Target Opts for Digimon, Rangers for Back Wall

Brandweek, Nov 1, 1999 by T.L. Stanley

Mass retailer Target is shoving aside Lucasfilm's Star Wars and Funimation's Dragonball Z in favor of Power Rangers and Digimon as the "back wall" apparel promotion for the crucial holiday season, sources said. The chain also has nearly doubled its orders for those two Saban/ Fox Kids properties across a variety of apparel and accessories SKUs.

Power Rangers was featured on the back wall for three months last spring; a four-month current promo was supposed to end in November but has been extended because of strong sales.

Digimon: Digital Monsters, which launched in August and so quickly became a boy magnet that Fox Kids scheduled it six days a week, becomes one of the fastest turnarounds from TV series to merchandise on shelves when product hits this month. The promo, initially set for 2000, runs through next March. Retailers, starved for scarce Pokemon product, are eager to get the Japanimethemed Digimon T-shirts, trading cards, toys, videos and other items, putting this hot property du jour ahead of the solid but unspectacular Dragonball Z (airing on Cartoon Network), sources said.

From Boston America, the company that brought us Cheesy Poofs at the height of the South Park furor, comes Scooby Snacks, 12-oz. boxed vanilla wafers shipping now to video, gift and music stores. Expect an upcoming promo with Musicland stores, with the Scooby-Doo-inspired cookies touted in its holiday circular, said BA president Matthew Kavet. If the cookies sell, the next incarnation might include character shapes. The novelty product, via a licensing deal with Warner Bros., is Scooby's first foray into adult-targeted food; kid-skewing fruit rollups from General Mills remain hot sellers. Question from the 30-year-old classic's munchie-madness crowd: what took so long?

Try to keep up: Rita Prosyak is heading back to Fox, after only a few months in the theatrical promotions unit at Universal. Prosyak, formerly in the Saban/Fox Kids promotions division, will hang her hat at Fox Licensing & Merchandising, taking a spot left vacant by Susan Spencer Grana, now at Universal. Get it? Andre Lake Mayer has left Lucasfilm, where she was a licensing exec under Star Wars brand protector Howard Roffman. Her next move is unknown.

Columbia Records teams with Seagram for a three-city grass roots marketing effort around the soundtrack from The Best Man, which opened at No. 1 with $9 million in its first weekend. The program, per Icon Lifestyle Marketing, N.Y., will give away CDs, movie posters and Seagram's merchandise at nightclubs and other hangs for 25-35s. The goal is to broaden the film beyond its first weekend audience, predominantly African Americans, with men outnumbering women 3-2. Seagram will promote Seagram's Gin, Hennessy cognac and Chivas Regal scotch with themed and novelty drinks. The tour hits Washington, New York and Philadelphia, starting this week; the Sony Music Soundtrax release entered the charts at No. 1, per SoundScan.