Opinion
Retro revival
With a particular interest in the kids’ space and the film industry, publisher/editor at Kidzcoolit.com and youthgottit.com, Nick Gibbs-McNeill looks how the connection between entertainment and the Kidult market has shifted during the pandemic.
I
once read an interview with Roald Dahl where he remarked on the time-honoured argument between child and parent. “You don’t know what it’s like to be a child!” complains the child, countered with: “You do know I was one once, right?!” Dahl believed both parent and child were correct, but sympathised more with the child, as he believed the parent needs to forget many elements from their childhood to become a fullyfledged adult. These words have always stayed with me and the sentiment is one of the reasons why I do many of the things I do today, in both my career and personal life. During the pandemic I purchased the pair of Nike Jordan One trainers I once owned as a 10-year-old child. Was that purchase due to me having some form of mid-life crisis and not having enough money to buy a Ferrari? Or was it due to me having a bit more time to myself and trying to reconnect with the person I was back in my youth? It was probably a bit of both, but I really liked that kid and the Nike Trainers made me very happy. So that was money well spent. During the lockdown, many of us have reflected on our past and the things that made us happy during our formative years. Entertainment has played a key part in keeping us upbeat, but with cinemas closed and many productions being shut down, there hasn’t been the same volume of new content that we’ve grown accustomed to. This means we have taken to revisiting films and TV shows we’ve not seen for years, on streaming services, DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K. On the back of this new trend, many fans of retro properties have also sought out products that ignite that inner child - either by paying extortionate amounts for vintage toys from eBay, or by seeking out reproductions recreated by licence holders to fulfil this newly burgeoning marketplace. Brands such as Star Wars,
Transformers, Doctor Who and WWE have always been popular within the Kidult market, but lately there’s been a huge surge in demand for other nostalgic properties such as Back to the Future, Jurassic Park and Ghostbusters. The big question is whether this was an organic lifestyle change for consumers or if product creatives and marketeers were forced to come up with an emergency consumer strategy due to a lack of new offerings within the cinematic market? To a degree, we’ll never really know, but at a time where many adults are reliving their youth by enjoying films and shows that made them happy in the past, there’s a wealth of products available to take advantage of the new-found fandom. Over the past decade, most franchises have been reliant on the next big screen release to sell licensed products. A new Marvel film equals shelves being filled with everything from toys to branded consumer goods. But what happens when millions of lines have been produced and the films have been rescheduled by a year or more? Batman is an excellent example - you can always sell products and piggy-back a marketing plan with the Caped Crusader. The latest big screen outing for the Dark Knight has been put back to 2022 and I dare say there are many licence holders pondering what to do with their new ranges, without a new cinematic release to support them. But there have been lots of Batman feature films released over the past 12 months, with many more still to come; feature length movies such as Batman: The Long Halloween Part One and Part Two, Justice Society: World War II, Batman: Soul of the Dragon, Batman: Death in the Family and Justice League: The Zack Snyder Cut have either been released or are imminent, keeping the wheels turning within the Dark Knight Fandom. In the past, marketeers wouldn’t have jumped on the back of direct-to-home entertainment titles such as these to sell products, but they are
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legitimate Batman movie releases and loved by the millions of DC fans around the world who have always bought masses of merchandise. On top of that, video game releases and spin off TV shows are either streaming, being released on home entertainment formats or airing on live TV channels. Consequently, the 2022 release of The Batman has become a much smaller element within the overall Batman release schedule, and many franchises now find themselves in a similar position. As for the popularity of retro products, hands up who’s excitedly shown their children the Back to the Future trilogy for the first time? I have, and now my kids are huge fans. The release of products such as the Playmobil toy range has made the kids just as excited as I am about them. With products like these aimed at adults and children simultaneously, there’s no longer any shame in being a ‘geek’ – even proud WWE or Star Trek fans no longer have a fear of being mocked. Do I think the pandemic is responsible for the rise in popularity of these products? Maybe a little bit, but I think it was going to happen anyway. Every so often, adults seem to find themselves doing a bit of soul searching and return mentally to a place of comfort while they get ready to move on to the next stage of their lives. It’s always nice to own something that reminds us of our youthful innocence, of a time in our lives when we first started to discover who we really are and looked towards our future self. Especially if we didn’t actually become that person we planned to be. And with that, I’m off to put on my favourite trainers…
