Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Per Maureen Rogers - Warner Brothers cracked down on booksellers having Harry Potter parties.

As David Mehegan reported in The Boston Globe the other day, “Warner Bros. — which controls the movies, merchandise, and all nonbook aspects of the Harry Potter brand — is clamping down on the fun.”

What they’re after is cease and desist of events that fall outside the (confusing) guidelines established by Warner and by Scholastic, which is the HP book publisher in the U.S.

In the past few weeks, Warner’s London legal office has sent e-mails to booksellers and party organizers around the country, warning them against unauthorized celebrating, under the threat of legal action. “[Your event] appears to fall outside our guidelines,” said one e-mail. “Therefore, HARRY POTTER cannot be used as a theme for your event.”

Many of these missives have been received by small, independent bookstores, which are often staging the event as part of a fundraiser.

Among the rules: no charging admission to the parties, and no third-party involvement. Which leaves out those bookstores that were rounding up others in their community to take part in the party.

Apparently Warner Brothers doesn’t think it needs the little guys. Yet another example of a Big Clueless Company (BCC) treating its “sales channel” with disdain. This whole hoo-ha has nothing to do with “protecting a brand.” It’s all about clueless (and humorless) muggles‘ control for the sake of control. Hmmm…maybe somebody should read the folks at Warners that old story, “David and Goliath.”

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Tags: brand, branding, marketing troubleshooting, Harry Potter, Warner Brothers