9 brand-extension lessons from Monopoly
Monopoly is celebrating its 90th anniversary.
The brand is in stronger health than ever and this OG of board games has much to teach about brand extensions and commercialising IP.
It’s worth noting upfront that when commercialising a brand, it helps if the brand itself is based on making money! 💰💰 Commercial exploitation is fundamental to the capitalist spirit of the game, and the Hasbro team have certainly taken that principle and run with it.
Lesson 1: Stratify your core product
Official Hasbro sources talk about 300 ‘unique editions’ of Monopoly, but in total there have been so many more. The Guinness World Record Holder for the largest collection has 4,379 editions. And a warehouse.
By evolving the core Monopoly product in this way through special editions, Hasbro:
Encourages collecting
Enables fans to express their affiliation to featured locations and partner brands
Gives fresh reasons to buy and creates limited-edition appeal
Provides a new dimension to the traditional gameplay
Keeps the Monopoly brand current
These are the versions I own (those who know me will recognise the affiliations).
Lesson 2: Embrace brand collabs, licensing & promotional partnerships
These special Monopoly editions that partner with 3rd party IP have long established it as a property (pun intended) that is particularly well suited to brand collabs.
That continues today, with executions such as the Nike LeBron James x Monopoly sneakers (“Currency”, “Token”, and “What The Monopoly”) and luxury game set.
Licensing deals enable fans to celebrate the brand with on-trend creative, such as the range recently launched by Shoe Palace.
Meanwhile, Monopoly is behind one of the all-timer promotional partnerships: its tie-in with McDonalds has been running since 1987 and is now active in 23 countries (as a side note, this promotion was so huge it inspired a $24m multi-year scam, as documented in the HBO series McMillion$).
Lesson 3: Innovate to keep things updated and fresh
In celebration of Monopoly’s 90th anniversary, a new version has just been released with a refreshed, more modern look including a more compact box, updated money designs, larger tokens, and a new tray to keep the bank organised.
In addition, 3 expansion packs were launched: Free Parking Jackpot, Go To Jail, and Buy Everything. I love that these expansion packs give players a new reason to play the games they already own.
Lesson 4: Take it to the real world
In London, Path Entertainment Group operates Monopoly Lifesized, a team-based experience for groups of up to six, playing on a life-sized board and completing various challenges in order to buy properties and build houses. A touring version, Monopoly Lifesized: Travel Edition, is currently in Denver.
Path also operates a London bus tour, Monopoly Tea Tours, combining gameplay, food and drinks, and sightseeing iconic London locations, which ties in nicely with the brand.
Lesson 5: Extend to new platforms and embrace digital
This is where Monopoly has acquired some rocket fuel in the last couple of years 🚀.
Mobile games developer Scopely launched MONOPOLY GO! in 2023 and it became the biggest mobile game launch of all time, generating $2 billion in revenue in the first ten months after launch.
Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said the company is receiving $10 million per month in royalties (with $38 million generated for Hasbro in Q4 of 2024).
Lesson 6: Take the time to get a detailed understanding of the brand and its appeal to fans
Generating a hit on the scale of MONOPOLY GO! involved seven years of development, and a granular understanding of the brand ingredients.
Early approaches were scrapped when it was determined that they were not delivering on these elements.
Massimo Maietti, GM for MONOPOLY GO! at Scopely, told mobilegamer.biz:
“In our first version we were not faithfully modelling one of the core values of the brand, that is, the fantasy of getting rich by being rich already! … When thinking about Monopoly, people vividly recall the first time they charged their mum rent or bankrupted their friend. They recall the highs and lows, lucky breaks, bad streaks, going to jail and building hotels. We felt that with this second attempt we were able to capture the emotional rollercoaster of Monopoly in a format that was sustainable and interesting over the long term … We tried to make a game that would not turn away any player. Our focus on social connectivity demanded that the game be attractive for a grandmother as well as for her grandson and anyone in between.”
This principle of starting with a detailed understanding of your brand, its values and appeal, applies equally to any brand extension. As Brian Baker, SVP of Board Games at Hasbro, told Brands Untapped:
“MONOPOLY’s core DNA is very strong – strategy, competition, a little bit of villainy – and that’s what we need to preserve. But then, we also need to keep the brand fresh and exciting for new audiences. So, we approach it by introducing new editions and features that play off the game’s timeless appeal, while experimenting with new mechanics or themes that resonate with today’s players. It’s about staying true to what people love about MONOPOLY but always looking for ways to make it feel relevant, fun, and engaging for different generations.”
Lesson 7: Go local with your marketing
Scopely co-CEO Javier Ferreira told Venturebeat:
“Our marketing team [for MONOPOLY GO!] was a fierce advocate for taking a hyperlocal approach, and in turn, much of our upfront marketing investment went to developing individualized creative that reflected the language and culture of every country where the game is available,” he said. “It also wasn’t just the creative the team focused on, they rebuilt our dashboards, re-organized our teams, and changed how we ran our analytics to ensure we were hyper-focused at the country level.”
