Harry Potter is still a growing brand and culturally relevant even now nine years after the last movie was released and thirteen years since the last book. This month Celebrities, along with some fans, are producing an audiobook of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone by recording themselves reading chapters and releasing them through Spotify.
https://open.spotify.com/show/2JUljwaD9fNSeq8Vy3UAUp
This is the most recent addition to a brand that has spanned two decades.
Starting with 7 books that bred a fan base that would be difficult to top. The release of the new books from number 4 onwards became events around the world. Midnight releases, special editions, and merchandise became the norm. This intensified when the movies went into production. Suddenly a large target audience for Harry Potter material became massive.
A huge audience, with staying power, as evidence in the 2016 Fantastic Beasts and Where movie series which were produced as a prequel series. The release its third movie in the franchise set for 2020/2021 with two more movies slated to come after.
Harry Potter is been adapting to new technology as well. The Wizarding World website, or Pottermore as it was, has users in the millions. This site provides new material from J.K.Rowling, allows users to be sorted by the sorting hat, find their wand and Patronus.
Another digital advancement for the brand is the three Harry Potter apps available in the Google play store or Apple app store. One of app’s is a companion to the aforementioned website and utilises a lot of the material there, the two others are gaming apps. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite mirrors the Pokemon: Go app formula allows users to capture escaped magical items in their surroundings and the other Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is a role-playing game where users can work their way through Hogwarts.
Not to mention the ever-expanding Warner Brother’s Harry Potter theme park.
All of this shows that fans are willing to go back time and again to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Who is the biggest arsehole in the Harry Potter books?
— Jenny Houlihan (@jennydontbe) May 8, 2020
