A Broadway show uses many of the typical avenues to get its name out there, from TV ads and social media campaigns to OOH components across New York City, and even the buzz of celebrity-cast involvement.
Then there is the merchandise itself, bespoke pieces often emblazoned with the show’s name or creative references to the source material, which can organically promote the show to a fan’s family, friends, coworkers, or even passers-by who are sharing the same subway car.
But what happens when fans think the merchandise is…well, uncool?
Earlier this year, popular theater TikTok creator and podcast host Jonathan Lewis, better known online as The Sweaty Oracle, posited in a video that “Broadway is actually allergic to producing any kind of attractive merchandise.” Lewis, who has more than 90,000 followers on the platform, critiqued several current shows’ efforts and suggested that merch is suffering from the trend of oversimplified logos and a general lack of creativity. The comment section reflected broad agreement, with several users lamenting that recent theater merchandise can feel more like a “walking ad” than a service to fans.
Michael Rego, founder of the agency The Araca Group, has created and strategized merch for long-running shows like Wicked and The Book of Mormon as well as limited runs like last season’s Glengarry Glen Ross, and he said that while merchandise is made for fans, it does also function as an ad.
“A very wise person in the advertising business once said to me that every dollar we sell in merchandise is two to three dollars we don’t have to spend in advertising,” he said.
With that said, some Broadway marketers, both established and independent, are looking to give merchandise a reboot to superserve savvy fans who want something a little different.
It’s time to try defying gravity being subtle
The Araca Group was born out of Rego and his co-founders’ desire to produce theater in New York, and the company operates a show production arm in addition to its marketing services, which Rego said informs its merchandise strategy.
“For us, merchandise really was an offshoot of our producing, content-creation mindset,” he said. “We started handling merch because we just weren’t really satisfied with a traditional form of merchandise.”
Rego traces the beginnings of Broadway merchandise back to the ’80s, when shows like Les Misérables and Cats began selling attire and tchotchkes mainly featuring show logos. When The Araca Group came onto the scene, he said, such an approach was no longer enough.
“By the time we came into the business, we said, ‘Gosh, there’s so many other ways that intellectual property merchandises itself,’” he said. “For the sense of trying to be fashion-forward, of being on brand, having an integration with marketing, to creating a retail destination.”
Being fashion-forward seems to resonate particularly with modern fans, he said, and some fans online have shared a desire for more subtle merchandise, leaning into an “if you know, you know” aesthetic over bold show logos. Rego’s company aims to serve this audience, he told us.
“There’s a certain audience that wants to have the brag,” he said. “But then there’s a whole other audience that’s out there that wants to emulate the feeling that they have from seeing a show. It’s something more aspirational, and they don’t want to actually feel like they’re doing a hard sell when they wear a T-shirt.”
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The Araca Group’s internal sales data shows that more subtle merch is in high demand, and Rego said talking to theatergoers on the ground also helps inform the types of merch and design ideas that eventually get made. But fans aren’t the only ones influencing the merch machine, with show producers, authors, and investors all being stakeholders in the merchandise business. And their opinions hold weight, especially as Broadway, like movie theaters, continues to look to make up for slow-to-return audiences.
Still though, Rego thinks that seeking to serve the audience first is what makes merch work for both the fan and business-minded.
“Ultimately, merchandise really should go back to help the marketing of the show,” Rego told us. “It should help sell tickets. It should help create word of mouth and give our audiences a feeling of being an ambassador for the show.”
I’m independently owned and operated
For those unsatisfied with current Broadway merch, though, there is a booming sub-industry of independently designed products being made and sold on platforms like Etsy and Redbubble. While not officially sanctioned by productions, occasionally those designs catch the attention of the shows themselves.
Julia Lawrence’s T-shirt design featuring themes inspired by John Proctor Is The Villain is one of these. Lawrence, a graphic designer and self-described theater kid, originally made a design inspired by the hit show, which is about a group of high school students studying Arthur Miller’s 1953 play The Crucible, using imagery from the original cover of the play, that quickly picked up steam among theater fans online. The show reached out to her to commission a new design, as it didn’t have the rights to the original cover art, which is how Lawrence landed on imagery depicting girls dancing and featuring the quote “I contain freaking multitudes,” a standout line from the show.
Lawrence has posted various other digital redesigns of theater merch on her TikTok page and website, and she said her artistic approach to design is what she believes drew the JPITV team to her.
“When I design a merch piece, [I think] ‘Would I want this hanging on my wall as a piece of art?’” Lawrence said. “I never want it to be a logo or words just slapped on a shirt. These productions are so beautiful and intricate in their works of art, and I believe the merchandise should be an extension of that.”
As theater fans connect online and shows shift their own approaches to social media, Lawrence said she believes merchandise is at a turning point, and said that tapping into the feedback loop available through social media could be a way forward.
“There are some productions that are…listening to what fans want, and so they’re building online communities, even among fans who haven’t had the chance to even see the show live,” Lawrence said. “That kind of reach, I think, creates a demand for merch that helps fans feel connected to the show, even from afar.”