Mickey slings some paint

I was in Home Depot with my little girl; she is 4 and very active. She is really into coloring, painting anything artsy. She goes right for the paint swatch samples every time. Tonight she came back with a handful of samples and they oddly had the sample color in the shape of Mickey ears on each one.

I asked my little girl, why did you pick that one? She did not say I like green, she said, “this is Mickey’s paint.” Squares are just too square for a four year old. If you want to sell anything to kids, print it on Mickey ears! I wondered, if the first movie Mickey showed up in, “Steam Boat Willie” had Donald Duck on the boat instead of a mouse, would we all recognize the image of a duck head instead of mouse ears for Disney? Donald has always played the understudy to that energetic mouse. Was it just a late, duck start or fate that made the mouse the icon for Disney? Anyway, back to Home Depot.

I turned the swatch over and it said, “Disney color by BEHR.” Next I went out to the Disney site and found an incredible selection of colors with catchy Disney names. What kid would not want Donald orange, Princess Bouquet pink or Tinker Bell green? Typically a licensing deal like this would be in the 6-8% range of gross sales for the Licensor (Disney) for BEHR to use the Disney name. They also brought Home Depot into the mix to have a retail exclusive with their 2,100 stores.

http://disney.go.com/disneyhome/disneypaints.html

I love this kind of deal, very smart licensing idea by Disney. Take something that old Walt would never even dream of getting into. Cut a deal where they use the name to create an entirely new use for the brand without you ever manufacturing a thing. Make the licensing deal in a category that drives additional brand loyalty as it is used. Once you go Princess Bouquet on the walls, you probably will go the sheets, lamps, toys…I am sure Home Depot also cut BEHR a good deal to keep it off the shelves of Lowes.

Those ears have some real power.

• What is the main thing people identify with your brand?
• What other cross over categories can your big idea jump to?
  
• Does your franchise have cross brand appeal locked up waiting to be licensed out?
  

Donald Trump licensing seems to take the position that all categories have a "Trump" player in any crowded field. He puts his name on a lot of average stuff and it does not seem to tarnish the upscale image of the Trump name. Maybe we tend to be a little too pious when it comes to the use of our brand names and we could learn a lot from the Donald, the man, not the duck.