EM.TV to Sell Muppets to Jim Henson's Children for $89 Million

[sarah_yzma]

yes yes....Lizzie is EVERYWHERE! of course I haven't seen anything saturate the market for a month or so...it's spring in Oklahoma (as with most of us here) and that means one thing....tornados...we've had some the past three days....none near us, though.....

Sarah

so I don't see anything right now......but usually it's scooby doo...and wal-mart ads...THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!

and cars places....it's not normal to have so many car commercials.....

as for movie types, though, comedies get the most exposure here......usually

 

[Super Scooter]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooklahoma where the wind comes racing down the plain!

 

[Movies205]

Originally posted by frogboy4
The market must be very different where you are because we have been over saturated with Scooby Doo here well before the film came out. More so than Pooh. In fact, some of my Scooby-loving friends were turned off by the amount of exposure. Just funny how different locations have different perspectives, but you can't travel anywhere in San Francisco or Houston without seeing Scooby stuff. What I find cool is that they have gotten the original cast back for the sequel. I was sure they’d go with new, less expensive actors.

I find it weird how Treasure Planet is viewed as a bad film. It’s not Disney’s best, but I enjoyed it more than Atlantis, New Groove or Stitch. I guess the negative press came early for that film. Maybe they should bring the musical element back to their films.

I remember when Muppet Treasure Island was released and commercials in my market were very rare. Not even the E Entertainment channel ran the preview on their preview show. I found that kind of strange. But I am certain if Disney completely owned the Muppets, they’d get as much promotion as the Lizzie Maguire movie (which is a lot in this city). That’s what Henson really doesn’t have the ability to do. Hope that changes. The funding of projects and adequate promotion are the biggest hurdles for the Henson Company. They have no laurels to rest on these days. There needs to be some reinvention as far as marketing is concerned. I think things are on a good path right now. The Starbucks tie-in is very popular in my circles and is precisely the market they should go for.

REally, I haven't seen that much scooby doo, except when the movie came out naturally there was a ton of stuff but it died down a lot and now there a steady amount of toys and things & the new show airs regulary on Cartoon Network... I think the pooh craze was a lot worse...

 

[Chilly Down]

I still see a lot of Pooh stuff here in L.A. Disneyland just opened a new Pooh ride, and that's getting a lot of press. And I've seen no end of Scooby on TV and in merchandise; I think Warner's is pushing Scooby harder than anything else right now, in fact.

Luke, don't get me wrong--I would have LOVED a huge promotional push from Disney saying "the Muppets are back." But I see that what we're going to get now is a small rollout, and I'm trying to look at it in the best possible light. At least it won't be like, say, the Ninja Turtles (to go back a few years). They were EVERYWHERE for about 3 years and then one day...poof.

 

[frogboy4]

There's a lot of Pooh everywhere, but there's even more Scooby. The explosion must have started nearly 7 years ago with the opening of the WB store. Of course it's gone now, but the Scooby merchandise isn't. His face has graced the covers of a variety of food products including cereals, Scooby candy bars, Push Pops, frozen meals and much more. You can buy action figures of the whole cast and there are different versions made by different companies. They have Scooby board games, Scooby Clue, so many plushes that it's insane and all varieties of paper products.

I know this because I buy these things for a good friend of mine who adores Scooby. I'd say there's a bit more Scooby than Pooh. The main reason being that kids love it and there's an enormous adult market that does too. Adults who wouldn't be as interested in Pooh.

Anyway, I understand that different locations in the country cater to their markets, but if you are talking major US cities, Scooby and Pooh have both been prominent for a long time.

I’m sure if Disney or WB had gotten the Muppets, Muppet Push-Pops and Kermit Crunch cereal wouldn’t be too far behind! (Yes, I remember Crunchy Stars LOL). I’m actually glad that the Muppets have been more conservative on that front, but they do need more exposure and they’re now getting it. They just need a product to back it up. They need to get that darn Fox show on the air already.

