MKTG 404

BRAND MANAGEMENT

Brand Audit

Student ID: 35957588

Introduction

Harry Potter came into life in 1990, when J.K. Rowling first had the idea for it. The first book
was published in 1997 and appeared on the list of bestsellers. Since then, the Harry Potter brand
has not once looked back. The popularity of the books soared through the roofs all over the world.
In Oct. 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights for the first four books and released the first
Harry Potter movie in 2001 (Gunelius, 2008), which earned a whopping $974.71 million
worldwide only from ticket sales alone.
Nearly 20 years, it is still a common household name which hold different meaning for different
people. Consumers have made the brand their own through many ways including fanfictions,
theater plays, online blog sites, etc. J.K Rowling’s objective was not to create a global
phenomenon at the beginning, but everyone including the UK and US publishers, along with
Warner Bros. believed in the product and let the brand take its own course throughout the years.
After the first movie, J.K Rowling and Warner Bros. embedded Harry Potter into people’s mind
through a meticulously carried out, cautious and careful marketing plan.

Target Consumers and the community

Harry Potter was written keeping in mind children as its primary consumers, but after the first
publication, the novels took a life of their own and attracted huge amounts of adult readers. These
novels had the potential to hook even the most uninterested readers into the wizarding world and
the power to keep them there for a very long time. This is defined as the power of a ‘good product’
by Gunelius (2008). In a time when the ‘internet-acquainted’ children didn’t want to read old
books, Harry Potter brought teenage boys back into bookstores along with their parents (Brown,
Patterson, 2010).
Even before the first movie was released, Harry Potter fans had already made fan communities
and talked about it rigorously. During the late 90s when internet became more accessible, the
fans took to forums and blog sites to talk and speculate about the brand, providing Harry Potter
the status of a societal brand. A societal brand, as Gunelius (2008), describes in her book, is one
that not only fulfills a need but also creates a relationship that can be experienced among groups
of people within or across cultures. When the movie was released, it added fuel to the fire and

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the word-of-mouth marketing took off through online mediums. The internet became the center
of brand’s social network and tactics used to promote Harry Potter were focused on that
subculture. These brand communities unknowingly did most of the marketing for Harry Potter in
the early days. This ‘organic’ marketing resulted in fans lining up in front of the bookstores for
hours before the release of the new novels in fear of them getting sold out (Aquino, n.d). The
aura of mystery around the stories, helped in creating an emotional connect with the brand, thus
resulting in holding customer’s interest and gaining their loyalty. Susan Gunelius (2008) in her
book, mentions the three Ss of customer loyalty:
• Stability
• Sustainability
• Security

Harry Potter brand by sending out a consistent message throughout the years created a stability
around the brand, its business choices enhanced the brand message instead of confusing or
changing it. By announcing in the starting about the story to be a seven-part series, it provided
the customers a sense of relief that the brand is in a sense sustainable and is going to be with them
for a long time or for a specific amount of time with a clear end. Harry Potter is often described
by the readers as a comfort read, this peace of mind provides consumers with a feeling of security,
which in turn makes a consumer loyal to the brand.

Brand Identity

According to Aaker (1997), brand identity compromises of consistent, related elements which
makes the brand unique and valuable. It originates from the company, it is how a company seeks
to identify itself (Nandan, 2005, p. 265). Harry Potter
as a brand created its identity as the boy who defeated
evil with the power of good friendships and magic, as
‘the boy who lived’. According to Warner Bros. one
of their strategies to promote Harry Potter was to
“take people into Harry’s world, instead of putting
Harry into their world” (O’SHEA, 2018). They
resisted the urge to merchandise everything available
in the consumer market and controlled the brand narrative by providing limited access to the

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products as to not saturate the market. They maintained their brand identity by being consistent
with their brand message and by connecting with its consumers on an emotional level.
Warner Bros. came up with the logo for the brand which is used till date. The
logo incorporates the mystical feeling and the atmosphere surrounding it. The
most recognizable part of the logo is the lightning bolt scar, described in the
books which has since then become a symbol which people instantly relate to
Harry Potter.

