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Merchandising
What is character
merchandising ?
Character merchandising can be
defined as the adaptation or
secondary exploitation, by the creator
of a fictional character or by a real
person or by one or several authorized
third parties, of the essential
personality features (such as the
name, image or appearance) of a
character in relation to various goods
and/or services with a view to creating
in prospective customers a desire to
acquire those goods and/or to use
those services because of the
customers affinity with that character.
Examples of character
merchandising
A toy is the three-dimensional
reproduction of the fictional character
Mickey Mouse;
A T-shirt bears the name or image of the
fictional characters Ninja Turtles;
The label attached to a perfume
bottlebears the name Alain Delon;
Tennis shoes bear the name Andr
Agassi;
An advertising movie campaign for the
drink Coca Cola shows movie star Hritik
Roshan drinking Coca Cola;
Origin of character
merchandising
As an organized system, character
merchandising originated and was initiated in
the United States of America in the 1930s in
the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank
(California). When this company created its
cartoon characters
(Mickey,Minnie,Donald),one of its
employees,Kay Kamen, established a
department specialized in the secondary
commercial exploitation of those characters
and,to the surprise of most, succeeded in
granting an important number of licenses for
the manufacture and distribution of low-priced
mass market merchandise (posters, T-shirts,
toys,buttons,badges,drinks).
Types of Character
Merchandising
Merchandising of fictional character
Personality merchandising
Image merchandising
Merchandising of fictional
character
It involves the use of the essential
personality features ( name , image etc )
of fictional charaters in the marketing
and/or advertising of goods and services .
Character merchandising with cartoon
characters involves mainly the use of the
name , image or apperance of the
character . It can be :
o Two dimensional reproduction ( drawing , stickers
etc )
o Three dimensional reproduction ( dolls , keyrings ,
chains etc )
Personality Merchandising
Involves the use of essential attributes
( name , image , voice and other
personality features ) of real persons in the
marketing and/or advertising of goods and
services .
This is also referred as reputation
merchandising .
Two forms of personality
merchandising
Use of the name , image ( in two or
three dimensions) or symbol of a real
person .
Fictional Characters
Automatic rights to use the character
are owned by the :
The creator himself as the owner of
the right .
The holder of the right ( not being
the creator ) pursuant to contract
( by transfer agreement ).
Authorized user ( not being creator )
pursuant to license agreement .
Real Persons / personality
merchandising