 

[Chilly Down]

And it's not just merchandise (re Scooby). There's a new show, What's New Scooby Doo?, airing on both the Cartoon Network and the WB's kids lineup that's the best incarnation of the show in years. And Cartoon Network is also showing reruns of all the different Scooby shows both daily and in occasional block marathons. If AOLTW was going to treat the Muppets this well, I would have been more in favor of their buying the Muppets when they were interested in them 3 years ago. (I was unhappy with their handling of the Batman and Looney Tunes franchises at the time, so I spoke strongly against it.)

Nonetheless, I remember seeing a huge influx of Pooh stuff a few years back, with the Book of Pooh TV series, the Tigger Movie and this year's Piglet movie, and a lot of merchandise too. I'd say it hasn't completely gone away, just maybe slightly diminished from a few years ago.

At this point we're just splitting hairs...but they're fun hairs to split.

 

[ZootandDingo]

Originally posted by frogboy4
There's a lot of Pooh everywhere, but there's even more Scooby. The explosion must have started nearly 7 years ago with the opening of the WB store.

Actually the Scooby explosion started in 1997, shortly after Time Warner acquired Turner Entertainment (which in the process gave them Hanna-Barbera).

To Warner's credit, they did try to present all of the H-B characters together under a "Cartoon Network" brand before it became apparent that Scooby was very much in demand by either nostalgic grown-ups or kids catching the show anew on Cartoon Network.

The Studio Stores probably helped push the idea of Scooby licensed product elsewhere (which is something that was seen again in 2000 with the boom of Harry Potter merchandise). I might be a year off, but I believe it was in 1999 that Scooby had outsold all other Warner-owned properties. For the first time in the almost decade-long existance of Warner Bros. direct sales (catalog/stores), the top-selling character was a non-Looney Tune.

I'm not sure if the same marketing strategy would have applied if the company made a serious bid on Henson (especially since the U.S. stores were still open when Henson first went on the auction block from EM TV and Warner was a reported bidder), but I like to think as far as marketing, they would have done right by the Muppets.

 

[frogboy4]

Originally posted by ZootandDingo
Actually the Scooby explosion started in 1997, shortly after Time Warner acquired Turner Entertainment

Cool. Just as I originally stated, "The explosion must have started nearly 7 years ago with the opening of the WB store." The opening of the stores and the aquisition of Turner Entertaimnent happened around the same time. Starting in 1997 and continuing to 2003 would be about 6-7 years.

It's cool that Scooby outsold Luney Tunes characters. I miss the WB stores. They had some really cool stuff.

 

[Movies205]

Yeah I suspose your right Disney would give it the push, but let ease into it... First a show and then tons of toys.../

 

[Luke]

We still have WB stores over here, full of Tweety, Scooby and Harry Potter and Friends stuff. They're just as popular as the Disney stores. Pooh hasn't completely dissapeared here either but it's not promoted as much.

Yeah i knew Scooby would get a reaction here because thats exactly the marketing and promotion strategy that i would have liked Disney to have created for the Muppets. An initial major push, then a steady and continuous high profile presence with a big push every now and then. I don't see Scooby as over-saturated, yes there is a heck of a lot of product out there but it's only in certain stores and has been very well chosen, it's not like they've put the name on everything but the kitchen sink. The things i would consider oversaturated are Star Wars Ep 1 and Harry Potter which you could never avoid even if you wanted to.

Scooby is obviously very similar to the Muppets in that it's a very well recognised nostaglic brand which while keeping in touch with it's older style and viewers also seeks to re-energize itself for todays market. That's exactly what i would hope might develop for the Muppets and what they really needed. Admittedly though, Disney have more kids brands than WB and so i guess it might have been a case of the Muppets getting a big push, then hidden away for a year or so while the latest Buzz Lightyear movie got it's chance and then they bring the Muppets back - that would have been a slight downside with Disney which i always used to mention and i guess an upside of the Henson kids buyback (as well as it meaning they stay in the 'family') is that their focus will always be on the Muppet brand but yeah, a slightly more maturer Scooby style future would have been a great one for the Muppets and it's a shame the chance was missed. At least with the kids they still have the opportunity to do some great stuff, do the Fox show, try the edgier style they probably wouldn't have got the chance to do elsewhere - there are the big financial and promotional barriers to leap but at least they have the chance.