ToyFair2014 A new era
Toy World’s John Baulch spoke to Graham Brennan, managing director of Epoch Making Toys UK, to fi nd out more about the opportunities the new UK-based division will present to the trade.
JB: Can you give me a brief overview of the structure of the new
John Baulch: Tell me a little about the Epoch Making Toys Limited parent
company? Graham Brennan: It was originally founded in 1958 as a baseball action games manufacturer by Maeda Taketora. Epoch participated in the first Japanese international toy trade fair in 1962. The company moved to its headquarters in Tokyo in 1963, and then, due to its success, moved to a larger headquarters in 2000. In September 2001 it founded an international branch and now experiences incredible success in 45 countries. In 2012 global sales had reached $300m. The iconic brand, Sylvanian families, has been one of the company’s great success stories, with over 100m figures being sold worldwide.
JB: Why did they decide that the time was right to open their own UK division in
2014? GB: Since 2008, the parent company, Epoch has had a goal to create a more standardised global strategy. Having an office in the UK allows them the ability to identify local needs and trends but at the same time make sure the key messages and offerings of the brands are the same in every country.
226 Toyworld
company? GB: The new office in Huntingdon will be a fully functional operation including an accounts and customer service department that will be dedicated to ensuring our consumer and supplier needs are met with excellent service. The structure will also include a strong, dedicated and experienced full service sales and display team. There is also a marketing department, which will ensure that we get recruitment to the brands and increase OTC sales, which are paramount to our future.
We will be using Import Services as the third
party logistics company, because they have demonstrated great success with the brands in the past.
JB: What do you see as the big
opportunities for the new division? GB: Recruitment, recruitment and recruitment. Our surveys have shown that in recent years there has been a decline in brand awareness. Therefore it is vital to the brand that we recruit new consumers by 20%+ year on year. We want to maximise the potential that other forms of advertising have, such as social media, to increase brand awareness to 4-8-year-olds. Online advertising has not been utilised fully with these brands so by tapping into these areas we can achieve a high level of sales and brand awareness. Sylvanian Families is a timeless brand and
there is also a huge opportunity to gain the attention of second generation buyers. The brand was originally launched in the UK in 1987 and so Epoch Making Toys Limited has arrived in perfect time to capture the attention of the ‘new mums’ who originally would have played with the iconic brand. We will be running approximately 200 mascot
events around the UK in shopping centres and stores to increase brand awareness of Sylvanian Families. The mascot events entail the key Sylvanian characters such as Freya the chocolate rabbit meeting and greeting our loyal fan base and having their photos taken with them, whilst also performing song and dance shows for them. The events will allow children to become familiar with Sylvanian Families by shaking hands or touching the life-size character, thereby creating wonderful and unforgettable memories for them. We aim to maximise the number of these events at key times such as Easter and Christmas.
JB: What has the reaction been like from
UK retailers to the news? GB: We couldn’t have asked for a better reaction. The reaction we have had from retailers has been excellent and really positive. We want to create a firm but fair foundation for our future plans to mutually build the brand and retail sales without detrimental effect to us or our retail partners.
JB: Will there be any key differences in the
way you service the retail channel? GB: We are one company which has three great brands in Sylvanian Families, Aquabeads and charmies. We will give individual attention to each brand rather than a portfolio as a whole so each brand gets the attention it deserves. This level of attention to detail will be provided by our dedicated and experienced team of national account and territory managers, as well as a display team, to assist in maximising the brand awareness in store.
JB: What are you hoping to achieve in
2014? GB: We are extremely lucky to have been given the opportunity to work on such prestigious brands. Sylvanian Families is a major success around the world; it is the only brand to have won the British Association of Toy Retailers award for the Toy of the Year three years consecutively in 1987, 1988 and 1989. Therefore we are really passionate about re-establishing Sylvanian Families as the number one brand in the girl’s collectible market. With a strong team focus we will also establish Aquabeads as an individual brand, and re-launch Charmies into the Art and Craft market. We are hoping to have great success within our new global partnership.
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