Advertising

[CHEWIE]

Do you guys think that Hasbro advertises the Star Wars line enough?

I don't watch the kiddie channels, so I don't know if they have many toy commericals for the ROTS line.  But I do remember seeing all kinds of commercials for the line back in the day when I was a kid in the early 80s.

Of course now there are a billion things that kids are interested in too besides Star Wars...

The line seems to do pretty well as it is, and I think this has been the most popular Star Wars summer since 1983... but should they advertise more?  Will they do so when the ROTS line dies out?

With the supposed TV series coming out, maybe we'll see some commercials to coincide with the series?

What about magazine ads?  Or other forms of media?  We see a ton of it online of course.

What do you guys think?

 

[DoctorPadawan]

Ironically, the only advertisements I've seen in magazines in recent years were for the Unleashed line.  It seems like every wave of figures had an advert (sometimes more than one per wave), and they were usually well-done too. 

I know that there was a basic figure ad back before 04/02 that showed a silhouette of the 12 Collection 1 figures with the release date at the bottom, but other than that, I think it's been since the "Watch Those Hands" POTJ 25th Anniversary ad that I've seen a basic figure ad.  Sad too, as I always used to get really excited when they would show the commercials for the ROTJ toys on Saturday morning cartoons.

Of course that was back when there was such a thing as Saturday morning cartoons.   

[speedermike]

Hasbro ran a few magazine adds during the second part of Saga.  But it was odd because the adds were in toy collector magazines (Tomarts, Toy Fare), and I thought that the SW line was for kids...

[Jesse James]

Advertising toylines is supposedly less effective, or so the story goes...  I think it's something good for magazines...  On TV it's tougher.  Adults collecting or wanting to collect generally get into it on their own...  Targeting kids is tough because a lot of stations aren't always willing to air "toy commercials" on their channel (MTV for instance)... 

I know I don't see SW advertised much of anywhere though.

[Brian]

Aside from some commercials for the Darth Vader Voice Helmet (and lightsabers), and some LEGO stuff, I haven't really seen any ads on TV for quite some time.  There might have been a couple right towards the beginning of the ROTS hype, but those two above are the ones I remember best.  I haven't seen anything on TV for a long time now though.

I've seen a few more print ads, but they've been in Star Wars Insider...so take that for what its worth.  I remember the numerous Unleashed ads (those seem to be the most common), and a few others here and there.  During "Saga", I remember the blue coat/brown coat Hoth Han ad, and a few other for figures during that timeframe I think.  I also remember there being an ad for VOTC Han, having him "blast" his way out of the package...since he had so much articulation apparently .  Overall, I've seen more of the print ads, but I think they've always been in Insider, so I don't know if they show up anywhere else.  I would say, for the most part, if you're reading Insider...you already know about these figures coming out .

[Darth_Anton]

I don't know about the whole advertising deal. I know they have run TV commercial adds for the modern line, but I don't know if it's even necsesary at all since they have a built in audience. I'd be curious to see how Hasbro would respond to this question, because they can't say the don't advertised because of a built in audience,  that would conradict their claim that the line is mainly purchased by kids.

[ruiner]

Advertising toylines is supposedly less effective, or so the story goes... I think it's something good for magazines... On TV it's tougher. Adults collecting or wanting to collect generally get into it on their own... Targeting kids is tough because a lot of stations aren't always willing to air "toy commercials" on their channel (MTV for instance)...

I know I don't see SW advertised much of anywhere though.

For "kiddie" toys, TV is the way to go.  Especially if the toy does not showcase well in the box (in regards to features).

Collector based lines are usually best advertised via print and websites.

[Nathan]

I distinctly remember TV commercials for the POTF2 line running during kiddie shows.

[Jesse James]

Hasbro claims they are "Kiddie Toys" though so it would be an interesting question to pose to Hasbro like was mentioned...  The thing is, advertising toylines is getting less favorable opinion within the industry.  Girls lines are supposedly still easy to push but boys migrating to video games has lessened the effectiveness of advertising toylines (kiddie or otherwise).

I only hear of SW getting press on Cartoon Network these days...  Not much else, and I haven't seen many commercials since 1995, though I don't watch the network much either.  Advertising's influence is supposedly down though (among toys), so seeing it cut somewhat for Star Wars makes sense if that's the case... 

Why advertise a toy line kids couldn't keep up with anyway though, right?

[DoctorPadawan]

I actually rewatched one of my favorite "Simpsons" episodes on DVD last night ("The Front" from Season 4) and one of the little digs at "Best Writing in an Animated Series" caused me to crack up considering this thread.

For those of you who haven't seen it, the premise is that Lisa and Bart write an "Itchy and Scratchy" episode but put Grandpa's name on it to get it accepted (which leads to Grandpa's immortal line, "I did the Iggy!").  The episode ("Little Barbershop of Horrors") gets nominated for an award, and one of the cartoons it competes against is from the "Action Figure Man" cartoon series, specifically the "How to Buy Action Figure Man" episode.   

Anyway, when I saw that, I realized that a lot of times, the best advertisement for a toy line is a cartoon or a movie to tie it into.  I mean, honestly, the GI Joe cartoon was basically a big toy commercial and the real stories were in the comic book. 

I guess what I'm saying is that with the downswing in cartoons these days (as I said earlier, do they even have cartoons on Saturday mornings anymore?), and the upswing in video games, not as many kids are watching to see any commercials nowadays.  The majority of stuff I've seen in the last ten years has been print-oriented, so I wonder if the fact that there are/were new SW films led to the backing off on TV ads.

[Rob]

I don't know what the frequency of the airtime is, but we work on commercials for Hasbro 2 or so times a year.  They'll usually shoot anywhere from 2 to 4 commercials at a time.

Last time around it was one for ROTS toys, one for Force Battlers, and one for the Lightsabers.

The time before that it was one for the OTC, one for the Vader Helmet, and one for Lightsabers.

[Jesse James]

Do they do basic commercials much Rob?  Funny about it being for the sabers or helmet...  That kinda stuff is interesting.

Once again it makes it funny that those are obviously more geared to kids, but if they don't do basic fig commercials then how much water does their "This is a kid's toy line!" bs actually hold ya know?    Perfect question for Matt to shove up their ass the next time he gets a chance.

[CorranHorn]

Just to add to this, I can't recall the last time I saw a commercial for any action figure based toy line, not just Star Wars. The majority of toy commercials I'll see nowadays either focus on dolls for girls or electronic based toys. Much like Dr. Padawan said, there was a time when every cartoon was a commercial for a toyline and in the 80's that was the height of action figure based toy lines, just a quick summary of the ones I remember throughout the decade of decadence...

* Star Wars
* GI Joe
* Transformers
* MASK
* He-Man
* Centurions
* Starcom
* Thundercats
* Voltron
* TMNT
* Silverhawks
* Visionaries
* Jayce and the Warriors
* Captain Power

And that's just off the top of my head and I believe all had a cartoon tie-in to them. What I'm getting at is that I believe toy companies may reluctantly accept the fact that the usage of toys has dropped considerably and aren't willing to do the advertising that they once were. I don't know maybe it's just me being a bitter old man.

[dafoo]

Looking at Cartoons these days is sad.  Sure the 80's ones were just long commercials, but I loved them.

I watched cartoons with my nephew yesterday,  TMNT is still around, but generally they are all dark and accultish cartoons now.  Everyone is a wizard or warlock and they do all these dark things.  I don't know, it just felt wrong.

Besides that, I think my nephew doesn't have an imagination and thus doesn't care a lick about action figures. I've noticed this about everyone of his friends too; scary.