When Adlabs ventured into Theme Parks two years ago, it had decided that it won’t follow the footsteps of the others in the space such as Disney but will come up with its own set of rides and characters to entertain. Looking around, the best inspiration was Bollywood from which it took the characters of Mr. India and Mogambo.
Other characters that form a part of the Imagica stable include Tubby the flying elephant, Roberto the star lion cub chef, detective Bow Wow and Rajasaurus. “In the course of time we will add more characters, however currently our focus is to establish our existing characters and position them in a manner that the audiences recognise them and connect with them,” says Adlabs Entertainment spokesperson Aarti Shetty.
While the merchandises on the characters are already stocked at the venue as well as on e-commerce sites, a steady mix of TV, social media and other vehicles will be used to expand the reach. “The merchandising business is a very important component of our overall experience as it allows the audiences to take back home the experience and stories they’ve lived at the park,” says Aarti.
Merchandises include functional, seasonal and gifting options. Current products are clothing and accessories, luggage and bags, home décor, drinkware, kids clothing and swimming costumes.
Comic strips on the characters have already been rolled out. When asked about partnering with a comic publishing house, Aarti informs that they are exploring ways to do justice to their target audience and reach, for its comic characters and stories. A dedicated and trained in-house content and graphics team conceptualises and creates the digital comics.
Future plans are yet in a conceptualisation stage but Aarti reveals that films are definitely on the cards. “Animation movies targeting kids with all the Imagica characters will be an area of focus,” she points out. Making a successful animated movie in India has been a challenge with very few making a profit out of it.
Once the characters are taken across other media, heavy promotion will be done to build awareness in the minds of the audience.