How can you measure the success of film merchandise sales?

Watching sales figures, product units sold, and profit margins are all ways to gauge the success of film merchandise. You can get qualitative insights by looking at things like website traffic, social media engagement, and customer feedback. To get a full picture, you need to look at things like demographics, customer retention, and inventory turnover. Strategy can be fine-tuned by reviewing online analytics, promotional campaigns, and partnerships. A comprehensive evaluation of merchandise success can be achieved by integrating quantitative and qualitative metrics, taking profitability and collaborations into account, and so on.

In my experience, the number of categories is important but you should never try to shoe-horning the IP into categories that make no sense (common, no one needs a Super Mario fragrance:)) and dilute your brand... instead, go "deep" into categories that amplify the brand attributes, open it up to new audiences and generates best margins.

The category of toys & games is still the largest category for most IPs, followed by textiles. International IPs (movies, TV-series) should be written and produced with a "toyability" in mind. Most ideally, you find a toy company as a "partner in crime" in the early steps of the IP development.

To gauge film merchandise sales success, I analyze both quantitative and qualitative metrics. Tracking sales data provides insights into quantity and revenue, while examining customer demographics and purchasing patterns helps identify the merchandise's target audience and popularity. Customer feedback and reviews offer qualitative indicators of satisfaction and areas for improvement. Correlating marketing efforts with sales data helps assess the impact of promotional strategies. Benchmarking sales against industry standards and monitoring the merchandise's longevity provide a comprehensive evaluation. This dual approach ensures a nuanced understanding of the merchandise's success and guides adjustments for future releases. Keep going!

As a licensor or IP owner, you should also be able (mentally and financially) to keep investing into your brand, i.e. in marketing and retail support. This is crucial to bring a property up to the wishlist of your target group and the costs occured might be recouped at a later stage.

When you plan a new IP, i.e. a TV series, you have to consider all revenues including the Licensing & Merchandising income for the recoupment of your investment. Especially for TV-series with a master-toy-line (made under license by a toy company), many TV-channels won′t pay huge fees anymore but want to get advertising money from the toyco. A successful toy range is crucial for most kids IPs, as the retail presence of these products are a driver for licensing efforts into other categories.

In addition to the outlined points, it's crucial for film stakeholders to carefully negotiate licensing agreements, ensuring clarity on usage scope, territories, and exclusivity rights. A well-crafted agreement safeguards the integrity of the intellectual property and maximizes revenue potential. Monitoring and enforcing compliance with licensing terms are vital to prevent unauthorized use and protect the brand. Additionally, staying abreast of industry trends and adapting licensing strategies accordingly can optimize merchandise success. Ultimately, a strategic approach to licensing, coupled with diligent royalty tracking and enforcement, forms the bedrock for evaluating and enhancing the overall success of film merchandise ventures.

Unfortunately, we do not have an organization that is enforcing rules and regulations so the contracts and royalties differ tremendously. At this point, the licensing industry must shift from being a super fun Street Market, where everyone knows each other, to an eBay-like global marketplace where the terms and conditions are streamlined (minimum guarantee, royalty ranges, payments, exclusivity, timing, etc.). It will all be based on the IP, territory, distribution, term and so forth. Watch this space!

An IP owner must keep in mind that in order to convert a customer to a fan and a fan into a super-fan, the branded consumer products must honor the fans, not "feed the fans". Quality, attention to detail and cohesive storytelling at retail are key. Moreover, if you open a channel of communication with your consumers, it will become easier to hedge "big bets" and convert intro sales (what color should this hoodie be, what kind of collectors' item would they want, etc.).

When an IP trends into everyday life beyond the Big Screen, IP owners + licensing partners hit the jackpot. However, not all brand awareness translates into tangle ROI. Recent examples of this challenge are: 1. How many of us watched Oppenheimer? Tons. How many of you want an Oppenheimer Oven?:) 2. Barbie went viral with #barbiecore ,claiming Pink as part of the brand identity. However, some licensees found the loophole and figured they dont need to pay WB royalties for any product branded Barbie logo + Neon Pink (not using assets from the actual movie, and just leveraging rights they were granted by Mattel prior). Thus, the brand awareness was huge, but the royalties the movie could've generated via a proper licensing program were minimal.