by Graham Speak, Speak Consulting
When it comes to attraction retail, it’s not just about having a gift shop at the exit for last-minute souvenirs. Retail can play a critical role in enhancing the experience for guests. It can help drive loyalty and organic marketing, and even provide a reason for visit (and revisits) on some occasions.
It’s no surprise, therefore, that some of the world’s biggest attraction operators combine the power of their IP partnerships and retail to create unique, product-led opportunities to drive guests to parks and experiences.
With many IP-led experiences across the globe, from Harry Potter to Polar Express, DC to Looney Tunes, Warner Bros. Discovery is at the forefront when it comes to operating and supporting impressive and engaging retail offerings. In many cases, partnering with attractions to develop one-of-a-kind, guest-centric retail worlds, fuelling visits, engagement and memories.
I speak with Karl Durrant, SVP and general manager of retail experiences, and Diana Li, creative director. They discuss how Warner Bros. Discovery makes the magic happen.
Why is location-based entertainment important for Warner Bros. Discovery?
[KD] – Experiences are a way for fans to step into the world of their favourite franchises. They extend the stories by taking them off the screen and into the real world so people can continue to celebrate the characters, locations and stories they love.
We know that when we offer visitors to our shops an elevated experience, they become more engaged and will spend more time with us, our brands and our stories.
How does a retail offer in an attraction differ from those in high-street or online locations for Warner Bros. Discovery?
[DL] – We follow a very different approach for the merchandise and products we develop for each. High Street and Fashion e-commerce is driven by fashion trends. Meanwhile, at our licensed and owned attractions, we focus on the experience itself. The root inspiration is from the storytelling from the various IPs.
We strive to differentiate the assortment so the fan and guest will always have a reason to engage and hopefully purchase our products.
For example, at our Forbidden Forest Experience (our Harry Potter touring nighttime woodland trail experience), we will create differentiated graphics that feature creatures, forest, and other story moments directly from the experience. We will also sell a wider variety of creature plush to help commemorate the theme of the experience.
When it comes to our Studio Tours and Harry Potter shops, we aim to combine ‘must-haves’ with a localised offer. For example, we launched the pink Sakura collection in our Harry Potter Shop Tokyo. We brought together the pink colour palette of the season with some of our key icons. There is even an adorable pink Hedwig plush.
We partner across our IPs with different theme parks. One constant is we always look at creating products that enhance the fun of a day in a theme park. Some of our best products are in confectionery, novelty treats, novelty water bottles, popcorn buckets, interactive toys, light-up wands, bubble wands, capes, and interactive wands.
How does your team work alongside attraction retail teams and operators? When does the magic happen?
[DL] – Our merchandise product development team works with lots of stakeholders depending on the project. This includes internal and external retail experts, merchandise, experience, franchise and creative teams.
The magic really happens when we are all aligned on the theme of the shop, space, or experience. Sometimes there is a very obvious theme that rises to the top that we can create into product, story, or even marketing. As creatives and product developers, when we are faced with the “How do we celebrate this amazing moment, character, graphic element, or theme” question, that is when we can begin to have fun.
One of my favourite examples is Cosme Acajor wand shop in the Ministry of Magic, at Universal’s Epic Universe. This truly is an example of when all the teams came together to create a seamless experience, retail, and merchandise offering.
The Cosme Acajor shop was concepted for the film. So, the Warner Bros. and Universal teams worked closely with filmmakers and creative teams to create the retail space, the fixturing, and all of the details inside. You feel as though you walked right into the film.
Little was ever created or shown beyond the triangular-shaped wand boxes. We had to work together to create the look and feel and ‘lore’ of these wands.
Cosme Acajor took on a very different approach than our current, more well-known Ollivanders wand shops. Cosme, being a fashionable French witch, we’d imagined her wands would be more embellished and inspired by the art, aesthetics and fashion of the 1920s era.
In addition, we imagined the French witch or wizard would want to accessorise. Their wand may be more of a fashion statement. This is why, for the first time, we created wand carriers, bags, and other accessories.
All of the retail fixtures and merchandising are focused on featuring the wands, the accessories and unique items on feature tables. When you walk into the shop, it feels as though you are instantly transported into the era and film itself.
There is even Cosme Acajor herself, who walks around the shop and the area outside of the shop and draws guests in and tells you about all her wands and what inspired her to create each of them.
Are there some lesser-known examples of great experience retail executions from Warner Bros. you’d like to shine a light on?
[DL] – There are so many different projects that we get to work on. Each one is so unique and different and serves a different purpose. All of the partnership and collaboration that goes into each of these projects make them so amazing. I do hope it shows in the experiences and products we offer!
One of my favourite partnerships that we don’t often get to highlight is our Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp Resorts. We have various locations across the US and Canada, and they are all so darling with family-friendly campsites, activities, pools, and merchandise.
We work with this partner to create cute merchandise featuring Yogi and his pals, activity sets, toys, and other things you may need while camping.
ESCAPE IT in Las Vegas is another great example. This attraction has a large retail space that the team worked to curate with our partner, EGAN. We have several escape rooms across the world. But this one stands out with a dedicated retail space and a much bigger assortment than you’d usually find for an escape room attraction.
