Gross sales of Mickey Mouse merchandise hopped from $300,000 in 1933 to $36,000,000 last ear. That's Kay Kamen's little contribution to the Walt Disney Enterprises. This black-haired, heavy-featured, big-handed, soft-spoken merchandiser didn't do the selling. But the hop started as soon as Kay Kamen, Ltd., took over the business of licensing manufacturers, servicing them with advertising and selling and packaging ideas, safeguarding Mickey Mouse patents and copyrights.
Today more than 100 companies all over the world make Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and Horace Horsecollar jewelry from 10-cent store items to $1,100 diamond and platinum bracelets: shoes, dresses, toys, dolls, books, dollar watches, glassware and so on, paying royalties averaging 5%. Kamen's offices in 11 countries offer smart merchandising help largely because Kamen himself, in previous years selling his syndicated ad, service, studied stores every: where. He was on the road out of Kansas City all the time; "lived in a Pierce-Arrow for years" knew as many retailers as any man. Today he doesn't sell, he creates demand; finds the right people to fill it.
He has little time for anything but Walt Disney characters—and a few race horses. He never gets tired of Mickey et als; spends lots of time in the movies watching people's reaction to them; has seen a single Disney picture as many as 50 times! That's where ideas are born that boost merchandise sales.
