The concept of leisurized marketing was to get at the very essence of what makes things sell through a leisure environment. The Disney term actually refers to selling merchandise in an entertaining way. In many of its operations it does have this concept down better than most.

Recently I visited several West End and Broadway theatrical productions. These included the shows Spamalot, the Monty Python spoof about King Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail; Tarzan, the latest Disney production; and Wicked, based on the witches of Oz. Two of the three shows had rather lacklustre merchandising. It was as its best, if not outstanding, at Spamalot, relatively average at Wicked, and clearly below average, especially by Disney standards, at Tarzan. In fact, I don't recall any great merchandising at any of the other Disney Broadway shows either.

Spamalot's merchandise booths in London were the busiest I've ever seen at a live musical show on either the West End or Broadway. They had great items like T-shirts that picked up on key lines in the show or titles of memorable songs. The “I'm Not Dead Yet” shirt was a top seller. In the novelty category were souvenir cans of Spam meat, and my favourite, the catapulting cow set, although it was overpriced to move in any great numbers. The merchandise is presented in a fully themed environment and it even mocks itself with a sign that says “Ye Olde Rippey-Offey Shoppe” (pictured here). This is knowing-nod to the fact that the prices are not cheap but the margins are excellent, and the public seemed to accept it.

You can see all of the great line of merchandise available at Spamalot by visiting the website www.spamalotshop.com. I'll be interested to know if the merchandise sells as well with the shorter obligatory 90-minute Las Vegas version of the show that runs about 150 minutes on the West End.

Merchandising at Spamalot presents unique products in a unique environment, with strong motivational factors and cool, provocative and conversation-stimulating concepts that strongly attract buyers. Just what good parks and attractions have been doing for years. In fact, the façade that has been erected for the theatre for outside the theatre even looks like a theme park set!

Dr Samuels provides diverse consulting services in marketing, facility development, customer service, safety, crowd, and event management and promotional activities programming such as birthday parties. He can be reached at samuelsj@mail.montclair.edu. See more blogs - and add comments - at www.parkworld-online.com

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