A quarter of a century following the release of the first book, Harry Potter continues to invade playgrounds, birthdays and Christmas gift lists. Thanks to strategic marketing and via a renewal of derivative products, the brand still appeals to children and their parents.
In June 1997, a certain “Harry Potter at the Sorcerer’s Stone” was released, a novel printed in only 500 copies by a then unknown author, JKRowling. The success is fast and it is translated into French a year later. This is followed by “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and five other adventures with growing success, gradually released in 80 languages. The seven books have so far sold more than 500 million copies across 200 countries.
Four years following the first book comes out the first film: the public is immediately at the rendezvous. In the end, eight films blew up global box offices, generating 7.7 billion in revenue, including 1.34 billion for the last feature film alone, the second part of “Deathly Hallows”.
The years have passed, but 25 years following the release of the first book and 20 years following the success of the first movie, the fervor doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Many birthdays in the 9-11 age group always give pride of place to Harry Potter. And sales of plates, glasses, sweets and other accessories bearing the image of the bespectacled wizard are increasing.
With Christmas approaching, sales of books and films are on the rise once more and derivative products are increasingly filling the displays, with new products each year intended to keep the magic intact. “Just the name Harry Potter activates sales,” explains RTSinfo Anna Morier-Genoud, bookseller at Payot in Lausanne. This specifies that the sales of books do not settle despite the years, with even a revival during confinement and following. “And we always have a nice place for Harry Potter at Christmas, because we know it’s a safe bet.”
A mysterious imagination that attracts
But why such fervor? “This world is complex and very often elusive. Although we have turned to science, I think that we have all kept at the bottom of our hearts a certain attraction for magic”, explained JKRowling in the documentary “Harry Potter: Origins magic”, released in 2019. And this is one of the reasons often given to explain this uninterrupted triumph in 25 years: to get out of a monotonous daily life, nothing like a little magic, a dream , supernatural. In other words, we try to leave the unappealing world of “muggles” to enter the mysterious imagination of wizards.
Many other factors are put forward by specialists and in the first place the fact that this saga speaks to everyone, children, adolescents and adults, regardless of gender. The narration is rhythmic and full of twists and turns, easy to follow for little ones without being boring for older ones.
Hermione, Harry et Ron. [Warner Bros / Collection Christophel – afp]
And JKRowling has nurtured his story by distilling a host of successful ingredients into his literary cauldron: a school with an unreal atmosphere, magical objects (cloak of invisibility, marauder’s map, golden snitch, etc.) , fantastic animals, incongruous lessons taught by wacky professors, good guys and bad guys, ambiguous characters and a super villain, the deaths of prominent characters. But also and above all a story of friendship between three children with different characteristics, with whom each can more or less identify.
From school year to school year, the heroes grow with their readers in a story that evolves from a nice children’s tale to darker confrontations. As adults, early fans read these stories they loved to their children and the cycle begins once more, between nostalgia and immersion in a familiar world. “Harry Potter is a whole universe that does not stop at books. We have a Harry Potter community, passionate teenagers who know everything regarding everything come with their scarves and accessories, because they collect the different editions of the books “, explains Anne Morier-Genoud.
A kick in children’s literature
Harry Potter thus dynamited children’s literature, which sometimes struggled to move from somewhat silly books for children to more complicated novels for adults. And the saga opened the way to success for a host of other books for teenagers, like La Quête d’Ewilan or Hunger Games, titles which however never exceeded the master.
Certainly, since the last movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2”, fans have not had much to put in their mouths, if not a play telling the story of what happens to Harry, Ron and Hermione as adults and a spin-off series, “Fantastic Beasts”, which never had the same aura.
Some have also long dreamed of seeing the magical world of Harry play the phoenixes in a new spin-off series, but nothing concrete has yet emerged. The boss of Warner, who owns the rights to the saga with its author, however made the community shudder by announcing recently that his company was going to refocus on its franchises: “I would like to see if we can do something with JK on the future of Harry Potter.”
