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It’s not enough that Empire is one of the most-watched shows in recent TV history, but it’s also created one of the most popular characters with one of the most memorable personal styles.
So how does Fox ramp up the pop-culture conversation surrounding the broadcast hit? Put it in every store and on every Pinterest board available.
Style, fashion and attitude all play a big role in Empire, now in its second season on Fox, and brands are cashing in. Saks Fifth Avenue, Deborah Lippmann and Hood By Air are among the fashion brands taking product placement to a new level on the show. They partner with Empire in what goes beyond a celebrity fashion brand, because the whole cast plays a part, especially Cookie, now a household name.
Hood By Air’s HPA.EMPIRE collection is technically the first branded line for the show, using the clothing brand’s graphic look with the show’s characters. It’s also the exclusive retailer of the merchandise.
ABC’s Scandal formed similar partnerships, expanding on fans’ interest in Olivia Pope’s (Kerry Washington) fashion to create fashion lines with costume designer Lyn Paolo and The Limited.
Saks Fifth Avenue created styled windows in flagship stores with Empire fashions this fall, just like it had previously done with Scandal. The difference was that Empire’s looks spanned a large part of the cast, whereas ABC’s fashions were focused on its lead character.
Fox plays up the fashion partnerships as part of almost every scene on Empire, which creates a lucrative partnership for both sides involved. Deborah Lippmann nail polish colors launched this fall as well, each named after a song from the show: “Hustle Hard,” “Power of the Empire,” “War of the Roses.”
Even just launching a brand line of nail polish serves a lot of marketing purposes: It gives exposure to the Deborah Lippmann brand as well as to the show and to the retailers who carry it like Sephora. In a way, merchandising off-shoots also help promote Empire’s music business, with the show’s soundtrack and songs available across the Internet in places such as the iTunes store and on Spotify, allowing fans to stay engaged with the show even when it’s not on the air.
Read more at Racked.
Brief Take: Empire has cracked the code of monetizing broadcast TV, offering up music, fashion and merchandise as an alternate revenue source in case ratings falter—and it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon.
[Image courtesy of Racked]
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