Beau Peep Notice Board
Beau Peep Notice Board => Outpourings => Topic started by: Malc on December 20, 2009, 06:56:44 AM
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Recent correspondence with Peeps prompted me to think of Beau Peep merchandise and how it (and therefore the strip) might be further promoted.
Many people think that Peanuts was some kind of overnight success, but in fact it was quite a slow burn and the merchandising part of it came relatively late. When it took off, it was huge, in fact the Peanuts estate owes more than 85% of its worth to the swag boom of the late 70s and 80s. Money generated to Charles Schulz from newspaper sales of the strip itself was comparatively tiny, given that the syndicate took (and still takes) 50% at source.
One of the big boosts Peanuts got was the pop hit Snoopy And The Red Baron by the band The Royal Guardsmen. Wiki reports that the single was released a mere few weeks after Snoopy's Red Baron-themed strips hit the papers, which surprised me.
What surprised me even more is that Schulz and the syndicate SUED the band for the rights to the money generated by the song, and WON!
Anyway, back to Beau Peep: I would think that the best and simplest way to promote BP is to send a few t-shirts to notable TV performers who have regular comedy gigs, such as the cast if HIGNFY or Never Mind The Bollocks, and similar shows. I think it would be perfectly ok to send an accompanying letter explaining that there's no agenda other than to have leading British comedy performers promote a leading British cartoon character and that we'd appreciate it if they would wear a Beau t-shirt next time they're on TV? We might offer a warning that other comedy performers are being sent Beau Peep t-shirts too, so perhaps a phone call to fellow performers prior to taping might be advised to make sure they don't all wear the shirt on the same day.
Or maybe that would be a good thing.
Just a thought.
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We'd need to print some more I think. T-shirts stocks are low.
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Malc, I really doubt that anyone connected with the programmes you mention would be willing to advertise a Daily Star strip. Beau Peep has always been, and will continue to be, a strip with a limited but loyal following. As we've discussed before, it really doesn't lend itself to merchandising. Let's face it, the strip has been around for over thirty years and, even when the books were selling well and The Star was giving it lots of publicity, it never attracted any interest from merchandising outlets. (There were one or two exceptions like the Beau Peep fruit machine you saw in my office). I don't have a problem with this as I never set out to conquer the world---my only aim was to write a strip that appeared in the British press. I didn't for a second believe that it would last this ridiculous amount of years. All this reminds me of the famous George Burns' quote as he approached his 100th birthday. "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have looked after myself".
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That's all understood, Roger, what I'm on about is flicking the magic switch that converts a humble, unassuming item into a national institution.
Overtly merchandising BP is exactly NOT what I'm proposing, it's not appropriate and it would have the exact opposite effect I'm after. However, the right person wearing a Beau Peep t-shirt on the right TV show?- Bingo, we're in. If you were an inveterate self-promoter, many years ago you could have asked Malky McCormick to ask Billy Connolly to wear a Beau Peep t-shirt on Parkinson, or Francis Rossi of Staus Quo could have worn a BP t-shirt when Quo opened the Live Aid concert but I only use those as extreme examples.
Alternatively, Beau Peep only needs to be mentioned once on Radio 4 (a quiz category would be fine) and the wagon is rolling.
I just realised that I placed this thread in the wrong section.
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Maybe Victoria Beckham should wear one.
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NOW you're talking. Tell her it's from Versace's latest collection. Do we have them in kids sizes?
If not, tell her that's the size they're wearing them in Milan. Not AC, the whole city.
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What about Bankers? They need some good PR at the moment, so they should relaunch this advertising campaign.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk284/nomad2010/misc/scan0015.jpg)
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I'd no idea Roger had crystal balls.
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There WAS a bit of clinking as he walked to get the soup... :\
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;D