2012 was the year of The Avengers, with phenomenal sales at the box office and retail. But how did Marvel build a consumer product offering as strong as Iron Man’s suit, and what’s next in the toy space? Disney’s new EMEA consumer products general manager Simon Philips reveals all to Dominic Sacco...
2012 was an impressive year for Marvel, to say the least. How did you go about spawning a huge entertainment franchise – and consumer product range – in The Avengers? It was a game-changing year. In 2006 we started a strategy to assemble the very best superheroes. In 2008 we introduced a character known to the fans, but one that wasn’t necessarily mainstream: Iron Man. Then we introduced Hulk, Thor and Captain America. We had tremendous success with those movies. Our strategy wasn’t just
to have individual characters, but to bring them together as a team. In 2012, Avengers Assemblebecame the number one movie of all time for The Walt Disney Company, the number three movie of all time and the biggest superhero movie of all time. It delivered on the promise we’d made to retailers and licensees: that we were going to establish the biggest superhero team of all time at retail. We started calendar 2012 with a momentous occasion that will forever change the boys action category. It showed the power of bringing together Marvel storytelling with Disney. We continued the year with a complete reimagination of the Spider-Man franchise through The Amazing Spider-Manmovie. As part of Disney, we were able to create a brand new Spider- Man animated series, Ultimate Spider-Man, to sustain the franchise.
How well is that performing on TV? In the UK Ultimate Spider- Manis the number one animated show on Disney
46 February
“We started calendar 2012 with a
momentous occasion that will forever change the boys action category.” Simon Philips, Marvel Entertainment
XD. The premier episode was the best-performing show in its time slot with boys aged eight to 12 on any kids’ television channel in the UK. It will be going free-to-air in January. So we will have the Disney XD window continuing as we introduce season two, and season one will go free-to-air. It sets the stage for how Marvel is developing its franchises (see ‘What’s next for The Avengers?’).
What’s it like coming into
Disney and breaking all those records?
It’s a big office (laughs). It was an incredible opportunity. So many times in the industry, people have held out Disney as a shining example of how things are done right. You kind of looked at it with envy, thinking, ‘oh if only we had the resources to do that’. Now Marvel is one of the brand pillars of Disney and it’s an incredible privilege to be part of that.
Will you bring more
THE MAN BEHIND MARVEL PRODUCTS
Simon Philips is responsible for The Walt Disney Company’s licensed product, publishing, Disney Store and physical games businesses across Europe, Middle East and Africa. In his previous role, as
president of Marvel Entertainment International, Philips was responsible for targeting new businesses.
characters to the fore in the future?
In August 2014 we have the Guardians of the Galaxy movie – featuring a whole new set of superheroes. There are 8,000 characters we have the privilege of working
He joined Marvel from 4Kids Entertainment International, where he served as the MD, working with hits like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh. Philips started his licensing career in 1991 in London, working on behalf of the British Olympic Association. He was instrumental in licensing the first ever worldwide Olympic video game.
with, so how can we bring them forward? The Marvel universe is also connected, so you could be reading the X-Men comics and Spider- Man could appear in them.