Publisher John Baulch looks at the ground-breaking partnership between Platinum Studios and the Simba Dickie Group to bring Matt Hatter Chronicles to the toy market in 2014
Perfect partners
outset, Platinum felt it was vitally important to align with a toy company that understood the Matt Hatter brand, displayed a passion and commitment to further build the property, considered it a key focus within its brand portfolio and had an established footprint in our first-phase international roll-out territories. Simba has shown it has all of these core attributes and we are proud to be working with them.” From Alex Kovacevic’s point of view, the attraction was entirely mutual: “We were attracted initially by the UK and international ratings success. We always keep an eye on how shows are performing, as much to inform TV advertising as to be on the lookout for new licensing opportunities. With Matt Hatter though, once we had seen a few episodes it turned into a bit of an obsession, recording every episode on Sky+ and finding everything we could online. Visiting Pinewood and meeting the Platinum team made a huge difference. Here were guys who had a very similar mind-set and outlook to us, who wanted to work collaboratively at every stage of the process, and had a real desire to create a long-term brand in a genuine partnership.” Nigel’s vision was to produce a truly 360-degree
Platinum CEO Nigel Stone and Oliver Naumann, Managing Director of Dickie Toys I
t was announced in August that Platinum Films had awarded the Simba Dickie Group the master toy licence across EMEA, CEE, Russia and India for Matt Hatter Chronicles. The action-adventure show continues to attract strong broadcast ratings across the globe, and
ongoing interest from major retailers had made the appointment of a master toy partner a crucial element in the development of the franchise. A number of major global toy players were keen to sign Matt Hatter, giving Platinum’s CEO Nigel Stone the unenviable task of deciding which company to choose. Nigel told me: “We are immensely proud to
be partnering with the Simba Dickie Group for the multi-territory roll-out of Matt Hatter toys. Simba is a leading toy specialist and has an acute understanding of the global toy and retail market. Their expertise and passion, coupled with an established TV presence and pent-up consumer appetite from ‘Hatter Fans’ worldwide, is a powerful combination and I’m confident this partnership will further strengthen Matt Hatter Chronicles as a successful global entertainment franchise.” When the initial announcement was made, Uwe
Weiler, Simba Dickie Group COO, commented: “For the Simba Dickie Group this is one of the biggest projects for the coming years. We believe that the fabulous content of the Matt Hatter story and the cooperation with the unbelievable creative film team of Platinum will be a wellspring for many
innovative and successful toy products.” Shortly after the deal was concluded, I visited
Platinum’s Pinewood headquarters to speak to CEO Nigel Stone and his team, along with Simba’s marketing and licensing manager Alex Kovacevic. We discussed the new partnership and what we can expect from the collaboration over the coming months. I started by asking Nigel about Matt Hatter’s
journey to this point, and what inspired him to come up with the character. He told me: “I originally set out to create and produce a stand-out boys’ adventure series that would appeal to my 10 year old ice-hockey-obsessed son. Today the show’s inspiration has just turned 17 and is playing ice-hockey in North America and Matt Hatter Chronicles has emerged as one of the world’s hottest boys’ brands.” Getting the right master toy partner on board was
obviously a major step in the evolution of the brand. I asked why Platinum decided to appoint Simba. Carl England, Platinum’s managing director felt that: “With global partners such as Topps, Penguin and Titan already on board, the final cornerstone was selecting the right master toy partner. From the
boys’ brand that combined comic-book inspired visuals, epic storytelling, buddy humour and second screen innovation. Furthermore, by partnering award-winning feature film technicians with the best talent in kids’ TV, Platinum married state-of-the-art animation with advanced VFX techniques and, as a result, ‘Multivision’ was born. Every episode of Matt Hatter Chronicles features this visual treat, which offers kids a unique and immersive 3D viewing experience without the need to wear 3D glasses. Principle photography on Seasons 1 & 2 of the $12m HD CG animated series began in 2010, a co- production between Platinum Films and Canada’s Dream Mill Inc. A brand new third season has been green-lit by ITV for 2014 which Platinum will create, produce and distribute worldwide and back up online with new apps and digital gaming at the property’s online hub,
matthatter.com. Since its debut on Nicktoons and ITV/CiTV in the UK, Platinum has distributed the dimension- hopping series to over 80 countries worldwide, achieved all-time audience highs across Europe, Africa and Australasia and appointed a global network of licensing agents to execute a multi- territory consumer product roll-out for 2014. I was keen to understand more about the
programme’s target audience, and what exactly it
“For the Simba Dickie Group this is one of the biggest projects for the coming years.”
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