A To Z Of The Toy Business – D Is For Disney
This was probably the easiest of our A To Z articles to write, because there is really only one Licensor who is completely ubiquitous in the toy business, and that of course is The Walt Disney Company. There is no toy company which has so many iconic brands and characters, there is no entertainment company which compares in terms of scope and strength in family entertainment, they have more than 300 of their own retail stores only selling merchandise based on their own franchises and characters, they have TV channels, massive movie release slates and of course more recently they have their own super successful direct to home viewing platform in Disney+.
If we take a quick look at the key properties relevant to toys owned by the Walt Disney Company, we don’t need to list many before we have a collection of the most successful toy licenses ever: Star Wars, Marvel, Toy Story, Disney, and we’ve barely even started at that point! Star Wars is THE toy license, ever since the first movie released back in 1977, Star Wars has been a merchandise shifting juggernaut of a brand, with a massive and deep character universe, endless variations of vehicles and space craft, massive depth in story and classic dialogue, heroes and villains, not to mention some of the most entertaining movies ever made (we’ll skip quickly over the very forgettable Episode 1!).
Since Disney acquired Marvel in 2009, Marvel movies have dominated the global box office with more than $22bn in box office takings across the franchise. In the toy business, Marvel has become a powerhouse on its own, regardless of the broader successes of The Walt Disney Company. Again, the character universe is strong and broad, with a hero or heroine to appeal to everyone.
Even looking at classic Disney icons like Mickey & Minnie Mouse, these classic characters continue to drive significant Plush toy sales each and every year. The classic Pixar movies like Toy Story have some ever-green appeal, and with a seemingly endless array of sequels Toy Story is set to be a classic toy brand for ever more. Pixar’s new releases are normally critically acclaimed and quite often unleash hit toy lines.
From media platforms to Monsters Inc/University toys, from Disney brand to Donald Duck and from Stormtroopers to Sven, The Walt Disney Company has developed over time into the primary global driver for licensed toys & games.
Do you need help to grow sales for your toy company? We help people from all around the world to sell more toys, both in their home markets and into export markets. For more information on how we do this, check out our services here: www.KidsBrandInsight.com/services
Have you listened to our Playing At Business podcast? We talk about selling toys & games, interview successful people from across the toy business & we look at key trends in the toy & game business: https://playingatbusiness.libsyn.com/