Rubik’s Cube: From Retro Icon to Modern Phenomenon
The Age of the Cube
As Rubik’s Cube enters middle age, Day says the product is definitely on an upswing, enough to warrant the creation of a new cube design. Instead of stickers, the new cube is made of molded plastic sans stickers, is harder to pull apart and has a much smoother mechanism. In addition, the last five to six years have seen a confluence of factors all contributing to the game’s status as not just an evergreen pop culture icon but also a very current trend.
For one, we are in a period where the 1980s and 1990s – true Rubik’s Cube heydays – are being celebrated by younger generations and recalled nostalgically by older ones. That factor isn’t lost on the entertainment world, which has given the Rubik’s Cube a fair amount of free advertising in recent years including Will Smith solving a Rubik’s Cube in “The Pursuit of Happyness” and during the movie’s press tour. More recently, Sheldon Cooper on “Big Bang Theory,” played by Jim Parsons, is often seeing wearing a t-shirt with a melting Rubik’s Cube printed on it – a licensing deal put together by The Sharpe Co. and clothing brand Think Geek. The Cube has also appeared on late-night television as Rubik’s Cube speed-solving pros baffle the minds of viewers by matching up all colors in mere seconds. Those appearances also promote the Rubik’s Cube World Championship games held in events around the world and broken down by age and cube type.
“When Jay Leno and Letterman started showing how fast some of these kids and young adults could solve it, that got a lot of publicity,” Day says. “It started attracting more young kids to start being interested in the cube. That, coupled with marketing efforts with our two partners – Hasbro and specialty trade Winning Moves, who also increased their marketing – helped us in extending the brand into other products.”
Brand Extension
In 2008, The Sharpe Co. executed a licensing deal with Techno Source to create Rubik’s Revolution, a handheld electronic version of the six-by-six original cube, which won Game of the Year at the industry Toy of the Year Awards and sold millions. The cube has inspired the creation of clothing, backpacks and even a small cube-shaped refrigerator. Two-and-a-half years ago, the Rubik’s Cube even spun into an app that was featured last year in the iPhone’s global advertising.
“Apple selected our app as one of two representing what they call brilliance,” Day says. “Einstein app was one and we were the other. We literally had just a couple of seconds on the ad, but downloads went through the roof.”
Adding Awareness
At the same time, the licensing agent works closely with the brand to continue increasing its marketing and awareness efforts. For instance, an educational, community outreach program called You Can Do the Cube works alongside educators, providing them with comprehensive standard-based resources that include Rubik’s Cubes, solution guides and curriculum for a hands-on, non-traditional educational avenue for teaching kids STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and 21st Century Skills. Day says it’s also an effective confidence builder. Because the game has stumped so many, teaching kids to solve the Rubik’s Cube reinforces to them that they can solve anything with the right guidance and effort. In that sense, the Rubik’s Cube brand speaks to a much more comprehensive lifestyle, which is what The Sharpe Co. has displayed in its licensing operations and what the game’s creator, Ernő Rubik, wants to communicate with the international audience.
To celebrate the Rubik’s Cube 40th anniversary and its success, Ernő Rubik in partnership with New Jersey’s Liberty Science Center and with Google as the main sponsor have created Beyond Rubik’s Cube, a museum exhibition hosted at the Liberty Science Center. The exhibition is 7,000 square feet of all things Rubik’s Cube – games, puzzles, history, art and engineering – inspired by Ernő Rubik’s best-selling masterpiece.
“Dr. Rubik wanted to create an exhibition for everything Rubik and to show family audiences how the Rubik’s Cube itself [can complement] key school curriculum,” Day says. “We lit up the Empire State Building with the Rubik’s Cube colors and Google got on board. It all helps to show the Rubik’s Cube as being a cohesive brand.”