GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Marketing for Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" will include merchandise in toy stores and McDonald's as well as aloha shirts.
Films featuring superaction figures or animated characters apparently cannot survive by box office alone. The films are strongly marketed with merchandise through stores and fast-food outlets.
Lilo & Stitch want to
» Marketing deal recommended
take over your walletBy Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.comWalt Disney Pictures' upcoming "Lilo & Stitch" is no different.
Merchandise is available at Disney stores for the animated feature set in Hawaii, and an agreement is in place with McDonald's restaurants to distribute plastic characters with Happy Meals starting in about a week.
"Lilo & Stitch" characters are also popping up as plush dolls with a top price of $45 for the "Lilo & Stitch" 2-in-1 Switchin' Stitch. Squeeze one of its six legs and it will speak in either alien gibberish or English.
Then there's an "Aloha Stitch," a hula dancing Lilo, an inflatable toy surfboard, microwave popcorn and several books. Nine children's titles from Random House include "Trouble in Paradise," "The Junior Novelization" and "Be Good Stitch," priced from $3 to $9.
For adults, there are aloha shirts by Reyn Spooner, priced at $77.50.
If you haven't tired of the animated characters by then, coming in fall will be a Lilo & Stitch "Island Favorites" album, interactive games, a film score CD, and a "Lilo & Stitch CD Read-Along" with a 24-page multimedia storyteller that can be used on stereos and computers. The "Read-Along" features the voices of Jason Scott Lee, Tia Carrere and David Ogden Stiers.
The "Lilo & Stitch" characters are already performing at Disneyland and Disney World, where the company's Polynesian-themed restaurants are decorated with surfboards carrying the "Lilo & Stitch" logo.
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The staff of the Hawaii Tourism Authority is poised to recommend that the agency's board approve one year of funding for a promotion of Disney's "Lilo & Stitch," but concerns remain about how the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau disclosed the deal. Tourism authority
recommends marketing
deal despite concernsBy Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comThe state-run authority has scheduled a Monday board meeting to review the marketing contract, announced yesterday as a wide-reaching, unprecedented agreement between HVCB and Disney. The bureau markets Hawaii on a $45 million-a-year contract with the authority.
The deal is contingent on funding on a year-by-year basis, the companies said. The tourism authority must approve any HVCB contracts of more than $500,000, though the HVCB won't publicly discuss financial details of the arrangement.
"Lilo & Stitch," an animated film set on Kauai, opens June 21, with a premiere in Hollywood scheduled for Sunday and a special screening at the Waikiki Twins June 18.
The bureau started discussing a promotion with Disney in February, said Tony Vericella, HVCB president and chief executive. The HVCB's slogan appears on the "Lilo & Stitch" trailer on Disney's Web site, which was set up in mid-May. The bureau's contract was initially announced at the HTA's monthly meeting in late May.
Marketing efforts have so far been in good faith, and the bureau hasn't put up any money yet, Vericella said.
Still, the bureau should have informed the HTA earlier that there was a commitment, even if no money had changed hands, said Frank Haas, consultant to the authority.
State auditor Marion Higa released a scathing audit of the tourism authority in February that concluded there was little accountability for spending. In the spirit of the audit, the authority should review major funding commitments, Haas said. "You have to have both a quality program and the proper process," Haas said.
Vericella said the money is already available in the HVCB's 2002 budget for strategic marketing opportunities. Haas countered that there are no details of such funding in the budget. His position is that any unclear use of public money should be reviewed.
Vericella acknowledged he should have brought the arrangement before the authority sooner. Previous board meeting agendas didn't have room for it, he said.
"Clearly we should have communicated or overcommunicated a lot earlier," Vericella said. "Nobody was deliberately trying not to communicate."
With the opening date approaching, the companies needed to get the marketing ball rolling, he said.
The agreement contains several benefits to Hawaii as a tourism destination, Haas said. ABC, owned by Disney, is holding an hour-long primetime telecast of the June 21 film opening, and will include footage of the islands, Haas said.
The DVD release will also contain images and messages about Hawaii. Disney has a strong audience among females, who typically make family travel decisions, Vericella said.
Plus, Disney has more than 100,000 of its own employees, all of whom take vacations, Vericella said. "And they do travel to places other than Disney theme parks," he said.
Other benefits to Hawaii could come as Disney does more with its new "Lilo & Stitch" characters. Possibilities include a television series and movie sequels.
"When you add it all up, we can support the program in year one," Haas said. The HTA staff will not recommend funding beyond the first year because it doesn't want to tie the hands of the authority's incoming board members.
Other companies involved in the agreement are Hilton, Hilo Hattie and Hawaiian, United and Japan airlines. Families that win Disney travel promotional prizes would fly on a partnering airline and stay at a Hilton hotel.
HVCB and Disney have agreed to keep the terms of their arrangement confidential from the public, though the authority will discuss the contract in a closed executive session. The lack of public information about the "Lilo & Stitch" promotion is a sensitive and difficult issue, Vericella said, but Disney wants confidentiality.