Brand Communications

Warner Bros. adopted a carefully planned way of communicating the brand message to the
consumers. They made sure that the main crust of the stories and that of the characters is not lost
while promoting the brand to the masses. During early years, the marketing team didn’t have to
do much, as the anticipation of the new movies along with fan owned blogs, sites, fanfictions,
created the hype needed to push Harry Potter to the global phenomenon which it is today
(Gunelius, 2008). Warner Bros. first rejected the idea of the fan blogs and sites, but soon realized
the power of word-of-mouth promotion and let fans make their own narratives for the brand other
than the discovery, diachronic and denial narrative presented by Brown and Patterson (2010).
They also used perpetual and tease marketing to keep the buzz around the brand going and left
the audience wanting more.
Jumping on the band wagon of online forums and fan blogs etc., J.K Rowling founded an online
company named “Pottermore” (now: “wizarding world”) to answer fan questions and give
insights about the stories and upcoming movies. This initiative brought the frenzy to another level
by engaging consumers in two-way conversations about the wizarding world. Blattberg and
Deighton (1994), mention that while marketing on the web, the consumer becomes an active
participant, and a partner in the production, therefore motivating them via engaging activities like
q&a sessions, contests etc., is a key point (Reza Kiani, 1998). Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling
understood it well and incorporated this concept into their promotional efforts religiously. They
held quiz competitions, sorting hat events etc., in their merchandise stores and online on the
website.

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Merchandising

Buttle (1984) in his paper, presents

merchandising as the silent salesman. He
suggests that merchandising taps into the
impulse buying behavior of the consumers
and influences their decision at the point
sale. Warner Bros. keeping this in mind,
formulated a careful merchandise-based
marketing plan that went along for majority
of Harry Potter’s tenure. Their first initiative
in this direction was a promotional deal with Coco-Cola after the first movie, which according to
Wall Street journal (2001), was very unusual as it didn’t have “many traditional elements
associated with such promotional co-ventures”. Even after the later movies were released, they
did little to change their tactics. They maintained their “less is more” policy, creating
exclusiveness, by restricting the spread of merchandise everywhere.

Experiential Marketing

As the name suggests, Experiential marketing refers to marketing activities that focus on
consumers as rational, emotional human beings capable of experiences rather than price and
attribute driven information processors. Schmitt (1999) defines four characteristics of
experiential marketing:
• Customer experience
• Focus on consumption as a holistic experience
• Customers as rational and emotional animals
• Methods and tools used as eclectic

Schmitt believes that experiences provide sensory, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and
relational values that replace functional values and create a much deeper connection between the
brand and the consumer. As the consumer of the story grew up with Harry Potter, to tap into this
segment and into the area of experience and event marketing, Warner Bros. collaborated with

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 universal studios to open their Harry Potter
themed park in Orlando, US, and a studio tour
in London. They took experiential marketing to
its peak by indulging and inviting fans to their
wizarding world and making it an event.
Wohlfien and Whelan, (2005) mentions, that
personally “lived” experiences tend to be
stronger in determining consumers’ notion of
reality than the “second-hand” experiences
Theme Park, Orlando

traditionally communicated by advertising (Weinberg and Nickel 1998), According to them,

event-marketing is better equipped to anchor multi-sensual brand experiences in the world of
consumer feelings and experiences (Weinberg and Gröppel 1989). With this theme park,
consumption of Harry Potter’s story was turned to an experience which resulted in fans
multiplying manifolds.

Warner Bros. later took on SOOP branding approach for Harry Potter. This approach focuses on
the seemingly ‘superficial’ and takes
it seriously, says Schmitt (1997).
Experiential branding requires
products and services to be perceived
through customers’ eyes, through
their emotions and through their
creative thinking. Harry potter being a
story brand, allowed for it to
happen organically, every consumer Warner Bros. Studio Tour, London

who interacted with the brand had a unique experience, and related to the story in different
manner. Schmitt (1997) mentions that an experience brand’s communication messages should be
omnipresent, so that consumers can actively seek them out when they wish to enhance their
experience, Harry Potter’s merchandise and theme parks were positioned in a way, which
provided this omnipresent message.

