Context of Practice 3: Force Friday

Now with Disney at the helm, Star Wars is flexing it's merchandise muscles in anticipation of Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens.

This effort parallels previous ventures for during the releases of the prequel films, when merchandise was released prior to the 'anchor' product.

Now with a more coherent coordinated strategy, Disney has invented a brand new consumer holiday event for Star Wars fanatics to attend called 'Force Friday'.
The global launch event involved many stores opening at midnight, enabling fans to be some of the first to buy merchandise for a film that they will not see for another three months.

Photograph: Ken Cheung/AP

FORCE FRIDAY!!! #forcefriday #starwars #theforceawakens @john_boyega thank you so much to all the amazing staff at @disneystore Oxford Street for making tonight so amazing!!!

A video posted by @daisyridley on Sep 3, 2015 at 4:56pm PDT

This effort has involved celebrity endorsement from the stars of the film, who help promote events using their personal social media platforms (which may be censored if they break their NDAs etc). Thus, the actors become another promotional vehicle

Despite some issues with under-stocking during Force Friday, the event is likely to secure Star Wars toy sales at the top this holiday.