Penguin’s Damian Treece reports back on a special Snowman Christmas campaign in Tokyo.
Japan, more specifically Tokyo, has long been a place that left an indelible mark on my working life.
My first trip to Tokyo in 2007 was something of a whirlwind, following fast on the heels of Sports Direct’s acquisition of the Everlast brand and I was subsequently dispatched to visit eight countries over a three week period. In a fugue state of airports, hotels and meeting rooms, Tokyo stood out with its vibrancy and professional, respectful culture. Luckily, this latest trip has been concentrated on Tokyo and, more specifically, the launch of the latest exhibition showcasing The Snowman.
The exhibition and respective Christmas campaign has been planned over a 12 month period including various meetings at Licensing Show and BLE, highlighting how useful both these shows are for international business and developing relationships. To activate a project of this scale and importance we’ve had to rely on having local knowledge and expertise.
To this end the project has been excellently managed by our local agent, Styling Life, with respective support from the UK by the teams at Copyright, Snowman Enterprises and Channel 4. A real team effort.
Taking up residence in the Matsuya Ginza department store, the exhibition itself runs through the Christmas period and includes original 1978 book artwork from Raymond Briggs, animation cels, first edition picture books and historic licensed products.
There was also a section populated with original cels and materials from the 2012 sequel, The Snowman and The Snowdog.
To help launch the exhibition, in front of a throng of local television, radio and print journalists, Styling Life and Matsuya had secured the former sumo wrestler, Konishiki, to officially open the exhibition.
Although it was somewhat surreal to see The Snowman posing for the cameras with a man-mountain Sumo wrestler of Hawaiian ethnicity, this seemed like an intrinsically Japanese experience and something that would stand the exhibition in good stead.
Since 2011, Konishiki has been a tremendously active and high profile fund raiser for earthquake relief in Japan, as well as starting the Konishiki Kids Foundation. All in all, a fantastic positive ambassador for the brand.
An interesting fact is that the artwork has to be hung by high tensile strength wire due to earthquake safety regulations!
As with any exhibition, the old adage of ‘exit through the gift shop’ once again rings true. In the current climate of loud and visible media franchises, a brand with a long, nostalgic history such as The Snowman has to engage with fans and attract new partners in different ways.
This is where I feel that Styling Life have excelled as they have used this event as a shop window and tent pole event to attract new partners to work with The Snowman. This has been particularly successful across food and confectionery ranges.
The pop-up gift show included over 300 unique SKUs across a number of products from confectionery to publishing, through to a staple of Japanese licensing, towels and cushions. However, they have also imported product from incumbent UK licensees Thornton’s, Blueprint Collections and John Beswick collectibles.
However, in my eyes, there was one undoubted star of the show which was the exclusive exhibition collaboration plush developed by Sun Arrow.
Utilising two types of Liberty fabric and Harris Tweed to update the Snowman’s iconic hat and scarf, this unique execution was a wonderful edition to the products available.
The early visitor numbers have been strong through the first week of launch and we’re looking forward to reviewing the overall performance in the New Year. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
There was, of course, much more happening in Tokyo above and beyond this exhibition which I’ll wrap up via a second ‘postcard’ in the New Year.
Damian Treece is brand manager, licensing and IP at Penguin Random House.
