Sony Pictures gets into kids merchandising

Will offer back-to-school products, toys, apparel, and footwear

One thing I love doing for SRN is finding more out there and sometimes bizarre stories about Sony, like their lawsuit against the Breaking Bud beer makers. While not bizarre, today’s news is the part of the business we often don’t see that can add crucial cushioning to the bottom line.

Gaurav Laghate writes for the Economic Times India:

In order to add a new revenue stream to its television broadcasting business and strengthen connect with the young audience, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has decided to enter in to the consumer products and merchandising business.

SPN has signed a multiyear licencing deal with Mumbai-based brand licensing company Black White Orange Brands (BWO) to exploit the portfolio of its kids’ channel: Sony YAY.

To start with, SPN and BWO will roll out toys based on Sony YAY characters like ‘Guru-Bhole’ and ‘Hunny Bunny’, and from one of its upcoming shows. The merchandise is expected to hit the markets in October. That will be followed by a back-to-school range in January next year.

As I mentioned above, this is the nitty gritty part of the business that’s not often spoken about. But beyond the bottom line padding, I think there’s more to this than a simple way of making an extra buck by selling merchandise. Many companies, including Sony, Apple, and Samsung have long been vying for marketshare in India, treating it as the ‘second China’ due to its large population.

Many believe that India, like China a decade ago, is due for an economic boom and if you can establish yourself as a player in that market early on, then your prospects of being able to capatilize on that rising tide increase expotentially.

In the past few years, Sony Pictures has been doing quite a few deals in India and while on the face these don’t help their electronics business, the stronger the Sony brand is in a given country, the more they can leverage that name to sell other goods.

Fun fact — in 2011, in order to raise capital, Sony sold the merchandising rights of Spider-Man back to Disney. Whoops!

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