Spider-Man goes to Pottery Barn

In an effort to expand the audience for licensed merchandise, Marvel has begun offering Spider-Man branded items at Pottery Barn of all places, according to Brandweek.

The items available at Pottery Barn, mostly made up of home furnishing items, are more subdued and under-stated than the Spider-Man products you’d find at Target or elsewhere. The products will be featured in Pottery Barn window displays, catalogs and other material.

The licensing team at Marvel is also reportedly working on deals to offer co-branded merchandise through other partners, but who those are and what those products might be are not disclosed.

This is the kind of thing that is tough to do, which is part of the reason only pop-culture icons like Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and a handful of (mostly dead) celebrities have been able to pull it off. While it makes sense to branch out like this Marvel also runs the very real risk of veering off-brand if they go too far down this road and alienating the core customer that shells out their dollars for a Spider-Man blow up pool chair.

I’m not saying they need to intentionally stay low-class. Just that it’s going to take some convincing of those moms that shop at Pottery Barn that Spider-Man fits in with what they came there for (faux-vintage home furniture and such). And conversely if there’s too much emphasis on this area by Marvel at the expense of other products the Wal-Mart shopper could decide the brand is abandoning them and abandon it.