JK: Are you guys going with any fast food chains or anything like that?

DB: We're not selling the video there, but we do have two major tie-ins. One is at Orange-Julius/Dairy Queen. They're giving away Casper product in all their kid's value meals. We also have a major tie-in with Baskin-Robbins nationwide. They're putting a coupon in the video for free ice cream sundaes. In all their stores they have counter cards promoting the video and they named a new ice cream flavor for three months called "Chiller Thriller" to promote Casper.

JK: "Chiller Thriller" going along with the Halloween theme.

DB: Right and it comes out the 31^st. So Halloween will give us a great opportunity to promote the ghost. At the same time, the video comes out just shortly after that for Christmas and will be on the shelves for the next 2 and half months.

JK: With the direct to video and various promotions you've been focusing on, what are some of the promotions we'll see on television?

DB: We're spending about 2.5 million advertising dollars to advertise the video during the holiday season. In addition to that, as I've mentioned, we're tying in with all the local TV stations, one in each major market -- I think the top 50 markets -- where they'll be giving away Casper grand prizes to the Saturday morning children's viewing public. We're also going to be working with the Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. So, we're doing a lot on TV.

© Harvey Entertainment.

JK: Will any of the Casper films, like Casper's Spirited Beginning, be airing this holiday season?

DB: No, but we will be airing the new video release Casper's Haunted Christmas on the USA Network, so that'll be a big boost for the video sales. We've created a lot of account specific promotions. For instance, with Wal-Mart if you buy the video there, you can get the soundtrack. One song from the soundtrack, "Deck the Halls" sung by Randy Travis, will be attached to the video. So we're doing a lot of account specific promotions as well.

JK: Is there anything else, you'd like to add about Casper?

DB: Well, we did a "Making of Casper" that will be on the DVD which is a 15 minute special that we're using a lot on the Internet. We also have a gentleman over here by the name of Sid Jacobsen who was the original editor and edited all the Casper comic books through the years and he also created the character Richie Rich. So he's been with Harvey forever and he's going to be doing interviews with the printed press and on the Internet to talk with people about the history here at Harvey and his experience with it. We're really excited and we're expecting well over a million units initially shipped for this holiday season.

Joan Kim received her B.A. in English Literature from UCLA and currently is the editorial administrator for Animation World Network. Previously as a graphics consultant she produced several company reports and manuals and continues to pursue an education in computer graphics.