Licensing
effective at telling the brand story and connecting the product purpose to the consumer. Fortunately, Story.1888’s team of marketing and advertising specialists as well as licensing and retail veterans are already delivering results to drive consumer love and revenue.
A big drive for the team next year will
be to create a higher volume of digital promotions and social media partnerships to drive sales and assist licensees as much as possible. This should go a long way in overcoming potential price increases and a surplus of choice.
Our response to sustainability We’ve always given careful consideration to the manufacturing partners we work with and invested time in forging relationships with those that we feel match our own brand values and those of our clients. As a result, responding to the demand for products made of recycled materials was a simple one and we will be helping a number of our brands to launch products made from 100% recycled material in 2022.
Spreading risk If the stock scarcity problem taught us anything, it’s that relying too heavily on certain manufacturers, brands, retailers or locations is risky. We’ve always championed the little guy and supported local businesses but we’ll be making sure that we work more with partners of all shapes and sizes next year. There is room for local and global in brand licensing - the secret to making it work is to be honest and collaborative in order to give everyone the best chance to thrive.
Saying it like it is We are known for being brutally honest with those we work with because it’s important to build trust to see success. That approach will not change in 2022; if anything we’ll be even more determined to challenge our clients on any decisions that we feel won’t lead to the best results. For our brands, we’ll be asking them to be flexible, particularly when it comes to product development. If challenges come our way, it’s important that our brands are able to respond quickly and we’ll be sure to be armed with a strong plan B! We’ve always pushed the idea of going out of one’s comfort zone to find new ideas and products. However, in the current climate, we recommend our clients do not overlook more traditional product types such as Arts and Crafts, Puzzles and Garden
toys. Covid-19 forced us inside and made us screen zombies – let’s create products that reverse this damaging trend. For the manufacturers we work with, our advice will be to be open-minded too - not with product types but with brands to work with. It’s not always about the big blockbusters; there is real success and sustainable revenue to be had year in year out from evergreen traditional brands. We’ve just launched our retail focused Spotlight.1888 business which helps retailers with licensing strategy. Next year, we’ll be telling our toy retail clients to embrace a wide variety of brands and look to diversify their offering. We believe digital brands and traditional evergreen brands can all live side by side. We’ve really missed the face-to-face contact with our retail buyers but have been delighted by the way we’ve all embraced the digital forms of communication such as video meetings and good ol’ fashioned phone calls. While 2022 will give us more opportunity to meet in person again, we hope our contacts don’t forget the benefits of digital meetings – particularly how they aid efficiency and maintain momentum when it’s needed most.
What we’re most looking forward to in 2022 As things begin to return to normal, there’s a lot to look forward to but as a business we are most excited about the forthcoming Morphle launch from Character Options and seeing that expand into new items for 2022 as well as across EMEA. Cocomelon continues to go from strength to strength and with Blippi’s new animated series, both of these properties will be big players in the toy category in 2022. Toy Fair is set to be a huge event and was
sorely missed in 2020 and 2021. We hope the brands, retailers and manufacturers will heed our advice and make the next year their best yet.
Jan/Feb 2022 | toy news | 41
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