The bubble is far from bursting over the Pokemon craze as licensing deals proliferate, fueled by the video game, the movie, the enormous hype and yet another flick due out in late 2000.
Bubble? Yes, just like the bubble gum under the Pokemon banner that’s popping up some good sales for Amurol Confections, which in early November rolled the new chew onto the market.
“There have been instances where we have been on allocation with retailers,” says A.G. Atwater, chief executive officer of Amurol, a Yorkville, Ill.-based unit of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.
Like other licensees, which now total about 100 in the United States alone, Amurol got on the Pokemon bandwagon early, wrapping up a two-year deal during the summer. Amurol, through its own premarket research, found that 98 percent of kids were aware of the Pokemon name.
Collectability is key to Amurol’s bubble gum for Pokemon, with no fewer than 151 different collectible mini-stick wrappers.
A youngster will have to do a lot of shopping to collect all these wrappers.
The gum itself comes in 27 fruit-flavored mini-sticks in a clear yellow canister, with eight different lids featuring characters from the Pokemon TV series.
There also are Pokemon trading cards from at least one other gummaker, which adds to collectability and helps Amurol.
Atwater anticipates the excitement over Pokemon will continue through next year, and he hints he is looking at another Pokemon line.
Licensing is old hat to Amurol, whose sales are consolidated with those of the parent Wrigley. A good guess is Amurol volume may be around $100 million.
Earlier this year, Amurol came out with a Sour Slam bubble gum via a licensing arrangement with World Championship Wrestling, an Atlanta-based organization.
Consumers probably best know Amurol by the names of its two top-selling bubble gums–Bubble Tape and Big League Chew, both showing hefty double-digit percentage sales gains this year.
Domino’s taps Deutsch: Domino’s, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based pizza chain, picked Deutsch Inc. in New York for the creative portion of its nearly $100 million national advertising account. Deutsch bested J. Walter Thompson Co.’s Detroit and Chicago offices for this account, held the last 2 1/2 years by Campbell Mithun Esty Minneapolis, which declined to participate in a review. JWT was thought to have had a good shot at Domino’s, because the agency’s Detroit office already does regional and/or field marketing and all media-buying for Domino’s, which has more than 4,500 U.S. stores. JWT there will keep those responsibilities. Domino’s expects new creative from Deutsch to appear in the first quarter of next year. Deutsch has been on a new-business run, including being appointed for the $60 million Bank One ad account. JWT Chicago was hoping to pick up Domino’s to add to its appointment last week for Pactiv Corp.’s Hefty brand, with projected annual billing of $30 million. JWT’s selection was tipped in this column.
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Dealing for Frankel: A decision on a buyer of Frankel & Co., a Chicago-based marketing services firm, appears at least a few weeks away after a deadline was extended to those companies interested in an acquisition, sources say. Prospective buyers include Omnicom Group, parent of ad agencies BBDO, DDB and TBWA and other communications units; WPP Group, whose properties include Ogilvy & Mather and J. Walter Thompson Co., and France’s Publicis S.A. Frankel, which retained Goldman, Sachs & Co. New York to explore a sale, declined comment on whether the deadline had been extended.
On the move: Kim (Barnes) Donovan was promoted to a senior partner, strategic planning and research, in the Chicago office of Bozell Group. . . . Melissa Gasper, formerly the Chicago-based Western ad director of Victoria, and Mindy Albach, recently Midwest ad manager for that magazine, joined Time Inc.’s Real Simple, a new lifestyle monthly debuting in April, as Midwest ad sales manager and account manager, respectively. . . . Harold Dawson to VP and associate media director at Lowe Lintas & Partners Chicago.
Strictly Personal: Birthday greetings to talent representative Vince Kamin, 57; Alex Mironovich, 47 (Playboy-New York); DDB creative whiz Bob Scarpelli, 47; Nick Harkin, 34 (Margie Korshak); consultant Allan Linderman, 50, and Ben Migdow, 75 (a former Chicago adman, now doing one-man fine arts shows in the Pacific Northwest).