It takes a courageous brand to change a well-established and iconic character, especially one that one that generates about $5 billion in annual merchandise sales.
That is what Walt Disney are about to do to Mickey Mouse.
Concerned that Mickey Mouse has become more of a corporate symbol than a character for the latest generation of youngsters, Disney is taking the risk of repositioning the mouse as less nice, The New York Times reported.
Not that Mickey Mouse is going to start running amok and killing people but he is going to be cantankerous,cunning and heroic as he guides players through a new video game called Epic Mickey: a first step to test public reaction to the repositioning strategy.
Although risky, Disney had little choice but to do something with the character who has become static and seen sales of his merchandise decline. And we mustn’t forget that the original Mickey Mouse, that debuted in 1928 in “Steamboat Willie”, was an “uninhibited rabble-rouser who got into fistfights and played tricks” on others.
Perhaps the new Mickey Mouse is just going back to his roots.
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