Part of the 1966 Century 21 supplement.

IT'S THE MERCHANDISING SUCCESS STORY OF THE TELEVISION ERA!

More than £6,000,000 Retail Turnover by Christmas this Year

Launched with the slogan Thunderbirds Are Go! this powerful series and the ensuing merchandise have together topped the popularity polls throughout the nation. The streets empty of children as soon as the television series is on the home screens. And there aren't too many adults either who can keep away from their sets when the exciting adventures of International Rescue are being shown!

The first series proved to be one of the most popular children's shows ever and the second edition is now well on the way to emulating that success. Some rivals emerged during the summer recess and proved successful, but when Thunderbirds returned to television in October of this year, and resumed its climb up the ratings the series retained its high popularity.

MILLIONS SOLD!

And it was the same story with the merchandise. The toys, which had sold in millions during the first part of the year, tailed off slightly during the slack holiday period. But with Christmas, licensed manufacturers worked overtime preparing for the big seasonal rush, and achieved record sales despite the "freeze".

OVER 120 LICENCES

Speaking of licensees, these now top the 120 mark and this figure could have easily been doubled and trebled were it not for our policy of avoiding cross licensing of items in the range. We believe that near duplication of items can only lead to problems in the end and is basically unfair to the trade and the customer.

FIRMLY ESTABLISHED

With such proven successes as Thunderbirds, Man from U.N.C.L.E., etc., the field of character merchandising must now be firmly established as a must for all major manufacturers. Of course, there must be someone, somewhere, still trotting out the old cliche: "Why should I pay a royalty, purely for the use of a name?" Oh well, they'll just have to learn the hard way. With every important toy company in the land involved in character merchandising in one way or another, the hesitant or unwilling party could well find himself with dwindling order books. In order to underline the importance of character merchandising, we invited several V.I.P.s from the toy trade to say a few words on the subject from the manufacturer's point of view. You can read their comments elsewhere in this publication. We are indeed grateful for their warmhearted responses which underline our own feelings. These items make most interesting reading.

THUNDERBIRDS SUCCESS

The success of Thunderbirds has now spread throughout the world. It is being seen in some 30 different countries as diverse as Ghana and Holland, Saudi Arabia and Japan. There are millions of children of all races and creeds reliving the parts of Scott, Virgil, Alan, etc. The success story just grows and grows and grows. Naturally, Thunderbirds must end at some stage to make .way for new characters and stories and the trade will be kept fully informed if and when this will take place. But meanwhile, support for Thunderbirds merchandise during 1967 will be nothing short of sensational.

NATIONAL NETWORK

Primarily there will be, of course, the weekly series, nationally networked. This virtually amounts to an hour- long commercial every week for your product. This will extend right up to May of 1967.

FULL COLOUR FEATURE

Just before Christmas the 90minutes plus full colour feature film opened at the London Pavilion. This was followed in late December by the usual North London release on the powerful Rank-Odeon circuit. The film now goes on general release with special emphasis during the Christmas and Easter holiday periods at major centres throughout the country.

CHILDREN'S COMICS

Of course, there are still Britain's two most powerful weekly children's comics to add even further support. TV Century 21 and Lady Penelope have a combined readership of around the three million mark and every one a potential customer. As if this weren't enough there are many other publications, annuals, paper backs, hard backs, colouring books, story books, etc., etc., all creating even wider interest. Who could ask for anything more ? Yes, your Thunderbirds items will be in ever increasing demand as the months go by. Are you confident you can meet the demand ?