Geoffrey The Giraffe Got Invited To Ishabana's Liberation Party

Super Sentai isn't any different from any superhero show product placement. Product placements help give the show the budget it needs to go higher. Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger has an unusually huge budget like it's some anniversary season - when it isn't! I wasn't surprised when the mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe finally went to Ishabana. Sure, we've had a lot of product placements such as the use of Suzuki and Mazda cars in the older Super Sentai series. We've had a lot of product placements left and right but this is the first time Toys R Us' made a very blatant product placement. If I'm not wrong, it also never got involved in any of the other franchises Toei has - not even the American Power Rangers and Toys R Us is an AMERICAN toy company that did something as blatant as this. Toys R Us was key to the success of the Bandai-Toei-Saban Alliance back in the 1990s.

It would be proper to watch the Power Rangers episode of the Netflix show The Toys That Made Us. Toy sales were featured. I remember hearing how Power Rangers suddenly caused massive toy sales in the 1990s. The whole event was parodied by Jingle All the Way with the Turbo Man toy. Speaking of Turbo Man, I wrote a rant where I called Kamen Rider Bandai's "Turbo Man" when Super Sentai toy sales started to decline for some time. 

The history of Geoffrey the Giraffe - the mystical creature that visited Ishabana!

Sure, there were other ways to do product placement for Toys R Us. Maybe, just put a toy store in Ishabana or a Toys R Us booth. Since I've been skipping Power Rangers - maybe I missed the Toys R Us blatant product placement and only noticed Krispy Kreme in the failed Power Rangers (2017) movie. Toys R Us opened in Japan in 1991 - two years before Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers became a big hit in 1993. I guess the Bandai-Toei-Saban Alliance doesn't only owe Steven Spielberg (for Jurassic Park) but also Toys R Us. 

Now, for Geoffrey's history, we can read this which can be read with about the late 1980s which would lead to the initial success:

1988

All throughout the 1980s, Geoffrey and his family made appearances in stores, parades and other events. They greeted fans at iconic American locations including the Statue of Liberty and the famous San Francisco cable cars. Geoffrey and his family made their home in a New England lighthouse—which could comfortably accommodate their height.

Life-size versions of Geoffrey were also spotted in TV commercials during the ‘80s, taking kids on adventures to Toys“R” Us stores and sharing news of all the great toys they would discover there.

The huge toy sales that caught the Bandai-Toei-Saban Alliance by surprise

I mentioned Jingle All the Way earlier. Here's Sinbad who played the film's comedic main antagonist Myron Larabee. I watched the film and I was dreading having to become a teenager a few years from then. Sinbad was in a Toys R Us store in this video. The documentary The Toys That Made Us featured Toys R Us footage of Mighty Morphin' toys getting sold like crazy. I guess that's why Toei finally pulled the plug on the Super Robot Anime franchise. There's more money with a group of superheroes that pilot different sets of robots than a titular super robot. Just think of how the two Anime series where the Voltron franchise came from weren't popular. Hyajakuu Golion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV were what I'd call last two shows. Unlike Voltron, Toei saw more money with Power Rangers which explains why Toei and Bandai worked with Saban. 

Saban was working with Marvel years after Japanese Supaida-Man came out in 1978. I could rant that Saban did a better job adapting Spider-Man than Toei. Toei didn't renew the Marvel license but did copy a few ideas left and right. There was X-Men: The Animated Series which also had an episode where the Mighty Morphin' theme got tied in. I guess Toei was more than happy with it. It'd be interesting though if Toei provided the animation for X-Men: The Animated Series - something I tend to rewatch. Think about how the late Stan Lee wanted to adapt Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan (which is unfortunately cursed by Asao Kobayashi). Lee would meet Saban and we know how X-Men: The Animated Series was truly groundbreaking. IMHO, I think Saban's biggest accomplishment in adaptations would be X-Men: The Animated Series and Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994). 

