It’s fair to say that Alan Fenwick and his team at Turner Enterprises are in a pretty good place right now. The firm’s Ben 10 franchise has surpassed all expectations and just keeps getting stronger – underlined by the two accolades it picked up at the recent Licensing Awards in London (Best Schoolers/Tween or Teen Property and Best Licensed Toy or Games Range); Bakugan is a number one toy and licensed brand worldwide; new show The Secret Saturdays is about to take Brand Licensing Europe by storm; and the Adult Swim property brand is beginning to gain momentum.

“We’re ten times bigger than we were two and a half, three years ago,” Fenwick tells Licensing.biz.
The Enterprises team was initially unveiled to the trade in January this year and Fenwick says that they’ve received an overwhelmingly positive response from licensees, retailers and potential partners to the changes that were made.

“There is an overall message from us that we are more than TV, more than kids,” he says. “Our business at Enterprises encompasses character, consumer products, brand licensing, events, promotional licensing, mobile, non linear, DVD… my team covers vast areas which means that we can talk about developing new solutions and partnering [with people] in different ways.”

And the team’s success rate is there for all to see with Ben 10. Fenwick calls the boys’ property a “true franchise” for the firm; there are three independent Ben properties, the original, Alien Force and a new addition which will be launching later this year. Then there are the live action movies, too. Interestingly, Fenwick says that the arrival of Alien Force has not cannibalised the existing Ben 10 business, with the two brands comfortably sitting side by side. “Both are performing very strongly,” adds Fenwick. “We take a market by market approach, with the original and Alien Force at different lifecycles in different territories. Both brands are adding to fans’ experience of Ben. The movies are great stunt events and we are hoping to grow that audience even more.”

Also in boys, the Nelvana-owned Bakugan’s licensee base is the same size as that of Ben’s, with Fenwick keen to point out that the team treats it as a completely independent brand, with its own plans and strategies. “There are pockets of opportunity for Bakugan right the way around the world,” he offers.

Further plans for Bakugan will be revealed at BLE, along with the launch plans for The Secret Saturdays, a new show which builds on Turner’s strength in the boys market and already has Mattel on board as the master toy partner. New show to Cartoon Network, Hero: 108, will also be highlighted at Olympia, with Turner giving a TV Lounge presentation to key partners.

While the kids sector, and boys in particular, is a major chunk of Enterprises’ business, there is also more in the locker. The firm is focusing on a number of titles from the Adult Swim property brand and its comedy portfolio, while it is also looking into the brand licensing space with regard to the channels themselves and has bought in some expertise to help shape that strategy.

“I think what’s important is the fact that Ben 10, Bakugan and the strength that we have in boys and kids allows us to have a conversation with partners about the portfolio,” points out Fenwick. “I think one comes with the other. Turner has got some fantastic brands, and some fantastic properties sitting within them, and the infrastructure that we’ve built around Enterprises enables us to work across all of those brands, give a value back to the business and deliver new opportunities for partners. For us it’s a classic win-win situation.”

Fenwick admits that Turner’s phenomenal growth – the firm is sitting on yet another record year – has perhaps cushioned it from some of the market-wide challenges. But he also believes that its diversification and the changes it made to its business model have also helped. “I think the infrastructure that we’ve built is about leveraging every part of Turner’s organisation to help our partners reach their goals. I look at that as the fundamental change that most organisations need to do: they need to work out what’s at their core and how they can help retailers and licensees be successful and do everything they possibly can to bring about that success.

“I have no doubt that it’s a tough market out there, but it just means that we have to work ten times harder. And it’s not about us expecting. We don’t put a number down and say yes we’ll deliver that by just putting out more TV shows. It means our business has to be fully aligned and all pushing in the same direction.”

Fenwick is confident that the plans Enterprises has in place for 2010 will see the firm delivering yet another record year. “We’re incredibly excited about the new brands that are coming down. I think the economy is still going to be as challenging next year as it is this year, which will reinforce the values of us working even smarter to deliver better solutions.”