Having just gone through the summer when the final instalment of the Harry Potter series was released “The Deathly Hallows” I felt I had to at least comment on it. I am not going to try and review the books individually or as a series as I am sure that every person out there who is interested in reading the books has already done so. Everyone who has already experienced the world of Harry Potter will no doubt have formed their own opinion, and those that have been less interested will probably not want to read a series review anyway.
I have decided therefore that I would look at the ‘media machine’ and ‘hype’ that surrounded this famed book’s release. On the 21st of July 2007, approximately 10 million people across the world first opened Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Not only was this a phenomenon for the people who worked to keep the plotline a secret, but also for those that have been waiting for ten years to finish reading the series.
At the time I followed the news articles about this book, I was not only one of those waiting to read it, but I was curious about how much interest that it was generating. I remember watching the news the day before it was released to see that some fans had been queuing for 36 hours outside a london shop for it's release. Many people have criticised JK Rowling and the “hyping hands behind Harry Potter”. With this and all the ‘Potter merchandise’ that is on sale, you could easily start to think that this is a worldwide brand and no longer a book series. However, the one thing that I did think was a bit unfair was the criticism of the author for wanting to keep the plotline totally secret. Yes there is no doubt that there was an unprecedented amount of interest and security surrounding the release of one single book. However, I personally have read the books since the age of eleven, which means that it has taken nine years to find out what has happened. If you look at it from that perspective then its hardly surprising most people wanted to discover what happened for themselves.
But even with the secrecy issue aside, you can’t blame the publicists for wanting to capitalise on the situation that they found themselves. As Dave Yoder a writer for Sioux city journal said “There’ll never be another Harry Potter, just like there will never be another Beatles. It’s not just the books, it’s the times that made it a phenomenon.”
I agree with this, the amazing success can’t be contributed to any one thing; no-one at the beginning could have predicted that the fans would become so fanatical about the series, no-one can have guessed that the author would be so well received or that the marketing would even work.
The fans and the media have made the Harry Potter series into the untouchable marketing power that it is today. With this in mind who can criticise the publicists for wanting to make the most of it. Whilst I have not counted up the column inches or the time speant talking about Harry Potter this summer; I can’t help feeling that this book’s release and the hype surrounding it, has got to be one of the most unique marketing events we have seen all summer.
On a different note, with regards to the book cover, I remember this particular article (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/06/22/nosplit/booldharry12.xml) which said that there were suspicions that people were opting not to buy the traditional children's version of the book as the preferred the cover on the adult's. Although this is not exactly surprising, it does underline the importance of book covers. If you extract Harry Potter from the exceptional circumstances it was released in and the fact it is part of a series, I wonder how many people would have been put off buying the book altogether if they didn't like the cover.
Articles quoted;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2007/07/18/nosplit/ftpotter118.xml
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/08/02/news_opinion/dave_yoder/3953aff49d3825418625732a007970bd.txt
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