Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon

Harry PotterThe Story of a Global Business Phenomenon

By Susan GuneliusPresident & CEO

KeySplash Creative, Inc.www.KeySplashCreative.com

Not another book about Harry Potter

How many of you…

Heard about Harry Potter from…

• A friend,• A colleague,• A family member,• A stranger,• Or by any other person other

than an ad or marketing effort?

That tells us one very important thing.

Harry Potter grew to be a global business phenomenon through

WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETINGby

CONSUMERS

But more about that later.

How Did the Value of the Harry Potter Brand Get Here?

$67.0

$27.8

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$4.0 $3.2 $3.1 $3.0 $2.7

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$10.0

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$40.0

$50.0

$60.0

$70.0

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Coca-Cola Disney Honda Apple HarleyDavidson

HarryPotter

Shell Starbucks Lexus Levi's

The Secrets to Harry Potter Success

• A good product

• Emotional involvement

• Word-of-mouth marketing and an online buzz

• Tease and perpetual marketing

• Brand consistency and restraint

Harry Potter is a good product.

• Classic story of good vs. evil, awkward adolescence and friendship – We can all relate

• Add magic, humor and suspense = recipe for success

A bad product won’t succeed.

At least, not for long

What’s the common denominator?

We’re emotionally involved in and connected to Harry Potter.

• Emotionally involved customers protect a brand they care about.

• They’re loyal to it.• They demand more

from it.

3 Ss of Consumer Emotional Involvement

• Stability – consistent message

• Sustainability – over time

• Security – comfort and peace-of-mind

Emotion and the Relationship Grow Over Time

Good Product

Bad Product

FuturePurchase

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Positive

Negative

A good product can evolve into a Cult Brand.

Until it becomes a true Relationship Brand

• Relationship brands are built on experiences.

• They often fill a void.• Consumers self-select how

they want to interact with the brand by choosing from brand experiences.

• Often those experiences are shared among groups.

Relationship brands are powerful.

People look for new ways to experience and share the brand.

People start talking about the brands they love.

• Word-of-mouth marketing is powerful.

• Loyal brand advocates are every brand manager’s dream.

• Remember that Breck Shampoo commercial, “And she told two friends, and she told two friends, and so on, and so on, and …”

Word-of-mouth marketing and the online buzz begins and grows.

CAUTION Internet + Harry Potter =

Timing is everything.

• Social web growing

• Blogging

• Online conversation

• Word spread faster and wider

Kudos to J.K. Rowling and Scholastic

• Recognized couldn’t stop online conversation so let it grow and drive brand to new heights of popularity

The Proof

With a multi-million dollar budget to spend as she pleased, Cindy Gordon of Universal Orlando Resort instead told just 7 people about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

And within just 24 hours 350 million people around the world heard the news.

All by telling just 7 people.

No one could escape Harry Potter.

But we want more!

Early marketing of Harry Potter followed typical publisher model.

• Not until book sellers started telling customers about the new Harry Potter series that word started to spread.

• Not until Arthur Levine of Scholastic bought U.S. rights to Harry Potter for unprecedented advance that buzz grew.

• Press loved J.K. Rowling’s Cinderella story.

There’s marketing gold in those books!

• 7-book, chronological series, virtually no story gap, same characters

• Word of mouth marketing grew organically

• Consumers demanded more

Tease and perpetual marketing began

Pull marketing was the catalyst.

• Customer demand drives sales, not marketing tactics.

• Harry Potter fans demanded more and more and more!

• Three year gap in waiting for a new product after release of first movie and fourth book in 2000 – 3 year gap until next book released.

Marketing team sees the opportunity and takes it.

• Tease and perpetual marketing began.• Always something new to talk about.• Buzz never died.• One tactic fueled the next just as hype from one

book fueled hype for next book, movie, etc.• Released information in bits and pieces (e.g.,

movie casting information, set stills, storyboards, “watch this space” hooks, etc.)

• Storyline fed into tease and perpetual marketing strategies.

• Always left fans wanting more.

We want Potter! We want Potter!

• Book store parties• Shipping books

wrapped in paper• Book store embargoes

Exercise Brand Consistency and Restraint

• All brand touch points must communicate consistent brand message, image and promise.

• J.K. Rowling acted as brand guardian protecting the brand

• Brand restraint means not overextending the brand -- No Harry Potter on Happy Meals

• Less merchandised than many other brands at time such as Shrek and Cars

• Limiting brand extensions left fans wanting more and fed into pull marketing/tease and perpetual marketing strategies

Potter, Potter everywhere!

But don’t go too crazy!

What can we learn from Harry Potter?

Consumers made Harry Potter a global phenomenon.

Lesson 1

• Don’t be afraid to let consumers take control, particularly on the social web.

Lesson 2

• Allow consumers to become emotionally involved with your brand and develop relationships with it, which leads to brand loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing.

Lesson 3

• Be consistent with your brand and exercise brand restraint in order to meet customer expectations and build loyalty further.

Can Harry Potter’s success be duplicated?

Yes!

Remember, I’m a marketer.

Problem in Duplicating Harry Potter’s Success

• It would seem more manufactured and would carry less mystique.

Marketing Strategies for Harry Potter Successors

• Market Follower: Differentiation – positioning as similar to Harry Potter but just far enough away and different enough to add new value to consumers.

• Market Challenger: Reinventing the Category – Don’t imitate the market leader or pioneer brand. Instead, position product as completely different from Harry Potter by attacking leader’s weaknesses and tapping into unfulfilled needs. Strategy requires bigger investment.

How many of you have read Twilight?

What do you think?Can the success of Harry Potter be duplicated?

That leads to my final point.

Thank God she’s almost done.

Consumers will make the next Harry Potter, not marketers.

• Brand managers have to listen to consumers and deliver consistently to ensure the buzz about the brand continues.

• Let consumers live the brand and make it their own.

• Marketers must allow brands to grow and thrive at the hands of consumers with gentle pushes in the right direction along the way.

Read more in my book or contact me.

Contact Susan GuneliusWebsite: www.KeySplashCreative.com

Email: susan@keysplashcreative.com

Blog: www.KeySplashCreativeConversations.com

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/susangunelius

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LinkedIn: www.Linkedin.com/in/susangunelius