It also helps that they spent an absolute fortune on marketing and user acquisition: $500 million in the first 10 months (albeit evidently in a hyper-focused and efficient way).
Lesson 8: Continue around the flywheel - and even lap yourself
As the above points show, when the flywheel is working well, all forms of exploitation can re-enforce each other.
And in a success story like Monopoly, you can end up lapping yourself: in a meta “IP will eat itself” moment that I love, MONOPOLY GO! now has a physical board game edition.
The success of MONOPOLY GO! has itself now created a new platform for brand collaborations and promotional partnerships, such as a recent Marvel crossover event Featuring Spider-Man, Wolverine, Deadpool and The Avengers.
MONOPOLY GO! promotional partnerships have also included a deal with Six Nations Rugby, which offered in-stadium and digital activations during the recent tournament, leveraging Six Nations' IP and fan data to drive digital user acquisition. There were on-pitch activations, a tycoon-style competition on social media to win tickets, and a themed in-game event.
Lesson 9: Develop new stories and formats across TV and film
There have been previous iterations of Monopoly on TV - for example, Monopoly Millionaire’s Club ran for two seasons a decade ago, and was coupled with a multi-state lottery.
The success of MONOPOLY GO! has now put fresh wind in the sails when it comes to TV, and format rights are currently being shopped. Deadline reported last week:
“A slew of broadcast networks and streamers are battling it out to pass Go on an unscripted TV adaptation of classic board game Monopoly … The Monopoly series is looking to bring the legendary game to the real world in a large-scale social-experiment contest. Strategy, alliances and cutthroat competition will collide as contestants battle for fortune and navigate the fine line between capitalism and chaos.”
It certainly seems as though TV formats based on board game IP are having a moment, with recent deals for Scrabble, Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit.
And for the big screen, Margot Robbie’s Lucky Chap Entertainment is following their Barbie success with a movie based on the Monopoly IP. The film is being written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldestein (who adapted another table-top game for the movies with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves).
A hit movie would certainly spin the flywheel even faster.
To conclude, our 9 brand extension lessons from Monopoly:
Stratify your core product
Embrace brand collabs, licensing & promotional partnerships
Innovate to keep things updated and fresh
Take it to the real world
Extend to new platforms and embrace digital
Take the time to get a detailed understanding of the brand and its appeal to fans
Go local with your marketing
Continue around the flywheel - and even lap yourself
Develop new stories and formats across TV and film
Two final thoughts:
Not every extension seems like a great brand fit - a Monopoly drinking game, anyone?
Here are the Monopoly rules you have probably been playing wrong your whole Life (for example, did you know that if a player lands on a property and declines to make a purchase, it goes to auction among the other players?)
Let me know in the comments if you have favourite Monopoly versions, house rules, or brand-extension lessons to share!
And if you enjoyed this article, do share it using the button below 🙂.
ICYMI - recent franchise management news
Controvery surrounding Disney’s live-action Snow White remake may be compromising its launch publicity, but there have been some nice brand partnerships, including with Unilever and Essie.
Staying with Disney, SXSW hosted a session with execs from the studio to discuss their approach to world-building across film and theme parks. The company is currently accelerating investment in U.S. and international theme parks and cruise lines to about $60 billion over 10 years.
And still with Disney, the first three episodes of Andor Season 1 were released on YouTube, in advance of Season 2 launching on Disney+. A great funnel-building strategy.
The third season of The White Lotus has been amplified by number of new brand partnerships, nicely summarised here. The main beneficiary from this show, though, has to be The Four Seasons.
Commentary on the Amazon/Bond takeover continues. There is not much new in this Hollywood Report article, but I did enjoy the cover image of Bezos as Blofeld
Variety ran a profile of Mattel and its CEO Ynon Kreiz, “The Joy Factory: How Mattel Keeps Its Enduring Brands Present in Pop Culture”
Sony won a bidding war for the rights to a new installment of the Resident Evil franchise. That might seem like tired IP, but the announcement of Barbarian’s Zach Cregger as director makes it interesting. Or, as the Hollywood Reporter puts it:
“It’s the involvement of Cregger that sent bidders into a frenzy and injected a jolt into what was considered a dehydrated property.”
Ampere Analysis issued a report claiming that, as the media industry navigates a commissioning downturn, franchises and IP are the key to success. But you read this newsletter, so you knew that already! Ampere’s analysis shows that over two-thirds of the top 100 movies and TV shows in 2024 were based on existing IP.
That’s it for this week - any feedback always welcome!
Another concise and informative read - thanks Will.
Super interesting read again, thanks Will!
Great to see a breakdown of Monopoly and how the game continues to expand its transmedia touch