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NEWS UPDATE World Book Day Is Resounding Success
This year’s World Book Day, held on Thursday 1 March 2018, was another major success, despite the snowy weather which saw the literary dress-up day delayed and postponed across much of the UK. Research published after the event – which once again saw major retailers including Asda, Tesco, Argos, Morrisons, Primark and Sainsbury’s ramping up their offerings as they embraced the occasion – has revealed some of the spending habits which occurred around World Book Day 2018. According to statistics gathered by eBay.co.uk, parents spent £50million on the event, with each parent spending an average of £10 per child. The online marketplace estimated that the
average parent spent 15 minutes searching for World Book Day costumes on the site, with searches beginning as early as 8 January. However, the most popular day for searches was 23 February 23, with nearly 34,000 searches taking place on that day alone. Harry Potter was the most searched for character and costume this year, with nearly 360,000 searches taking place –which averaged out at nearly one per minute. “Every year we see World Book Day fever intensify,” said Lizzi Thomas, head of fashion at eBay UK, “with proud parents posting pictures on their social feeds of their children’s costumes inspired by their favourite character.”
Inset: Harry Potter was a popular choice for this year’s World Book Day.
Harry Potter Leads WBD For Argos Harry Potter was the most popular character for this year’s World Book Day at Argos, the retailer has revealed, with costumes associated with the bestselling book and film franchise accounting for almost 25% of the retailer’s costume sales. The top ten character costumes were: Harry Potter, Gruffalo, Spider-man, Superman, Willy Wonka, Star Wars Stormtrooper, Where’s Wally?, Star Wars Darth Vader, Batman and Disney Princess Sleeping Beauty.
Halloween Removes ‘Offensive’ Costumes From Sale Royal Wedding HIA Launches 2018 Spirit Reservation Royalty, Naughty The Toronto branch of Spirit Tops Trump! Consumer Initiative Halloween has removed a number Navajo and Huron Honey – With just weeks to go until the The Halloween Industry Association (HIA) has launched an industrywide consumer initiative to promote Halloween and year-round dress-up. Following last year’s purchase of the Halloween & Party Expo, HIA has established a steady annual income which it will use to fund ongoing industry initiatives. The focus is currently on a new consumer marketing initiative for this year, with the goal of establishing HIA as the voice of Halloween for consumers and the general public while increasing sales for member companies. “We have developed a specific plan for 2018 that includes several elements,” explained HIA marketing director Aneisha McMillan. “This includes a consumerfacing website featuring the top costumes for the year as well as the ‘big idea’, which will see us teaming up with an industry partner to promote celebrating Halloween on the last Saturday in October. These will be supported by year-round media pitches and a robust social media effort.” Aneisha will be enlisting the help of a team of HIA volunteers to participate in the 2018 programme. If you’re currently an HIA member and would like to be involved, please get in touch at amcmillan@hiaonline.org.
of offensive costumes from sale, following a complaint filed with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The Canadian offshoot of the US-based party retailer has quietly settled a complaint filed with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario alleging some of its Aboriginal-themed costumes promoted hyper-sexualized and racist views of indigenous women. As such, it has agreed to remove the offending costumes – with names such as Pocahottie,
Unique Party Adds L.O.L Surprise Partyware supplier Unique Party has added popular children’s toy brand L.O.L Surprise to its licensed portfolio. The new range is the latest addition to Unique Party’s offering, which already includes best-selling lines such as emoji, Harry Potter and Shopkins. “L.O.L Surprise was the best-selling girls toy during Christmas 2017, so we know that this brand is going to translate well to party and will be a huge hit,” said Jim Cairns, Unique Party’s vice president, “especially given the pedigree of its origins.”
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from its Toronto stores. Some other retailers voluntarily stopped selling the costumes following similar complaints, but Spirit Halloween ignored requests to remove the offensive costumes, later claiming a defense of ‘commercial freedom of expression’. Spirit Halloween’s lawyers only agreed to the settlement after a number of applications of fact and expert statements were filed with the tribunal.
The range was previewed at Spring Fair, where retailer feedback was brief and to-thepoint. “To be honest, retailers were just asking when they could have it,” said Jim. “So we’re aware that this brand is going to be a little bit special!” The Unique Party collection will include partyware, party favours, decor and balloons as well as a pinata.saw 997 people gathering together to set the new world record for the largest number of people dressed as Harry Potter in one place. Previous champions from the UK had held the record of 676 since June 2017.
royal wedding, Mask-arade has reported that Prince Harry and his bride-to-be Meghan Markle have finally overtaken Donald Trump as the company’s bestselling masks. As demand increases for products featuring the couple in the run-up to the wedding, Mask-arade has pressed the button on 18,000 more masks to be produced. “We love the fact Trump has been selling so well but it will be nice to see the top sellers spreadsheet change,” said Ray Duffy, commercial director of Mask-arade. “The nation is really getting behind the new royal couple. We are seeing sales rising steadily and the royal wedding is a great early boost to the new year.”
Below: The Mask-arade ‘Royal collection’ also includes The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Kate Middleton, Prince William and even a Corgi.
MARCH/APRIL 2018 PROGRESSIVE PARTY EUROPE
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06/04/2018 16:56