CHAPTER 12: Product and Distribution Strategies
Video Case: Monopoly: America’s Love of Rags-to-Riches Game Is Timeless
Video Running Time: 7:48
Organization Discussed: Monopoly
Concepts Spotlighted in Video:
- Production
- Distribution channels
- Distribution strategies
- Product line and product mix
- Product life cycle
- Brand name
- Brand association
- Brand equity
Video Case Synopsis
Maybe you’ve never been to Atlantic City, but if you’ve played Monopoly, the names Park Place, Boardwalk, and Atlantic Avenue are as familiar to you as the streets around your own hometown. Monopoly, invented in 1934 by entrepreneur Charles B. Darrow, is based on real streets in Atlantic City. When Darrow first showed his game to executives at Parker Brothers, they weren’t interested. But the gamemaker’s disinterest failed to discourage him. Darrow and a printer friend made 5,000 sets anyway and convinced a department store in Philadelphia to carry them. When all 5,000 quickly sold out, Darrow went back to Parker Brothers, who soon changed their minds after learning of the consumer response to the unknown? and untested? new game. Their decision to add it to their product line was perhaps the most important move in Parker Brothers’ history. Within 12 months following its launch, Monopoly had become the best-selling game in the U.S. By 2005, Parker Brothers, now a division of Hasbro Inc., had sold more than 200 million sets of Monopoly worldwide.
But the huge popularity of Monopoly poses a problem for its manufacturer: the game lasts, and repeat sales are difficult to secure. Once a family or an individual consumer buys a Monopoly set, there’s no need to buy another. And if the idea of commerce? or rampant greed ? doesn’t appeal to someone, he or she is likely to pass on the game. Until recently, young children were left out of the game unless they had guidance from parents or older brothers and sisters, simply because the rules, concepts, and numbers were too complicated for them to follow. So Monopoly marketers began to evaluate ways to extend the product line. They examined new age groups, new socioeconomic groups likely to have market potential, and different interest groups and considered commemorative editions to mark or celebrate certain events in history. They also researched new platforms using interactive technology.
“Line extensions are all additives to Monopoly No.9 [the official name of the original game],” explains Holly Riehl, director of marketing for Monopoly. The original game captures a universal truth that we all aspire to wealth, according to Riehl. In fact, Monopoly is such a universal game that, as Riehl says, “it has been adapted so thoroughly by every country that every country thinks it’s their own,” These ideas have combined to set the stage for a burst of new Monopoly editions targeted to different consumers.
Several years ago, Hasbro introduced a premium-priced Deluxe Monopoly with eye-catching new features for the collector? special tokens, title and deed carousels (making it easier to see and organize them during the game), and wooden houses and hotels. At around the same time, the company brought out Monopoly Junior for younger players. Based on an amusement park theme, in which game participants buy and sell amusement park rides and attractions, Monopoly Junior has attracted a younger generation of players ages 5 to 8. There’s also the Dig’n Dinos edition for even younger children, and a Disney edition for players ages 8 to adult. Also in the product line are Monopoly 60th Anniversary and Monopoly Millennium, both developed to mark those anniversaries ? and sold at a higher price of $39.95. If you are feeling particularly patriotic, pick up the America edition; if you speak Spanish, you can purchase the Spanish edition. And if you are a Star Wars or Pokemon fan, fear not ? a Monopoly edition has been created for you, too.
Hasbro has also ventured into the interactive realm with a new subsidiary, Hasbro Interactive. The division sold 1 million copies of the first Monopoly CD-ROM, which became the fifth best-selling PC game of all time. “On the computer, Boardwalk and Park Place came to life,” says Holly Riehl. Four years after the first release, an updated version hit the market, in which players could customize the 3-D board properties with their own street names and landmarks. Then came Monopoly PlayStation, Monopoly Hand-held, and Monopoly Nintendo, along with an e-mail version of the game.
Hasbro isn’t trying to flood the market with Monopoly games, although certainly its marketers would like to see at least one edition in every household. But to reach as many consumers as possible, marketers conduct extensive product planning to make sure that each new version “makes sense,” as Riehl puts it. “For instance, Monopoly Star Wars and Pokemon were a good fit,” she says. The company tries to balance the basic concepts of the original Monopoly game with every one of its extensions, including such additions as a new token to the game. Several years ago, Hasbro conducted a search for a new Monopoly playing token, finally narrowing it down to three candidates: a biplane, a piggybank, and a sack of money. Then consumers were invited to vote for their favorite among the three. Over 2 million consumers cast their vote for the sack of money, which is now part of the game.
Riehl reports that Hasbro is planning even more extensions to attract new and loyal customers to the Monopoly experience. Monopoly slot machines are already very popular in Las Vegas, and game fanciers can watch for a Monopoly cafe as well as Monopoly books and other media. In short, Hasbro hopes Monopoly will eventually have a monopoly (of sorts) on all kinds of entertainment.
Questions for Critical Thinking
1. How would you classify Monopoly as a consumer product? Why?
2. At what stage would you place Monopoly in the product life cycle? How does this relate to Hasbro’s decision to extend the product line?
3. Monopoly marketing director Holly Riehl says that the idea for each new Monopoly edition goes through extensive planning before it is manufactured and brought to market. Even so, do you think that Hasbro is taking on more risk by introducing so many different types of Monopoly to the marketplace? Why or why not?
4. Visit the Monopoly Web site at http://www.monopoly .com or open up your own Monopoly game. Identify as many elements of the product image as you can. Do you think that Monopoly is a strong brand? Why or why not?
Experiential Exercise
You have been hired as a consultant for Monopoly to innovate and develop new products and services. Monopoly already has tournaments in many countries, slot machine games, anniversary editions, deluxe editions, and wallpaper. Go tohttp://monopolization, click on “browse all games” and study the current offerings. Then develop a new product or service and a distribution strategy for Monopoly.
