 |
| Front cover |
Back when I had a full-time career working in comics, I occasionally found time to involve myself in outside projects. One such was for a company run by two local entrepreneurs (brothers), who at that time had a vast empire of diverse business operations in various towns and cities across Scotland; shops, restaurants, cafes, ice rinks, fast food outlets, etc., etc.
In an attempt to promote one of their restaurants, they asked me if I'd come up with something to highlight the family appeal of their establishment. They wanted to emphasize that the restaurant was not just for adults to come to on a night out, but also a place to bring the kids during the day and on special, fun occasions.
 |
| Centrespread |
Borrowing a leaf from McDONALDS (although this place wasn't a burger bar by any means - it was a proper, fancy, Italian restaurant), I created a mascot and came up with a little activity 'booklet' to occupy the kids once they were in the door and to make them want to come back again. (The idea was that I'd update it every so often.)
Here's the first and only one ever produced. (Which was a shame, as the money was good.) It was done in a hurry, hence my inclusion of a couple of cartoons I'd produced for some camping posters back in the late '70s, early '80s, in order to save time. The kids loved it, apparently, but unfortunately the management failed to persuade enough people that it wasn't the high-class, expensive restaurant it really was.
 |
| Back cover |
The moral of the story? If you want to capture the McDonalds kiddie-contingent, then you have to provide more than bits of paper for them to colour in; you need to compete at the same price level (or lower) as well.
The same thing also applies to comics. One of the reasons for falling circulation nowadays is that they're just far too expensive in relation to everything else. Publishers take note.
No comments:
Post a Comment