by Graham Speak, Speak Consulting
No one can dispute the global scale, awareness and impressiveness of the Harry Potter franchise. It has a global IP worth over $25bn, with blockbuster movies scoring $8bn in global box office revenues, 600 million books sold worldwide and global merchandising deals allowing fans to buy everything they could ever imagine from the Wizarding World.
Of course, many of you will have visited the stunning and immersive theme parks and attraction experiences. Here, you can ride, taste, watch and interact with your favourite parts of the franchise. It’s impressive. Really impressive.
However, not all attractions can afford, or need, to develop the biggest and most well-known franchises. Focusing on target markets and clear objectives when choosing an IP has led to many well-matched partnerships and special experiences for guests.
Be relevant locally
Recently I came across a wonderful children’s escape room-style attraction in Linköping in Sweden, based on the local children’s book series, LasseMaja’s Detective Agency.
The stories revolve around two children who love solving mysteries – and so help the local police force. A fantastic space has been developed by the author, illustrator, Lappset Creative and Fantasia Works. This enables children to step inside this world and solve their own mysteries.
The books are featured in the school curriculum. So, each year, the attraction will have a new group of children excited to visit and see the stories they read come to life. LasseMaja isn’t the biggest globally recognised IP. But is highly relevant for families in the local market – the main audience for the attraction.
Choosing an IP that ‘fits’ with your attraction
In another well-matched local partnership, Blackpool Pleasure Beach partnered with Aardman Animations in 2013 to open Wallace & Gromit Thrill-O-Matic. Being (apparently) from nearby Lancashire town, Wigan, it made sense for Wallace & Gromit to find their attraction home at the nearby British quintessential seaside amusement park. You can almost imagine them taking ‘A Grand Day Out’ there!
Target audience-wise, they are the perfect fit for a predominantly UK-visited attraction, looking to attract and excite a broad, multi-generational audience. Grandparents know and love the duo as much as kids. With Pleasure Beach re-imagining its Gold Mine ride for this attraction, finding an IP that could be brought to life with the capabilities of the existing ride system would be a key objective met too.
Be clear on your target market
Leolandia is a beautifully set park in Northern Italy – with a clear focus on children and their families. And they go big on characters for that audience. From a well-themed area for Masha e Orso (Masha and the Bear), featuring a roller coaster, show and playground to the first PJ Masks area at a theme park.
Alongside this, there are resident photo opportunities with Bluey, Miraculous characters, Bing and Flop, and their very own park mascots. For a place known to meet characters popular on kids’ TV in Italy – Leolandia have hit the target.
Maximise your surroundings
When choosing an IP, you may think about the CAPEX required to build immersive ‘lands’ and complex experiences. That can be the case. But, the partnership between Forestry England and Gruffalo is a wonderful example of using your natural setting to engage your guests. It literally allows you to go into the ‘deep, dark woods’ and find your favourite characters (in sculpture form) from Julia Donaldson’s classic story.
Supported with downloadable party packs, activity sheets and orienteering challenges, visitors can find a local experience or head out across the country to visit them all. It is a great way to get young children with tired legs out walking (and excited) in nature.
Think broadly
IP doesn’t just have to come from TV and film. We’ve talked about examples here from books, but there are many examples from Music (The Wiggles at Dreamworld in Australia); Video Games (Raving Rabbids at Futroscope); Games and Gameshows (Monopoly Live, Crystal Maze) and Sports Cars (of course, Ferrari!).
So, what should I think about when choosing an IP?
Remember, IP licensing isn’t right for every attraction – or the solution to every challenge. But it can create great results if the right partner is found for the right opportunity. Consider:
- Who am I trying to appeal to with this project?
- What outcome am I trying to achieve?
- What is the right scale for my attraction?
- Do I have any constraints to work around?
- What assets do I have already that I could use to bring an IP to life?
- What could this IP give me that a generic theme or story couldn’t?
In the next blog, we’ll talk about how attractions are working to maximise their IP partnerships over and above core attractions and theming.
In the meantime, I’d love to know about any different or unusual IP partnerships that you’ve seen that work!
Top image: Zog at Warwick Castle, courtesy of Rainbow Productions
