
To add to this, in both organized retail and scattered trade; there are a lot of decision makers who conclude on a property basis of a sample size of one or two. So, if my child or nephew/niece don’t like a property: well, then it surely does not work across India.
I have sales team that have waited patiently while a client calls his kids at home, hoping that she loves what we are selling. It’s hilarious for many and frustrating to others. Well, to me, the problem with Angry Birds is the amazing success. I call it a problem as unlike most brands built through the traditional machinery of TV; Angry Birds came out of the digital world. A game taking the big names in licensing to the cleaners had to be seen as a fad. How else would we be able to explain it successful?
In India, Angry birds unprecedented success was built on transference: a MalcolmGlad well kind of tipping point. Lots of products mushroomed in neighboring markets and our very enterprising entrepreneurs put them in bags and containers and brought them into India. Suddenly, the Red bird was omnipresent. We at Dream Theatre were a year late in launching the products and we now have over 800 products in 15 odd categories. So, why is the angry bird’s success a problem?
Well, the guys who are pronouncing it dead are not following the statistics. How can a brand that is at 100 and is now scoring at 70 be seen a failure. The fact is that at 70, it outpaces most of the leaders. This summer our back to school supplies and bags did the best secondary sales among the gamut of licensees across licencors.We have signed up more categories that will unravel next year and the plan is to go deeper. To be available across the length and breadth of India and at price points that are affordable to the “Mass” and “Class”
The superstar birds made an appearance at World Children Expo and the excitement of the consumers was palpable. The fans completely loved them and the show attracted more crowds and excitement than most of the brands that made an appearance.
What excited us more is that Rovio really wants to build an evergreen brand. They believe they are just getting started. There is real urgency and intent: We at Dream Theatre are ecstatic with the pipeline. To add to this, there is a new experienced licensing team at the helm of things and processes that are very nimble. To read about it, click: http://www.licensing.biz/news/read/promotions-and-new-hires-bolster-rovio-licensing-team/040134
There are more games in the anvil and everyone is awaiting the movie coming up in 2016.
To see more of it, click:
We are awaiting the second coming of the brand. Make no mistake; the second coming in India is just a matter of scale to move from 70 to 100 and not from zero to 100.
Squack Squack! Watch this space.
Jiggy George
