PLAYDIGM Entertainment Licensing & Branding

Every Halloween I keep a tally of the different costumes I see at Helloween parties I attend and trick or treaters on the streets. Kind of a personal general brand popularity poll.

Last night at the new Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver there were almost 150 people at the costume party.  You can tell which brands are doing well by how many people wear the same or similar costume.

The ranking of the Halloween Party Brand Poll :

5) Angels and Fairies with wings on their backs.  Hard to pin point which brand they were promoting but one thing for sure, the ladies in these costumes definitely had halos.

4) Older Advertisement  characters – Tony the Tiger, Count Chocula, old school brands.  Since this crowd was above 30 you could expect some unexpected historical references that still appear now and then in culture.

3) Zombies & Vampires – lots of them.  Problem here is which movie/show/brand are they portraying?  When asked there were a few Twilight characters.

2) Sultans, princes, lords and ladies from the Medieval Ages.  Again, hard to pin-point which character or brand these costumed partiers were portraying.

1) …and the most popular costume of the night was – Pirates.  All seemed to want to be Jack Sparrow or some other cut throat scury dog.

I am not sure where all the Batman, Spiderman, or other comic characters were (guess they were at another party).  I was surprised at how few international branded characters were in attendance.  Or how few television based characters there were.

All in all – everyone had fun and that’s really what All Hallow’s Eve is about. Be safe and make sure you check out what others are wearing.  Brand popularity can be calculated by mindshare, which is observed in what people dress up as.  This may not be an exact science but ask anyone wearing a costume why they chose the one they have on and their response will usually be that they like the character or brand. If they say they don’t know, the brand has been subliminally imprinted. This simple study is done while having fun!

Have a great Helloween!!!

Sandford Tuey

The other day one of my writing partners and I were talking about old brands and what makes a great name for a character.  The obvious thing is to ensure that it is catchy and memorable.  G.I Joe, Major Matt Mason, Barbie all had to use repetition to become well known.

While other names of products leveraged popular icons of the day – Davey Crockett, Apollo (models, toys and films), most comic properties like X-Men, Spiderman, Batman, Hulk, etc…

So to gain awareness of your project you can either a) advertise a lot and/or get your characters/products in front of large audiences via a tv show or movie;   b) license an already popular and well known name like Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Bob Marley, Halo, etc to get instant fan recognition.

Either way costs money and developing a brand from scratch can get expensive real quick.  Unless you luck out with a video that goes viral or you obtain an endorsement from a major celebrity or other well known entity, expect to invest huge amounts of money and time before everyone knows your character’s or product’s name.

According to Dictionary.com a brand is -

Jon Stewart -The Daily Show and  Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report announced dueling rallies in Washington. DC for October 30, 2010.

They estimated in their permit application to have 25,000 people for Stewart’s ‘Rally to Restore Sanity’ and Colbert’s  ‘March to Keep Fear Alive’.

These two comedians are faux political enemies in this satire mocking the real rhetoric of TV news and internet bloggers. This is a great propaganda tool to further brand both hosts and their comedy shows.

These satirical late night programs try to lighten up the U.S. political process and just make people laugh.  Believe me, they do a wonderful job and are considered the most influential fake reporters/comedians.  Both their audiences are directed at the college crowd and those that know a good joke when they hear it.

Branding could not get funnier and I will be watching their shows.  Which is a perfect way to end the week day (Monday to Thursday 10pm on Comedy Network).

Here are what I consider to be the best entertainment brands.

1)Pixar = Toy Story/The Incredibles all the other animated films.

2)Marvel = Spiderman/Fantastic Four/Hulk/X Men/Avengers.

3) Disney = Mickey Mouse/Aladin and many others.

4) DC Comics = Batman/Justice League/Superman

5) Platinum = Men In Black = Will Smith – how can you not like it?

6) Robert Ludlum = (The Bourne Series and other novels).

7) Stephen King = Just the volume of brands he created is amazing.

Universal Studios = Back to the Future/Jurassic Park/etc.

9) Spielberg = Indiana Jones/ET/Jaws/

10) Lucas Entertainment = Star Wars

These are the brands I like and were not based on revenue or other reasons. I did not place Galactic Gladiators or any other of my own Brands on the list.

Which are your top ten entertainment brands?

Better reserve your personal name on Facebook, My Space, Twitter and as many other social networks as you can.  If you haven’t registered a domain using your name, you better do it fast.  Why?

First, it makes it easier for your family and friends to locate you online.  It also is a way to establish a beach-head for your presence online.

Second, branding is big business and becoming even a semi-celebrity can make you money.  The more famous you become the more money you can earn.  The internet is able to generate revenue for you – just by being you.

Third, the more you cross pollinate the social media’s, the faster people will become aware you exist.  So start making a presence online as soon as possible if you intend to sell something internationally (services or products).

If you are lucky like me that there is only one person on this planet with your name, it makes it easier to stand out from the billions of others online.  However, when you are like Stephen King, you need to do something to establish yourself from the other Kings of the world.

Social media is one method to get the world’s attention and keep it.

I have located a couple publishers that can print graphic novels (one at a time or in large amounts) for a reasonable price.  The next step is to raise the funds to complete the graphic novel, which is three-quarters finished.  The end is written and Scott Lee is willing to do the artwork but we still need to have the funds for the colorist and lettering people – then of course the print run.

Normally, Diamond (the distributor for Marvel, Image, Darkhorse and DC Comics) requires an advertisement in their Previews magazine so that our product will be included in the order form inside.  It is advisable to run the full color ad a few months in a row to get the retail store owners to be aware of the Galactic Gladiator’s graphic novel.

So if you would like to help launch the GG graphic novel by donating or investing contact admin@Playdigm.com.

If you just want to show your support in this fresh and unique story, characters and anti-war story wrapped within an intergalactic war, let us know by going to the Galactic Gladiators facebook page and leaving a comment on the wall.  Either way, we appreciate your support and interest.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Galactic-Gladiators/139310256105856?ref=ts

Cheers!!

Okay – been very busy redesigning the new Galactic Gladiators website and adding a Facebook page.  You can check out FB by searching Galactic Gladiators once you are logged into Facebook, but be sure to go to the Official page (Tessa is on the cover of GG issue 2) = the profile photo.

Setting up contracts for Finders Fee agreements for those interested in raising money for the graphic novel and film project.  Get a piece of this excellent entertainment project and brand.

Send email to admin@Playdigm.com and put ‘Finder’ in the subject line.  I will send you more info.  Scott Lee is ready to start the artwork!

Cheers!

Vancouver, BC, CANADA July 1, 2010 — Playdigm Entertainment has provided entertainment content for multiple formats since 1985 and continues to create new properties, as well as, develop their original brands.

GALACTIC GLADIATORS, originally released as a comic series distributed by Diamond Comics (distributor for Marvel Comics, Image, Darkhorse, Top Cow, DC Entertainment), is now being developed into a graphic novel.  For further information on this stage of the project contact admin@Playdigm. com.

The GALACTIC GLADIATORS screenplay is being written by Sandford Tuey, (the creator of the brand) with input from  the original team.  As soon as the second draft of the screenplay is completed, directors and producers will be approached. This highly charged action adventure leads Tessa, an animal rights, environmental activist to quit her dream, only to be abducted and forced to join a coalition of aliens and mutating humans to save our entire planet from an evil extraterrestrial species or our galaxy will be destroyed.

For more information on this project:  Contact Sandford Tuey admin@Playdigm.com.

Join a franchise in the making!