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.
