Interview: Bobby Kim of Disney Consumer Products on Bringing Star Wars from the Big Screen to Store Shelves

Disney Consumer Products just kicked off their Star Wars: Most Wanted campaign ahead of New York Toy Fair as the excitement builds for the upcoming release of The Mandalorian & Grogu. The product reveal included a fireside chat between Disney Consumer Products Global Creative Director Bobby Kim and the film’s director, Disney Legend Jon Favreau. After the presentation, we had the opportunity to talk to Rob Michaelis (VP, North America Brand Commercialization at Disney Consumer Products) about the Star Wars initiative and designing products for the film and the franchise as a whole.

Laughing Place: Star Wars is always an ongoing consumer product franchise, but with the extra excitement of bringing the characters that people fall in love with on Disney+ onto the big screen with The Mandalorian and Grogu, it must be really exciting to bring those products to life. 

Rob Michaelis: Completely. I am so excited. I just listened to Jon Favreau and I had an epiphany as I'm listening to him, because I am a fan of the filmmaker, and I feel, as a product guy, the excitement and responsibility to tell his story and extend that product. It's a new story for us to tell, we're overwhelmed by the possibilities. 

LP: Jon was obviously inspired by the products around the original film, whether they were in the movie or not. 
What's it like to work with a filmmaker who is so invested in understanding that the products that come out of it enhance the storytelling after you leave the theater? 

RM: Totally. It is so funny. 
I was sitting in front of the Hasbro team, and when Jon was finished, I looked back, and I said, "Hey, when Jon's gig is done, you may want to talk about hiring him." Because, you know, he gets it. Because a lot of content creators and filmmakers we work with, they don't understand the process. 
But he understands it, as both a filmmaker and a fan. I think it's sort of the next level of responsibility and excitement that we have. 


LP: The Walt Disney Company, back when The Mandalorian debuted, got a lot of credit for its restraint in not making products for Grogu or Baby Yoda at the time. You don't want it spoiled, and it's a testament that you let the world have that surprise moment. 
Now you actually are part of the collaborative process, ensuring that these products come out when they're supposed to come out and they're not stepping on the story's toes, you're enhancing them. 

RM: That is the whole theory about what we are doing. The Star Wars: Most Wanted campaign is a full year of products, and it's a great question about Grogu. A lot of us didn't know about Grogu until we were told, and to Jon's point, the life cycle of a product is 12 to 18 months. 
So, it created this excitement with the consumer, because there wasn't product to be had. Demand was high, supply was low, and that just sort of created excitement. So, I think that's part of what we want to do. 
We want to create product that people crave. We don't want to oversaturate them, saturate the market, but we want to have products all year long. So I think, as you'll see, we'll have drops and releases throughout the year for both fans, collectors, and casual fans. 


LP: With Star Wars, you have a franchise that doesn’t have as frequent theatrical releases as something like Marvel or even, Pixar, but there's always an appetite to have Star Wars products, even when there's not a movie coming out. You have a lifelong connection to those who want to celebrate Star Wars. It is not dependent necessarily on the storytelling life cycle. 
What is it like to make products for all sorts of fans?

RM: To your point, there hasn't been as many theater releases as Marvel, but, the excitement is always there. 
And as a fan and a dad, I share my love with my daughters, and now they have a different lens, an admiration. The product spans a lot of different categories. Collectibles, plush, accessories, apparel, home items, like you said. I love collectibles. I am a fanboy, and my kids are a little different. Their entryway is streetwear. So, there's something for everybody, and I think that's the beauty of that franchise. 

LP: How do you make sure that you're not just making products for yourselves? Star Wars has fans across all demographics. How do you make sure you have something for everyone?

RM: Well, that's probably the biggest rule of product marketing and development. 
You can't just make stuff for yourself, because all we would have are just a wall of collectibles. I mean, we listen to consumers. We listen to insights and data. To your point, lots of people love Star Wars from the die-hard fans to the more casual ones. 
So it's important to give something to everybody. And, again, Star Wars: Most Wanted, is for a full year and we're gonna do just that for the whole time. 

LP: You're kicking off today, and you'll obviously have the movie and its associated life cycle throughout the Disney ecosystem. 
What are you excited for fans to see?

RM: The LEGO collection, is gonna be unbelievable. 
So that's out there. Some of the Grogu products, such as Snacking Grogu, and some of the other interactive Grogu products are amazing. That's me.
I know my kids have a different lens. I'm most excited about some of the collectibles, but there's something for everybody, and that's what I find so exciting. 
I want to see how consumers react throughout the year. 

LP: When we talked to Disney leadership, they're always talking about how integrated the company is. Whether it's between parks, products, movies, TV. It was one of the first things that we heard from Josh D'Amaro when we talked to him last week. 
He talked a little bit about the collaboration throughout The Walt Disney Company to ensure that you're actually delivering for the guests and you're not just playing to your own fiefdom. 

RM: That's a great question. When we mobilize a property, we do it as a collective team, so everyone's hearing the same message. And certainly, we go off and do our own development, but there's constant communication. So what you see out there, there's parks product, there's stores product, there's licensed product. No matter where you see it, there's a through line. There's a similar story that's being told. 
I think there's a mitigation of territorialism that happens at Disney. It's about the fan and the consumer. And I think Josh, frankly, he's been our leader in the consumer product side. Now he's our CEO. He has done a great job of evangelizing that. Breaking down the walls and ensuring that it's about the product and the extension of the story as opposed to the fiefdom.

Star Wars: Most Wanted is just one initiative launching as Disney Consumer Products continues the Blockbuster Season. Stay tuned for more news and information coming out of Toy Fair and Disney Consumer Products.