Creative Alliances Attract Publishers
Karen R. August -- 3/16/98
TV and movie production, long-term licensing deals and co-marketing efforts present multiple opportunities
The link between the entertainment industry and children's books is growing stronger, as publishers look for ways beyond traditional licensing agreements to increase exposure for their own brands and tap into Hollywood's resources. But each publisher has its own strategy; some enter into long-term, multiproperty licensing arrangements, while others participate in television co-productions, launch new license-focused imprints and/or seek synergies with sister companies.
Both Scholastic and Penguin Putnam recently announced long-term deals with Hollywood studios that guarantee them a first look at many current and future properties. Scholastic's alliance with Warner Bros. gives the company access to children's and family properties for a variety of book formats. In 1998, Scholastic plans to release its first titles under the deal, beginning with The Quest for Camelot, an animated film, followed by Scooby Doo. The agreement expands upon a property-by-property relationship between the two companies that dates back to 1991. "We were sort of buying everything they did on the movie end of it," said Barbara Marcus, executive v-p at Scholastic. "We thought that by formalizing the relationship, it would give us a structure and a context."
Marcus, citing Scooby Doo as an example of a property that makes sense but probably would not have been licensed separately since it is not currently the focus of a full-line merchandising program, added, "It opens up interesting opportunities that wouldn't come up otherwise." Scholastic now talks with all Warner divisions, from Turner and the Cartoon Network to the WB television network and Warner's music arm, which gives the publisher insight into what every corporate division is planning for the future. This access would not be possible in a traditional licensing relationship.
The Penguin Putnam arrangement with DreamWorks covers all of the studio's upcoming animated feature films, starting with The Prince of Egypt for fourth quarter 1998, plus other properties on a case-by-case basis, including the film Small Soldiers this summer. (The company published tie-ins for DreamWorks' Amistad before this agreement was finalized.) According to Karen Lotz, president and publisher of Dutton Children's Books, several Penguin Putnam divisions will be involved in the program, including Grosset &Dunlap for Small Soldiers, and Dutton and Puffin for most of the animated films. Unlike the Scholastic-Warner alliance, which calls for titles to be marketed under various Scholastic imprints, the DreamWorks tie-ins will be marketed under the DreamWorks Publishing banner and will have their own catalogue. "There's a lot of flow of information back and forth between us," said Jon Anderson, deputy publisher for special projects at Penguin Putnam. "It's a very collaborative relationship."
Penguin Putnam (then the Putnam Berkley Group) was allied for a time with its former sister company Universal Studios, when both of them were owned by MCA. The difference between that relationship and the DreamWorks deal, according to Doug Whiteman, president of Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, is the promise of a dependable roster of content, both live action and animated. Putnam published tie-ins for most of the Steven Spielberg-directed animated films released by Universal, but there was little else available at the time. "What we have with DreamWorks is Spielberg and [Jeffrey] Katzenberg, the two titans in the field," said Whiteman. "We have an animated feature constantly on the horizon."
A recently renewed pact between Nickelodeon and two Simon &Schuster divisions is similar to the Scholastic and Putnam arrangements, except that both the parties fall under the same corporate umbrella. Over four years, the alliance has generated a total of 8.5 million Nickelodeon books. The extension will lead to hundreds of additional books based on Nickelodeon properties, including the Rugrats feature film later this year.
New Imprints, New Focus
Meanwhile, two publishers with corporate ties to entertainment studios recently launched imprints devoted to licensed titles, starting with S&S's Simon Spotlight, introduced in July 1997. Steven Chudney, director of product development and licensing for S&S Children's Publishing, estimated that about 60% of Simon Spotlight's list is based on licenses from the Viacom family, with Nickelodeon accounting for the majority. Non-Viacom-related properties include Nintendo, the Weather Channel and Rocky &Bullwinkle.
HarperCollins, a division of News Corp., recently introduced its first list under the HarperActive imprint, which includes books based on sister company properties such as Fox's Anastasia and Saban Entertainment's All New Captain Kangaroo (Saban is a partner in the Fox Kids Network). "The bulk of our distribution was to the trade marketplace," said Hope Innelli, v-p and editorial director of HarperActive. "A year ago, we thought it was time to branch out into other distribution channels. We wanted to target kids who read a little but are more in the worlds of TV or movies." She noted that various News Corp. companies were simultaneously increasing their output of children's properties with the launch of a new animation studio, the purchase of the Family Channel, and the alliance with producer Saban.
