Digimon

Discount Store News, April 17, 2000

While Pokemon continues to be popular, another blast from Japan, Digimon, has come storming along to take a place alongside its sibling phenomenon. As the story goes, seven kids at camp are transported to another world after being grabbed up by a digital tornado. On their new stomping grounds, each of the kids found a small bouncing head. The heads grow into Digimons, or digital monsters, and help the kids on this new world.

The story has turned out to be pretty compelling, however, to all the little virtual adventurers that have made Digimon the top-rated show on Fox Kids. Even as the show gained popularity and the games rolled out, Saban was working with its partner, Fox, to get the apparel end of the campaign going and scoring a quick hit with a back-wall display at Target.

Even though Saban is home to the so-far perennial powerhouse Power Rangers, Saban's president, Elie Dekel, said that Digimon was largely responsible for pushing the company's 1999 and early 2000 sell-throughs over the top and making the period among its most successful sales periods ever. JEM was the Saban license that launched the Digimon blitz in November 1999, and since then JAMAT, PCA apparel Romar Accessories, Elegant Brands, IMT Access, K&R Sportswear and SaraMax have also signed on.