Finally, I have to mention Polar Express –still one of my favourites. The look on guests’, especially kids’, faces when they meet Santa and hear all the music and drink the hot chocolate, it really is a fun ‘core memory’ experience.
We want to allow guests to capture and treasure these memories, and so the merchandise assortment is very robust. Every year, we work with our partner, Rail Events Inc., to create new graphics so there is a feeling of collectability and encourage the guests to revisit!
How does Warner Bros. Discovery flex to work with different LBE operators? The needs of Universal are different to those of Six Flags?
[DL] – Location-based entertainment, Six Flags and Universal all work very differently. But what we offer to the guest will always have the same core intent – give guests and fans products that commemorate or enhance the experience.
LBEs tend to be created more quickly, with various IPs, various locations, and we tend to handle these differently, case by case. There are some partners that open multiple locations, such as The Friends Experience or Harry Potter: The Exhibition. With these LBEs, we can work similarly to how we would work with a theme park.
But there are also pop-ups and shorter run experiences that we need to be more nimble, creative, and flexible with in our approach. With Universal, we tend to have longer development times, but with the five lands (not including the Ministry of Magic) globally, we are able to develop a lot of the same evergreen products. We create some exclusive annual and seasonal collections so each park has its unique offerings.
Six Flags is our DC and Looney Tunes destination. With products in 11 of the parks, the range is refreshed yearly. The target guests for each of these IPs are quite different, so we have to approach them all differently. We never want to be one mould for all.
We want to ensure we are delivering on fan and guest expectations, stay authentic to our brands, and to give everyone something different.
Are there any examples where retail has actively driven visits and been the reason for attending?
[KD] – In certain locations, we know that developing retail ‘events’ like Christmas can help drive fans to our attractions.
At Warner Bros. Studio Tours, for example, we know visitors come looking for new products and gifts. Retail is a big part of the driver at these seasonal moments. We convert a full store into our Christmas shop and develop a huge range of exclusive Christmas merchandise. It ties in perfectly with the overall “Hogwarts in the Snow” feature within the tour.
[DL] – At our Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, we’ve thrown a Stars Hollow “Holidays Made Here” event. The tour dressed the additional sets up and opened the doors filled with exclusive products to give the guest a shopping experience as if they were in the show.
This was almost all retail and merchandise-driven. The key driver was for the guest to come explore and shop in Stars Hollow. It was really an amazing experience to see this come together. It shows the power of how a great product can sell if it is the right design, placed in the right space.
Retail at attraction experiences often has to cater for casual visitors alongside big fans of the brand/IP. How do you balance these needs?
[KD] – Whether it’s the store experience or product design, we always think about our concepts through the layer of casual fans, fans and super fans. We know that we need something to appeal to every level, without alienating anyone from those tiers.
For example, in Harry Potter New York, for the casual fan, we have a stunning Griffin statue in the centre of our shop. This spins every 15 minutes. It’s beautifully created and mesmerising to watch. The fans will recognise this as the entrance to Dumbledore’s office. They will get the connection to the staircase and why it spins.
The super fans will find the hidden Dumbledore quotations that are etched into the stones on the surround of the staircase and will know the password to gain entry (if you know, you know).
[DL] – Everyone wants good product, great value, great art, and product that can serve a function whether it’s simply that it makes them happy or it has a more useful purpose. We always like to ensure we have products that are designed to be available at different costs, so the merchandise and brand are accessible to everyone.
There are guests who will go to various experiences, so it is important to give them something new. But it should not alienate or be so obscure that other guests will not understand the product at all.
Sometimes it’s nice to have a few products that feature more “in-the-know” references. But usually our first focus is to tie it back to the experience. At the Warner Bros. Studio Tour stores and Harry Potter shops, it’s more important to tie back more into the story and dive deeper into the references since that is a dedicated destination for the brand itself and celebrates all aspects of the story.
Lots of people reading this article may operate smaller attractions. What retail principles could they take from Warner Bros. Discovery learnings to apply to their own offer?
[KD] – The best advice we could give is to really get to know your audience and your brand. Develop products that celebrate your fandom in a fun and relevant way – and don’t compromise on quality.
We think a lot about the focus on customer experience, bringing the shopping environment to life and always delivering excellent customer service.
Developing retail offerings can be a significant opportunity to enhance guest experience and drive P&L
Creating impactful retail experiences centred around IP partnerships (or your in-house developed IP) can unlock unique and incremental value.
IP can and should be a significant source of content for product development. It allows you to tap into whole worlds of storytelling to create great ranges. Especially when combined with your unique physical experience and location.
IP-based retail can help you sell not only to your ‘casual’ guests, but to fans of the IP. They will often be looking for new, unique, special ways to connect with their favourite brands. In some cases, having exclusive and exciting ranges and retail experiences will even drive fans to visit (and revisit!).
Knowing your audience segments (and their needs and wants) and having ranges developed to appeal to each can help you unlock even more from your IP and retail offers.
As IP-based experiences continue to grow and become more varied, it will be exciting to see how retail becomes an even more integrated part of these occasions!