Another link with the entertainment industry comes from publishers' growing involvement in TV production. Random House, for example, created The Crayon Box book series with the idea that it would extend into other media. "TV production involves much more money than publishing is traditionally used to," said Kate Klimo, publishing director at Random House Children's Publishing, noting that it made sense to partner with PolyGram in a joint venture.
"In the traditional and nontraditional children's book business, we have sort of achieved maximum potency," said Klimo, noting that Random House must consequently look for growth in related businesses. "The entertainment business is a natural since there is so much cross-pollination now between entertainment and books."
Golden Books Family Entertainment has also become more involved in TV production, in part through its acquisition of the Broadway Video library, which includes properties such as Lassie and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Golden also co-produces a new Shari Lewis show, The Charlie Horse Music Pizza, for which it will market books and videos and seek product licensees. And the company plans to market videos and licensed products for some of the characters from its classic Golden Books library, starting with Pat the Bunny and The Poky Little Puppy in 1998.
Leigh Anne Brodsky, v-p of marketing, Golden Books Family Entertainment, pointed out that with new entertainment vehicles, "We have the ability to get our brand out there in new venues. Most publishers don't have all those opportunities to expose and re-enforce their brand."
Scholastic's latest foray into TV production, after successes with Goosebumps and The Magic School Bus, is a live-action series based on K.A. Applegate's Animorphs series. Produced by Scholastic Productions, the show will begin to air on Nickelodeon in the fall. TV offers "an incredible amount of awareness for the Animorphs property," Marcus said. "There are more viewers of television and they naturally find the books." She emphasized, however, that books remain a priority for Scholastic. "We create our series because there's great content and solid publishing," she said. "Not always d s great book content make great television."
Increasing Flexibility
In some cases, the link between entertainment and publishing is solidified simply through corporate synergies that present themselves, rather than through contracted arrangements. Chudney noted that while S&S has a formal licensing deal with Nickelodeon, its relationship with sister company Viacom Consumer Products is more informal. Viacom gives the publisher a first look at new properties, which S&S then evaluates on a case-by-case basis, saying yes to some, such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and passing on others, such as Fairy Tale: A True Story.
"We definitely have a heads-up on what's coming down the pike," said Nancy Pines, v-p and publisher of Pocket Books' Archway and Minstrel imprints. She estimated that between 25% and 30% of her total list is related in some way to the Viacom family. Pam Newton, v-p marketing, Viacom Consumer Products, added, "[A close relationship] makes the process go that much smoother. They support our properties and will do right by them." HarperActive's relationship with Fox and other News Corp. divisions is similarly informal, according to Innelli. "We're their first choice for some properties but not others and vice versa. We do what is right for our respective businesses," she said.
One of the most visible results of the ever-growing relationship between publishing and entertainment -- no matter how that link is forged -- is the increasing number of co-marketing ventures involving entertainment companies, publishers and licensees. For example, with Anastasia, representatives from various News Corporation divisions met on a monthly basis to brainstorm ideas and create marketing partnerships. According to Andrea Pappenheimer, v-p and director of sales and marketing for HarperCollins Children's Books, the publisher worked with Fox's marketing, home video and licensing and merchandising divisions, as well as with licensees, to create joint marketing efforts such as a national sweepstakes sponsored by Fox, retail presentations and events for store managers that promoted the film and the books, cooperative advertising, and cross-promotions.
A Pocket Books sweepstakes, "The Ultimate Clueless Slumber Party," is another example of a collaborative marketing program. The grand prize is a trip to Beverly Hills for the winner and three friends for three days. The UPN network, which airs the show and is part of the Viacom family, is donating $500,000 in free advertising.
The increased bond between entertainment and publishing d s not necessarily indicate that more tie-in titles will be published, nor d s it guarantee they will be successful. Synergistic efforts such as Rugrats are cited by booksellers as strong performers, but other tie-ins have fared poorly, due to too many titles, low quality, the failure of the property on which they were based, or other factors.
"We are taking a conservative position," said Lotz of the DreamWorks imprint, noting that just nine or 10 books are planned for The Prince of Egypt. "We feel the movie tie-in area has been overpublished." (Other companies, such as Disney, are following a similar path.)
Still, these studio alliances are attractive to publishers in that they offer access to a steady stream of properties -- including some that have been undermarketed -- and give them a strategic advantage over their competition in the event that one of their partners' movies or television programs becomes a blockbuster.
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