Harry Potter And Pottermaniacs

Filed under Business Marketing, Business Profitability, Closure, Harry Porter, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tactics, Positioning

J.K. Rowling’s latest novel, “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows” broke all book sales record by selling 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale in the United States last weekend, according to Scholastic Inc.

At $34.99 per book, the total sales is a whopping $290,417,000.00 (that’s $290 million big ones).

In just 24 hours.

And only in the US.

Incredible.

There is no bigger author than Rowling in the entire world today – and I’m happy to be able to witness her influence on Pottermaniacs’ wallets.

Truth be told, I have never liked Harry’s stories as depicted in the movies.

And I’ve never been inclined to pick up a copy of any one of his 7 adventures to start reading them either.

I simply couldn’t understand what all the fuss is about – although I do have a good imagination myself.

But this isn’t about me – but all of Rowling’s adoring fans out there.

And their parents who are probably like me (if they’re not a Potterhead themselves).

The difference is that they have to buy the books for their kids and take them to the cinema for another experience of the same stories.

My son’s less than 2 years old so I’m spared the “expenses” here. Lol.

(But he would be about the right age in a few years’ time – just in time for the movie version of “Hallows” – and I would have to buy all of Harry’s adventures on DVDs starting from Book No.1 – 6 for him to make sense of No.7!)

But what makes this last novel the most successful of all the 7?

In one concept:

Closure.

In 2 concepts:

Closure, and Rowling says she’ll never write another one.

In 3 concepts:

Closure, Rowling says she’ll never write another one, and some beloved characters meet their end in this final novel.

In 4 concepts:

Closure, Rowling says she’ll never write another one, some beloved characters meet their end in this final novel, and everything will only be revealed on July 21st 2007.

Of course, there’s a “5th concept” - the series themselves must be a succesful one leading to the final novel.

So put them all together – and the blockbuster launch was imminent for MONTHS before it even happened.

So is Harry one of them who dies?

I still don’t know because those I’ve asked haven’t finished with the book yet – but I truly don’t care as I’m far from going insane if I don’t find out soon enough.

The only reason I asked is simply because of all the speculation on his end, by others who do.

And they’re all dealing with me every single day.

So all I want is a list of all the characters who did die – so that if I were to meet any Pottermaniac nearby, I could just blabber the dead names out and he’ll think I’m another Pottermaniac – never mind that I have no idea what the last story covers.

I’ll instantly become “one of them”.

And you know what happens when you’re one of them?

Right – they’ll instantly become more comfortable with you.

And what happens when this happens?

Miracles happen when people like you.

But I’ll talk about this another day.

Anyway…

Here are the “Marketing In Your Pajamas” lessons that you may be able to twist and then incorporate into your own product, if appropriate:

1. Kill off some characters in your final book, but don’t mention who they are other than the fact that their deaths will “shock” everyone (this is great for the fiction category – what would be a shocker for your own?);

2. Declare you will never write another book in the series again (this is a limitation factor in play, although there is no limit to the number of books being sold in the series – what would be a limitation factor in your case?).

3. Play them all into a launch date.

Notice how the launch is going to happen anyway – exactly like it had for all the other 6 books in the series?

So all Rowling has done now for the 7th is to declare 1 and 2 above – and then make sure she fulfills her promise.

And her profits exploded beyond the stratosphere.

The downside, of course, is that she ends at book No.7, especially if Harry dies.

And when the movie version finishes, she has shut off her profit pipelines using Harry for good.

Or has she?

Of course not.

Because when the money’s right – miracles do happen.

All you need is a couple of additional Pajamas Marketing concepts and a whole planetload of money get printed again, from scratch.

Talk soon.

Sen Ze