‘Da Vinci Code’ as a Brand Is Worth Billions |
By JULIE BOSMAN If you, like more than 100 million readers around the world, enjoyed “The Da Vinci Code,” marketers are betting that you might like the “Da Vinci”video game for PlayStation2 and Xbox, too. Or a “Da Vinci Code” painting kit. Or a “The Da Vinci Fitness Code,” a diet book based on the Fibonacci sequence. With the movie now open, “The Da Vinci Code” has already spawned a mini-industry that encompasses video games, cookbooks, even pornography. And despite the film’s mostly bad reviews, more products are likely to add to the “Da Vinci” collection. Dan Burstein, the author of “Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind the Da Vinci Code,” estimates that “The Da Vinci Code,” in all its permutations, has already generated some$1 billion in sales. And that number has only risen with the sales of movie tickets. “We are talking about something that over time will be a multibillion-dollar brand business,” Mr. Burstein said. “This movie is going to be seen all over the world; it’s going to be debated and discussed all over the world; it’s going to have large DVD sales. It has a very long tail on it.” Of course, at the core of the “Da Vinci” brand is the book, which has 60.5 million copies in print and has been translated into 44 languages since it was first published. The book has produced roughly$400 million in revenue so far in worldwide sales. A Fodor’s travel guide published in March directs tourists to the locales featured in the novel, including Rome and Paris. The book industry has already produced dozens of titles that tie into the themes of “Da Vinci,” from exploration of Opus Dei to biographies of Biblical figures. Most of the books tied to “Da Vinci” are unrelated to the official franchise, but capitalize on the interest in the book’s religious and historical themes. In March, Random House published “Fodor’s Guide to The Da Vinci Code,” a travel book that traces the steps of the novel, which takes place in Paris, London and Rome, among other places. Random House printed 100,000 copies of the book, which Rachel Lieberman, a spokeswoman for Fodor’s called “the largest print run in recent memory” for a Fodor’s guide. But few groups have benefited from “Da Vinci” as much the travel industry has. The film’s release has even enticed more Americans to plan trips to Europe this summer, according to a survey by AAA, formerly the American Automobile Association. AAA travel agents have reported a 25 percent increase in bookings to Europe. One tourism company, Cross-Culture Journeys in Amherst, Massachusetts, is offering 14-day all inclusive tours that trace the book’s events in sequence, beginning in Paris and ending in Edinburgh, for$8,895 a person. The trip includes stays at the Ritz in Paris (the dwelling of Robert Langdon, the character played by Tom Hanks in the film) and the Hotel Bernini Bristol in Rome. The frenzy over “Da Vinci” travel is not just for avid fans, said Ati Jain, the president of Cross-Culture Journeys. “You’ve been to London, you’ve been to Paris, you’ve been to Rome and now you can add a different perspective to it,” Mr. Jan said. “It’s allowing people to look at things in a different light.”
|