Saban had his money and then paid the royalties. Toei ended up swallowing the greed as well. Until now, I still wish Mighty Morphin' ended at 40 episodes but we know Toei gave in to the greed. The creation of the Zyu2 footage and Toei's desire to sell the Gosei Sentai Dairanger toys came in. Dairanger came in during 1993 (and also the same year when my extremely favorite Metal Hero entry Tokosou Robo Janperson came ). Halfway, Saban Entertainment and Toei made what I'd call an "ill-timed" decision to finally let Lord Zedd enter the fray. Those Zyu2 footage were meant to have Dinozord battles. The shoddy editing of Dairanger footage with Zyu2 footage was a bad joke. Shoddy editing was also the reason why Saban also did a Creator Backlash and Old Shame with Saban's Mashed Rider. The late Shotaro Ishimorori was badly disappointed with how it turned out. Funny enough, Mashed Rider allowed the lackluster Kamen Rider BLACK RX to be Vindicated by History. Toei later made an "unofficial sequel" in the form of Kamen Rider Decade. Toei also made a Japanese Transformers spin-off with Hasbro's blessing.

Did Toei look at some financial records between them and Saban? If so, I guess the Power Rangers frenzy just got higher. I guess Toei was looking at how much money was remitted to them because of the high sales. I guess they decided to get a product placement with Toys R Us.

Now, for a bit of a business lesson to understand what led to the blatant product placement

I Googled about product placement to try and understand Geoffrey's invitation. I think Toys R Us had already arranged with Toei some time ago to get this blatant product placement. Maybe, Toei finally decided to get Geoffrey into the show - something they never did even in the 1990s. Here are four steps on how companies get a product placement:

Here are four steps you can take to arrange for product placement:

1. Find an opportunity for product placement

First, you can source an opportunity for product placement. Some large companies have teams to find these opportunities, but you could look on your own, too. Maybe you want to advertise your new athletic shoes in a movie so that it reaches a large audience. Try to find an opportunity that can highlight your product to your intended consumers. For example, you might want to put your shoes in a movie about basketball that stars a famous athlete. You can infer that the audience may include people who enjoy sports, which means they might be more receptive to your advertising.

2. Choose a type of trade-off

Once you find an opportunity for product placement, you can choose a type of trade-off. A trade-off is a deal you make with the producers of the project to put your item in their production, and this contract satisfies both you and the producers. You can put your athletic shoes in their movie, and they can receive some sort of payment. There are two common types of trade-off:

• Placement for supply: This means that you offer the production team your product in exchange for integration of your item in their project. For example, you could offer each team member a pair of your new shoes and a gift card to your company.
• Financial compensation: You could also offer them financial compensation for product placement, meaning you'd pay them to put your shoes in their movie.

Sometimes a production team might want to implement your product into their project. In this situation, they might offer you a trade-off to let them utilize your product.

3. Send a proposal

After you choose a trade-off, you can send an official proposal to the production team. Write a professional proposal that states who you are and what your product is. Explain to the members of the production team that you would like for them to put your shoes in their content. You may even explain what value your product could add to their project. Include details of the trade-off by stating the terms and conditions of the product placement. Email your proposal to the production team or someone from the company.

4. Make a deal

If the production team would like to officially arrange for product placement, then they may contact you. You may have to meet with them to discuss the terms of your deal or to sign a contract. Their team might ask you for a different trade-off arrangement. Try to be open to their suggestions so you can successfully make a deal with them. After you make the trade, you may work with the production to decide how to implement your product in their movie.

IMHO, I think Toei probably decided to offer a slot to Toys R Us. It's possible that Toys R Us has new items for Japan (or maybe having a big pre-Christmas sale) and thought about using Super Sentai instead of Kamen Rider. I guess toy sales of King-Ohger are that huge compared to what Kamen Rider Geats and the most recent Kamen Rider Gotchard (which is too early to tell) did. It's possible that Toei sent an invitation to Toys R Us that they're available for product placement. These are mixed with my personal speculations.  

With Toys R Us having a long history of selling Bandai merchandise here and there - it's anything but surprising to have Geoffrey make an appearance. The only thing worth asking is why just NOW? That's one thing I wish I knew why.