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Brand Extension

Warner Bros. extended the Harry Potter brand in

many dimensions, including audio books, DVD’s,
soundtracks, etc. In tune with the changing market
dynamics, they also extended into the cell phone
market, providing wallpapers, voice tones, mobile
games etc. To create extensions that were authentic to
the brand, their team had to formulate a cautious
strategy. Brand extension authenticity represents a consumer’s sense that a brand extension is a
legitimate, culturally consistent extension of the parent brand (Spiggle, et. Al 2012). Authentic
brands exhibit consistency in their style and aesthetics through uniformity of design and sensory
elements which Harry potter maintained throughout its merchandise and experiences. Völckner
and Satller (2006), say that the quality of the parent brand, relevance and the fit between the
parent brand and the extension product categories are highly important factors for the success of
a brand extension. With some of the movie scenes for Harry Potter shot in the UK and its
consumer’s curiosity to be in the wizarding world, Harry Potter’s extension into the travel sector
and offering tours to the places showed in the movies made total sense.

Conclusion

Harry potter is the prime example of excellent marketing and brand management. It was popular
from the beginning because of its inherit “good product”. With the power of internet being used
as a social medium behind them and a careful merchandise plan, along with creating experiences
for the consumers by creating cathedrals of consumptions like the Warner Bros. studio tour, Harry
Potter was set to become a global phenomenon. It’s brand image was cautiously created by
tapping into the emotional intellect of its consumers. Even after 20 years, it is still working its
charm through merchandising and is attracting consumers into its wizarding world. Warner Bros.
have extended the brand further into another movie franchise, “Fantastic Beasts and where to
find them”, reeling fans in for another magical adventure.

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References

• Aaker. J. (1997), “Dimensions of brand personality”, Journal of Marketing Research, pp.

347-356

• Aquino, J. et, al. The Brilliant methods that made Harry Potter a 15 Billion Dollar Brand.
[online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/jk-rowling-
business-methods-2011-7?r=US&IR=T#midnight-releases-pre-orders-and-other-
promotions-brought-the-harry-potter-frenzy-to-new-levels-3 [Accessed at 11 Mar. 2022].

• Blattberg, R.C. and Deighton, J. (1991), “Interactive marketing: exploiting the age of
addressability”, Sloan Management Review, Fall, pp. 5- 14.

• Brown, S. and Patterson, A. (2010). Selling Stories: Harry Potter and the marketing plot.
Psychology and Marketing, 27(6), pp. 541-556

• Buttle, F. (1984), “Merchandising”, European journal of Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 6/7, pp.
104-123 https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000004795

• MuggleNet. (2018). “Harry Potter”: From Book Series to Global Brand. [online]
Available at: https://www.mugglenet.com/2018/08/harry-potter-from-book-series-to-
global-brand/

• Nandan, S. (2005), An exploration of the brand identity–brand image linkage: A

communications perspective. Journal of Brand Management 12, pp. 264–278.

• Reza Kiani, G. (1998), Marketing opportunities in the digital world. Internet Research,
8(2), pp. 185-194.

• Schmitt, B. (1999) Experiential Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, 15:1-3,

53-67, DOI: 10.1362/026725799784870496

• Schmitt, B. (1997), ‘Superficial out of profundity’: The branding of customer

experiences. Journal of Brand Management 5(2), pp. 92-98.

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 • Spiggle, S., Nguyen, H.T. and Caravella, M. (2012), More than Fit: Brand Extension
Authenticity. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(6), pp. 967-983

• Street Journal, J.L and B.M.R. of T.W. (2001), Warner Bros. picks Coca- Cola to bestow
Marketing magic on Harry Potter film. Wall Street Journal. [online] Available at:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB98261978549683936 [Accessed 11 Mar. 2022].

• Völckner, F. and Sattler, H. (2006), Drivers of Brand Extension success, Journal of

Marketing, 70(2), pp. 18-34. DOI: 10.1509/jmkg.70.2.018

• Wohlfeil, M. and Whelan, S. (2005). Event Marketing: When brands become “Real
Lived” Experiences.