E-Poll Market Research Blog

Good Grief! It’s Charlie Brown.

The rights to Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang have been bought by the Schulz family and the Iconix Brand Group as an addition to their portfolio of licensing brands.  The iconic characters have long been a licensing success, with over 1,200 agreements worldwide from Snoopy riding the MetLife blimp to Hallmark Cards urging ”Cheer Up, Charlie Brown.”

Public reports have speculated that the relatively low price of the deal may be due to the troubles of the newspaper industry and the declining popularity of the Peanuts franchise among younger consumers.  Using E-Score Character, we took a look at how the classic comic strip characters are perceived after more than 60 years in print.

Peanuts Interest by Age

Despite a dearth of new Peanuts media properties since the death of creator Charles Schulz, interest and appeal are still high for the Peanuts gang. According to E-Score Character Peanuts scored a top-two box appeal of 66%, well above the 49% for comics category average.  Kids 6-12 gave Peanuts a 67% top-two box appeal and 73% top-two box appeal for Kids 2-5.  65% of kids 6-12 would be very or somewhat interested in seeing Peanuts in a TV show and 58% are interested in seeing Charlie Brown & Company in a movie.

Peanuts generates an awareness E-Score above category average for people 13 to 49 and kids 6-12.  In spite of Peanuts’ absence from any recent TV and film productions, kids’ 2-5 awareness E-Score for Peanuts is about equal to its category average.

Looking at Peanuts E-Score Character scores can reveal latent extensions and opportunities for both kids and adults.  Classic characters like Peanuts that have withstood decades of changing technology and culture can rely on years of equity and established distinctiveness.  E-Score Character can tap into why these characters have withstood time and what their future potential may hold.