Harry Potter : The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon

The Harry Potter books are some of the bestselling books of all time. In this fascinating study, Susan Gunelius analyzes every aspect of the brand phenomenon that is Harry Potter. Delving into price wars, box office revenue, and brand values, amongst other things, this is the story of the most incredible brand success there has ever been and is the perfect case study for academics, professionals and students alike. Cover -1 Contents 7 Preface 11 Acknowledgements 13 Introduction: The Making of a Global Literary Phenomenon 15 Chapter 1 The Book that Lived 21 Unremarkable Beginnings 22 Harry Potter is Born 23 The Cinderella Story 24 Taking a Chance on Harry Potter 25 Serendipity Strikes a Third Time 26 Harry Potter Comes to America 28 An Introduction to Branding 29 Chapter 2 The Value of a Good Product: Setting the Stage for Marketing and Promotion 31 Start with a Product People Need 31 Harry Potter as a Marketable Product and Brand 32 The Competitive Environment 33 Building the Harry Potter Brand 37 Creating Customer Loyalty 39 Chapter 3 The Buzz Begins 43 It Started with a Good Product and a Cinderella Story 45 Creating Awareness and Driving Sales 46 Emotional Involvement Gives the Buzz Momentum 47 Harry Potter: A Cult Brand 48 The Buzz Builds 49 The Online Buzz 51 The Word-of-mouth Marketing Success of Harry Potter 52 Chapter 4 Harry Potter as a Powerful Product and Brand: An Education in Marketing and Promotion 56 Part 1 Creating the Brand 56 J.K. Rowling as Brand Guardian 56 Relationship Marketing 57 The Value of the Harry Potter Brand 58 Harry Potter as a Societal Brand 59 Part 2 Promoting the Brand 59 Pull Marketing 59 Word-of-mouth Marketing Drives Strategies and Tactics 61 Perpetual/Tease Marketing of Harry Potter 62 The Integrated Marketing Strategy of Harry Potter 64 What Can We Learn from the Marketing of the Harry Potter Brand? 66 Chapter 5 Harry Potter's Influence on Print Publishing 70 Risk Equals Reward 70 Release Dates and Midnight Parties 72 Breaking Records and Shaking Up the Bestseller List 73 Distribution and Logistics Challenges 74 Genre Changes, Brand Extensions and Packaging Strategies within the Literary Marketplace 76 Chapter 6 Harry Potter's Influence on Movies and Television 82 Bringing Harry Potter to the Big Screen 82 A New Harry Potter Buzz Begins with the Help of Perpetual and Tease Marketing 83 Maintaining Secrecy and Combating Piracy 90 Harry Potter on the Small Screen 91 Chapter 7 Harry Potter's Influence on Retail 94 Record-breaking Sales of the Harry Potter Series Drive Traffic and Revenue for Booksellers 94 Online Retailers: Price Discounting, Marketing Tie-ins and Distribution Strategies 95 Brick-and-mortar Booksellers: Price Discounting, Marketing Tie-ins and Promotional Events 98 New Legal Issues for Booksellers 101 Changes to the Brick-and-mortar Bookstore Footprint 101 Chapter 8 Harry Potter's Influence on Merchandising 106 The History and Power of Merchandising 106 Protecting the Harry Potter Brand from Overmerchandising 107 Merchandising Harry Potter 108 Audio Books, DVDs, Soundtracks and Video Games in the Merchandising and Brand Extension Mix 111 Unique Harry Potter Merchandising Efforts 113 Leave Them Wanting More 114 Chapter 9 Harry Potter's Influence Online 117 The Internet Drives Word-of-mouth Marketing 117 Fan Sites 118 Leveraging the Internet to Promote and Sell the Harry Potter Brand 120 Harry Potter Websites 122 Harry Potter Continues to Live Online 123 The Impact of Harry Potter on Viral and Social Media Marketing 124 Chapter 10 Harry Potter Becomes a Theme Park 127 The Idea for a Theme Park 127 Building a Harry Potter Theme Park 128 Retaining the Integrity of the Harry Potter Brand 128 The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Buzz Begins 129 Universal and Warner Bros Know How to Promote Movie and Character Themed Attractions 130 The Competitive Marketplace 131 Will The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Live Up to Fans' Expectations? 133 Chapter 11 Harry Potter's Global Business and Personal Impact 137 The Harry Potter Brand Has Far-reaching Effects for the Business World 137 The Personal Impact of Harry Potter through Its Global Appeal 139 The Social Impact of Harry Potter Grows Online 140 Superfans, Conventions and More Social Influences 140 The Future 143 Chapter 12 Predecessors to Harry Potter's Success: Who Else has Gotten it Right or Wrong? 146 Literary Case Studies 146 Graphic Novel and Comic Book Case Studies 159 Chapter 13 What is Next for Harry Potter and the World Affected by the Boy Who Lived? 164 The Return of Harry Potter 164 Harry Potter as the Pioneer Brand and the Likelihood of Similar Successes 166 Late Entrant Strategies 167 Potential Market Followers and Market Challengers 169 Matching the Success of Harry Potter 175 Chasing, Catching and Surpassing the Success of Harry Potter 176 Chapter 14 Conclusion: Recreating a Literary Phenomenon 181 Bibliography 184 Index 201 A 201 B 201 C 203 D 203 E 204 F 204 G 204 H 204 I 207 J 208 K 208 L 208 M 208 N 210 O 210 P 210 Q 211 R 211 S 212 T 213 U 213 V 213 W 214 X 214 Y 214 "The Harry Potter books are the biggest sellers of all time, making J.K. Rowling the highest earning author in literary history. The story of J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, and Scholastic has created a publishing legend and an iconic brand. Why did Harry Potter become so successful? What is the appeal? What are the distinct features of Harry Potter that make up the brand? Why did customers queue at midnight to buy the books? In this new book, Susan Gunelius analyzes every aspect of the brand phenomenon that is Harry Potter. Delving into price wars, secret locations for stock, box office revenues, merchandising, the social web, word-of-mouth and perpetual marketing, brand values, and the forthcoming Harry Potter theme park, this is not just the story of the most incredible brand success there has ever been but also an investigation of whether or not the unprecedented success of Harry Potter can be duplicated"--Jacket Susan Gunelius analyses every aspect of the brand phenomenon that is Harry Potter. Delving into price wars, box office revenue and brand values, amongst other things, this is the story of the most incredible brand success there has ever been Examines the many aspects of the Harry Potter brand. This book also explores the price wars, box office revenue, and, brand values of items related to 'Harry Potter'.