Harry Potter Makes Marketing Magic for Scholastic

Selling to Kids, June 28, 2000

Scholastic's competitors have been gracious. They credit Harry Potter with igniting kids' passion for reading - good news for everyone. But deep down we suspect they're the teeniest bit jealous of Potter-mania.

Author J.K. Rowling gets the credit for the magical books kids are devouring.

But last June, Scholastic launched a marketing campaign that helped propel the books into their bestseller slots and turn the book series into a brand.

Inside The Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book I) was setting records by June 1999, and public demand for the next book was overwhelming. Scholastic made the decision to release The Chamber of Secrets (Book II) three months early. The company then leveraged the excitement to announce September debuts for The Prisoner of Azkaban (Book III) and the paperback edition of Book I.

Book II debuted at No. 1, and Scholastic followed up with advertising in the New York Times and USA Today and a major appearance for Rowling on the "Rosie O'Donnell Show." Those channels provided broad reach to adults who were reading the books themselves and bringing them home to kids.

Releasing The Prisoner of Azkaban

Scholastic targeted kids more directly following the launch of Book III (which also debuted at No.1), when Rowling spent three weeks in the U.S. on a major publicity tour. Scholastic turned book signings into kid-oriented events by sending bookstores a small promotional item that turned out to be a coup - lightning bolt "tattoos" so children could "be Harry Potter" for the day. "It was the kind of thing where kids could feel like they were part of a universe," says Scholastic VP of marketing, Jennifer Pasanen. "We had requests for those six months after they came out."

Kids were thrilled with the chance to meet and talk to the author of the books they loved. Local media covered the tour in each city, showing kids in costume, participating in trivia contests and eating Harry Potter refreshments like the infamous every-flavor jelly beans and chocolate frogs.

Scholastic secured a cover story in Nickelodeon magazine following the release. The company also beefed up the special Harry Potter Web site on Scholastic.com, adding new games and a reading circle where kids could share their thoughts on the books. The site got more visits in 1999 than any other Scholastic Web property.

Results

With a $500,000 budget, Scholastic launched Book II, Book III and the paperback version of Book I at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. For the rest of 1999, the books remained in the top five spots, and by the end of 1999, Scholastic had sold 12 million copies.

A property like Harry Potter is a boon for any kids marketer. But a hugely successful product comes with its own challenges. Once the media hype surrounding Rowling's tour died down, Scholastic had to bridge the gap until the July 8 release of Book IV. The publisher went with a holiday campaign targeted at grandparents and a recent sweepstakes for kids. "The thing we have done is to balance the publicity we've gotten with marketing so they're reinforcing and spelling one another," Pasanen says.

According to Scholastic's most recent numbers, the company has 20.9 million Harry Potter books in print. With Book IV's record-breaking first printing of 3.8 million copies, the next few months are guaranteed to be wilder than a trip to Hogwarts. (Scholastic: Jennifer Pasanen, 212/343-6100)

The Making Of a Legend

Potter fans are experiencing more warm fuzzies lately than they could with a mug of Hogsmeade's famous butterbeer. Retailers across the country will begin selling Book IV, whose title remains a mystery, one minute after midnight on July 8. As of last week, Amazon had received more than 169,000 orders for the book and had entered a special agreement with FedEx to provide complimentary Saturday shipping upgrades to the first 250,000 customers to pre-order.

Plus, Scholastic has revised the Harry Potter Web site. A new trivia game lets kids challenge a friend online and an Owl Post lets them send messages wizard-style.

Finally, Warner Bros. is gearing up for the Fall 2001 release of the movie based on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. "Hogwarts" dominated the Licensing Show this month. The castle featured the first artwork from Warner Bros.' creative team and a theater where viewers were treated to videotaped interviews with Dan Romanelli, president of Warner Bros. consumer products, and Chris Columbus, the director of the first Harry Potter film.

(Amazon: Kathy Kinney, 206/266-7180; Warner Bros.: Barry Ziehl, 818/954-6804)