Repowering the Rangers - Saban Entertainment's Power Rangers

Brandweek, Feb 9, 1998 by T.L. Stanley

When Susanne Lee first arrived at Saban Entertainment, she scanned the company's properties for something with the potential to be a lasting franchise. She wanted to take the brand management skills she'd honed at Disney and apply them to the top contender among Saban's stable of live-action and animated projects--Power Rangers.

Power Rangers blasted onto kid's television in 1993 and became a billion-dollar brand that extended into feature films, publishing, toys and other merchandise. The problem for Lee was, by mid-1996, everybody thought the property was dead.

"It wasn't a phenomenon anymore," said Lee, who became Saban's senior vice president of licensing and merchandising in June 1996. "But we saw it as a strong brand with long-term potential. We said, `This could be our Barbie. Why try to kill it?'"

While Saban's own development and programming executives were off looking for the next big hit, and retail buyers were refusing to look at Power Rangers in a number of categories, Lee and her team set about breathing new life into the property.

They huddled with the top five licensees and posed the question, "Is it really over?" They found that the perception didn't quite match the reality. While many believed it was doomed, with most licensed categories completely dried up, toy sales were still strong--bringing in some $125 million in '97--and the show was still at the top of the ratings heap. And though, the original fan base had outgrown the property, a younger generation was discovering it. The show, which spawned two money-making movies and has remade itself several times over, launches its fifth season this month.

"We decided to really invest in it," Lee said. "The challenge, then, was to get people to believe in it again, because we felt like if they did, they would really see results."

In the post-phenomenon phase, some major retailers had cleared out the Power Rangers licensed product, except for toys, and had been stuck with inventory. The damage was so extensive and the memory so fresh in retailers' minds that some categories, publishing and bedding, for example, may never return.

"We knew it would be a matter of changing their minds," Lee said. "We had to make the property more relevant."

A key component to the revival was fresh creative for licensees, spearheaded by Jorge Ferreiro, whom Lee recruited several months ago from Disney to join Saban's expanding licensing and merchandising division.

The TV series had gone through several incarnations, the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers Turbo and the new Power Rangers in Space. The artwork provided to licensees, however, had remained relatively stagnant.

"We kept the fundamentals of the action adventure, teamwork and kid empowerment themes," Ferreiro said, "but we updated the look and dress of the characters."

The Power Rangers themselves got more buff, and the imagery became more high-tech and less one-dimensional. The new style guide features space and astronomy themes, techno-driven designs and new logos. The space theme has energized the creative, opening up possibilities for more upscale merchandise in addition to mass, Ferreiro said.

Equity and consistency in a brand is important to an adult target, but to kids, Ferreiro said, newness is key.

Gemini, a new licensee that makes kids clothing, was brought on because of its experience working with long-term licenses, such as Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes. The company, which reported a 15% to 20% sell-through on its various apparel lines in '97, has predicted a 600% sales increase for '98. Several of its biggest retail buyers- Sears, Wal-Mart and Kids `R' Us--have asked for apparel in toddler and older kid sizes, expanding beyond the core sizes they had carried in the past.

Sears tested some new Gemini apparel last spring in two dozen stores, with sales so strong that the chain bumped up to 200 stores late in the year. By fall '98, Gemini predicts all 600 outlets will carry the line.

Wal-Mart, Sears, Montgomery Ward, Mervyn's, Kids `R' Us, Kmart, Hill's and Target are averaging 20% to 30% sell-through, with some as high as 40%, on Power Rangers product. T-shirts at Kids `R' Us outsold Looney Tunes, Rugrats and Batman. And Target, whose buyers had told Lee they would never again feature the brand outside toys, chose Power Rangers as its eight-foot back-wall display in all stores this spring. Moreover, WalMart, Kmart and Target, which had stopped carrying Power Rangers footwear, all have ordered product from licensee S. Goldberg & Co. for spring.

A vitamin manufacturer, USA Labs, has picked Power Rangers as its first licensed vitamin, with an ad campaign set to accompany the product launch this spring. And Saban, with partners Bandai and Iwerks, will give the property an added exposure boost beginning this month with a 15-city simulation ride tour. Power Rangers in Space Rocket Tour hits Wal-Mart parking lots in the top TV markets, supported by an ad campaign, retail programs, and extensive Fox Kids Network promotion.