Dumbledore’s office at Harry Potter Studios in London. [Bertrand Rieger / Hemis – afp]
While waiting for a possible sequel, Warner is banking on a well-honed communication and marketing strategy to perpetuate the magic of Hogwarts, but also to bring in a lot of money. Every year a wide variety of new products, experiences in the magical world, sightseeing tours, escape games or witchcraft courses are brought to market. It is even possible to practice Quidditch for real and to follow online lessons like at Hogwarts, or almost…
Theme parks have also been opened to recreate the Harry Potter universe, notably in Florida and Japan. Shops dedicated solely to this world are also springing up everywhere, while websites bring together fans in large numbers. And the London studios presenting the sets of the saga still see thousands of visitors jostling each day today. Beyond books and films, the HP brand has become a real tourist bonanza for the British capital.
Derivative products constantly renewed
The young wizard and his friends are also at the originCluedo Harry Potter version. [Franz Carl Weber]gine of an incalculable number of derivative products which trigger insatiable surges of collection among fans and which are constantly renewed, starting with the figurines of the characters and the magic wands, but also clothes, hats, pens, puzzles, games diverted classic videos or games (Cluedo, Dobble, Trivial Poursuite).
Large retailers have understood this and place these products prominently, especially at the time of end-of-year gifts. “The assortment of Harry Potter items has never been greater than this year (…) For the third year in a row, we have made Harry Potter one of the main themes of our toy department and it will be until Christmas,” says Sandra Känzig, communication manager at Manor. Coop also says it is “very satisfied” with the interest in HP products, with demand “high and steady which has increased slightly once more in recent years”.
And this strategy of expanding the supply seems to have no limits. Bookstores now offer cookbooks on food at Hogwarts, as well as an official treatise on magic wands and the manual for becoming The Hedwig owl that hoots when you touch its beak is one of the hits of the moment in toy stores. [Franz Carl Weber]the best Quidditch player. The children also howl with laughter while tasting the well-known candies of the fans, such as chocolate frogs or especially Bertie Crochue’s surprise dragees, small candies with a taste of sausage, dust or vomit.
“The Harry Potter phenomenon has developed a lot in recent years in derivative products”, confirms Jacques Reinhard, sales director at Franz Carl Weber. “All of the major manufacturers that own licenses have mostly ridden the wave of HP success.”
This is particularly the case of the Lego brand, which has long been associated with the universe created by JKRowling and whose toys sell for exorbitant prices. While most can be acquired for 50 to 100 francs, you have to shell out more than 500 francs for Hogwarts castle or the Hogwarts Express. The HP brand thus represents 4% of Lego sales at Franz Carl Weber and nearly 2% of the group’s total turnover.
Without giving figures, Migros also confirms that if the market is “very changeable” and depends on the years, sales are on the rise. As Christmas approaches, the stuffed Hedwig owl and larger, more expensive Legos are popular.
The famous Hogwarts Express in lego, a total of 5129 pieces sold for more than 540 francs. [lego.com]
Magdalene by Proust
This spring, the British site Money.co.uk tried to compare the cumulative cost of various merchandise, including a box set, a costume and a figurine, from around 40 film sagas on eBay to determine which one sees fans spending the most. And Harry Potter came out on top with a total exceeding 530 francs.
Warner’s strategy thus works for big fans, but also for amateurs of all kinds, who certainly spend a little less. “We try to immerse the consumer in his childhood with a kind of Proust madeleine”, summed up marketing professor Alain De Crop recently on RTBF. “It’s a technique to encourage him to discover or rediscover his brands (…) Consumers often realize that they are being manipulated and yet it works. Because it undoubtedly corresponds to a somewhat regressive need to to dive back into childhood and to somehow rediscover the taste for carelessness.”
The communication-marketing machine of the owners of the Harry Potter brand therefore seems to be bearing fruit, making the wizard a transgenerational symbol and a particularly lucrative product. And it seems that this phenomenon is here to stay, that we will still be reading the adventures in 20 years, that we will still be watching the films in several decades and that we will continue for a long time to wear a sorcerer’s cape while tasting a few earthworm-scented sugared almonds.
Hogwarts Castle at Harry Potter Studios in London [AP Photo/Jonathan Short – Keystone]
Frédéric Boillat