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the cantilena of speech
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Toronto
Posts: 2,520
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Charlie Chaplin's radical image makeover
This was on p.3 of today's Globe & Mail. I had to doublecheck the front page to make sure it didn't say "April 1st". --N
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Making Chaplin cool to the Internet generation
Montreal company seeks to re-energize icon's rebel image in video games, movie
By BERTRAND MAROTTE
Friday, June 18, 2004 - Page A3
MONTREAL -- Is the Little Tramp ready for a radical image makeover?
A newly formed Montreal company has struck a deal with the estate of silent-film star Charlie Chaplin that gives it exclusive gatekeeper status in the granting of global licencing and merchandising rights to the silver-screen icon.
At the heart of the strategy to "re-energize and reintroduce the Chaplin persona to a new generation" -- as the publicity information puts it -- is a campaign to sell the sentimental, sad-sack character to the 14- to 25-year-old crowd as a "rebel" in video games and maybe a new movie.
"Chaplin is an old guy," Pierre Verreault, chairman of Krypton Imagination Inc., said at a news conference yesterday. "We need to bring him into the 21st century."
Mr. Verreault, 57, who bills himself as an expert in e-commerce and international marketing, said there are preliminary talks with Hollywood producers regarding a Shrek-style computer-animated feature based on the Chaplin character.
A deal was negotiated last week with Indian games developer Dhruva Interactive for Chaplin-based content and mobile-phone games.
Krypton cites as evidence of Chaplin's appeal to youth culture a European chart-topping song by U.S. hip-hop artist J-Five that celebrates the film actor as "the mack daddy of the 1930s" and features clips from his film Modern Times in the music video.
In conjunction with its licencing venture, Krypton said it is launching a virtual boutique, an on-line store that will serve as a one-stop shop for official Charlie Chaplin licensed products.
Krypton is hedging its bets by also appealing to older consumers with branding that plays up what it terms the "humanist" and "comic" aspects of the left-leaning, pacifist movie icon. Chaplin became one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the silent era playing his universally recognized aristocratic hobo with a heart of gold. Critics count The Gold Rush, City Lights and Modern Times among his masterpieces.
Branded a Communist by some and dogged by political and personal scandals, he left the United States in the early 1950s a bitter man and wasn't allowed back. A British subject, he never applied for U.S. citizenship. He died in 1977 at 89 at his home in Vevey, Switzerland.
His children retain all rights to his image and Little Tramp character, as well as to his movies and music, through a merchandising and licencing company he founded in 1972 called Bubbles Inc. SA. For years, Bubbles parcelled out rights for such items as T-shirts, posters, dolls and greeting cards. Krypton touts its deal with the company as "the first time in Bubbles' history that a comprehensive branding program for the legendary Charlie Chaplin is being championed."
Mr. Verreault, who said he has personally invested more than $1-million in the venture, got to know the Chaplin children about 1½ years ago when he built the website for the new Chaplin museum in Vevey and gradually gained their trust for a global branding program.
The plan is to yank the funny little man out of his black-and-white world and propel him into the present, complete with "colour and texture" in parts of the images, said Thérèse Mondor, the rebranding team's creative director.
Proposed colours in the company's "style guide" -- approved by Bubbles -- include blue and warm red in the "comic mood" category and, naturally, black in the "rebel mood" palette.
Potential licencees include makers of watches, clothes, stationery and gift collectibles, said Jean David, the president of Kypton and a former marketing executive with the Cirque du Soleil.
Mr. Verreault said Chaplin ranks with Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Madonna as a global icon, but that the aging image needs to be "refreshed."
Jordan Le Bel, assistant professor of marketing at Montreal's Concordia University, said Krypton has its work cut out for it. "The challenge is connecting with the Internet generation. Many who grew up with the Internet don't know him very well," he said.
However, Krypton may be on to something in choosing to highlight Chaplin's "anti-authoritarian" streak, he added.
"There is that element of tilting against institutions, of thumbing his nose at them," he said.
"The trick will be to create this new wave of popularity for Chaplin without cheapening him."
Mr. Verreault said the Chaplin estate is confident his image is in good hands.
"My father, Charlie Chaplin, has always been incredibly modern and before his time," one of his daughters, Josephine, said in a statement. "After many meetings with Krypton, I now know that they realize how much the Chaplin image can give to all generations. I trust them to present a 'new' image of Chaplin, accessible to all."
The two founders of Krypton describe Chaplin as "the first global citizen" who, as someone who stood up for the little guy, has a role to play in today's climate of geopolitical uncertainty and confusion. "Here was a man who, beyond being an internationally renowned comic, was a rebel and a humanist," a news release said.
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