By now, almost everybody in the civilized world would have wept sweet tears over the end of the Harry Potter movie franchise with the screening of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”. Considered the world’s most bankable fantasy brand with an estimated brand value of US$15 billion, Harry Potter has changed forever the image of children’s fantasy books with its massive impact. With its unprecedented wave of success, the world of Harry Potter has left many wondering if such a feat could be repeated ever again. With that question in mind, I picked up marketing author Susan Gunelius’ book “Harry Potter: the Story of a Global Business Phenomenon” hoping to find answers to how a wizard has changed the business around the world. Laced with prodigious facts on the history and evolution of the brand, the book chronicled how the brand evolved from a desperate effort by poverty-stricken single mother J.K. Rowling to the most well loved literary and cinematic phenomenon. In the process, Rowling herself has transformed into one of the most well respected and popular billionaire authors in publishing history.

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Contemporary Issues in Management
Omkar Mishra
19032 (Division: A)
Book review: Harry Potter (The Story of a Global Business
Phenomenon)
Author: Susan Gunelius
Paperback: 194 pages; Price: Rs
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st ed. 2008 edition (3 June 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1349301086
ISBN-13: 978-1349301089
Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 1.2 x 22.9 cm

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By now, almost everybody in the civilized world would have wept sweet tears over the end of
the Harry Potter movie franchise with the screening of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Part 2”. Considered the world’s most bankable fantasy brand with an estimated brand value of
US$15 billion, Harry Potter has changed forever the image of children’s fantasy books with its
massive impact. With its unprecedented wave of success, the world of Harry Potter has left
many wondering if such a feat could be repeated ever again.
With that question in mind, I picked up marketing author Susan Gunelius’ book “Harry Potter:
the Story of a Global Business Phenomenon” hoping to find answers to how a wizard has
changed the business around the world. Laced with prodigious facts on the history and
evolution of the brand, the book chronicled how the brand evolved from a desperate effort by
poverty-stricken single mother J.K. Rowling to the most well loved literary and cinematic
phenomenon. In the process, Rowling herself has transformed into one of the most well
respected and popular billionaire authors in publishing history.
Having a Good Product
Here, the longevity and breadth of the product depends on how a well a product can meet
consumers’ needs. Content is key. Harry Pottter’s ingredients of a magnificent hero, coming of
age, good versus evil, likable characters, and elements of magic and suspense resulted in a
winning formula.
Emotional Involvement
Engaging the three Ss of customer loyalty (stability, sustainability and security), the Harry Potter
series embraced a linear, chronological structure where each book picked up from where the
previous one left off. With a central story and with the same set of main characters, the books
and movies engaged readers and viewers in the fates of these young wizards as they tackle
adolescent issues while battling an ominous threat.
I especially liked the many mini-case studies, using a wealth of information on various branding
campaigns, dispersed throughout the book. 'You'll be sure to learn more about how to position
your own services and how to guide you own products through the marketplace by learning
from this extraordinary example.
'It had to happen. Harry Potter as a concept is now officially subject to academic review and
author Susan Gunelius has done it proudly in Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business
Phenomenon. This is a great way of showing marketing text, using Harry Potter as a vehicle for
learning.

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Word-of-MouthMarketing andOnline Buzz
According to the author, the advent of social media networks and online buzz triggered a huge
Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) growth of the Harry Potter franchise beyond that of predecessors like
C.S Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series. In
Gunelius’ definition, the five factors of successful WOMmarketing in the Harry Potter saga are:
1) Start with a good product with a story to tell
2) Don’t give it all away
3) Add a viral component
4) Allow a sense of community
5) Join the conversation
Initially, J.K. Rowling herself, Warner Bros and Scholastic publishing tried to take legal action
against fan sites that copied images and content from the franchise for their own
purposes. However, they wisely decided to change their strategy early and to instead, embrace
their most ardent fans (including the creators of fansites like Mugglenet and The Leaky
Cauldron), encouraging them to create their own fan art, fan fiction, fan movies and the like.
Tease and Perpetual Marketing
By cleverly building anticipation and creating a veil of secrecy around each successive product,
the creators of Harry Potter helped to drive emotional connection and continuity from each
book and each movie to the next. The crowning achievement of this is probably the final two
movies “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2” where the story in the last book
was broken down into two parts. This resulted in greater longevity and impact.
Brand Consistency andRestraint
Unlike the Disney movies whereby new shows and characters are sometimes being
merchandised, Rowling herself has retained strict control over the Harry Potter brand as its
guardian. With a strong hand in every dimension of the boy wizard’s commercial direction –
from publishing, film production, merchandising to the development of the Wizarding World of
Harry Potter theme park in Universal Studios Orlando – Rowling ensures that the brand isn’t
over extended by exercising strategic restraint.
Other than the strategies above, each chapter detailed how Harry Potter grew in stature as it
expanded from print to celluloid, plastic, digital media and a real life theme park. Real life
examples also cites numerous case studies from consumer brands like Apple, Disney, PlayBoy,
and devotes an entire chapter on the destinies of other literary greats like the Lord of the rings,
and Star wars.

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While the books were soaring to its heights fans take control and make harry Potter their own
by creating many websites to discuss the upcoming storylines, but unfortunately Warner and
Bros along with J.K. Rowling sued the fans in an attempt to piracy. But later they understand
and took the case back, and letting the fan sites flourish too. Warner and Bros along with J.K.
Rowling did understand the power of internet and word-of-mouth marketing by consumers.
While the book provides hints and tips of how Harry Potter reached its worldwide mega status,
it also admitted that the journey was rather accidental. Trying to replicate Rowling’s success by
adopting these strategies may still be a shot-in-the-dark, especially as copycat authors and
filmmakers start crowding the scene. Reading this slim volume makes it sound rather easy and
comical, but the truth is probably far more dependent on uncontrollable factors than what it
seems. After all, with hindsight, one does have magical spells like ‘Revelio’ to uncover the past.
About the Author
SUSAN GUNELIUS is President& CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc. (www.KeySplashCreative.com),
a full-service marketing communications provider. With over 15 years of marketing experience,
she spent over a decade of her career developing and executing marketing programs for some
of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Gunelius is the
author of several business-related books, and her marketing articles have appeared in
numerous publications, including Entrepeneur.com, MSNBC.com, FoxBusiness.com, and more.
Susan also writes several business and marketing blogs, including her blog for women working
in the field of business at www.WomenOnBusiness.com and her company blog at
www.keysplashcreative.com/category/blog.