“Sometimes it’s worth taking a sideways move to learn new things.”

It’s a philosophy that certainly hasn’t harmed the career progression of Coolabi’s director of content, Michael Dee. When he was head of UK marketing for Disneyland Paris he was offered the chance to work on Disney brand TV specials throughout Europe, a sideways move as he puts it, but one that took him into a different and interesting medium.

This experience then took him to BBC Worldwide at what turned out to be an exciting time. As he explains: “I brand managed Tweenies at launch. Brand managers at the time were a concept very much for FMCG so this was quite unusual. You were bound to learn about new areas, about publishing, about toys and about how they are produced and developed. It was an amazing experience.”

From head of pre-school IP and Children’s Brands at BBC Worldwide he moved to Chorion as strategic director, working with properties such as Mr Men and the Blyton catalogue. He is now at entertainment and IP management company Coolabi, where new properties like Scarlett & Crimson are being carefully developed, established hits like Purple Ronnie are being refreshed, and publishing hits like Poppy Cat are moving into TV.

Dee considers this a tough market to be in at a difficult time economically. And yet, despite the downturn, it’s all been going incredibly well for Coolabi. “We’ve had one of our best years. After developing Scarlett & Crimson for three years, in the last year we launched a publishing programme and two cosmetics ranges. We’ve also signed for perfume, we’ve got apparel deals in the UK and North America, and there is a whole host of other categories being targeted. We’re in year two of new product development on Purple Ronnie – we’ve energised the Ronnie book programme with Macmillan and we’ve got a brand new range of Purple Ronnie cards at Hallmark.

“We green-lit Poppy Cat for TV, so we’re now into production for the show. We also took on the agency role for Bagpuss, Clangers and Ivor the Engine – with original episodes currently flying high in the iTunes TV show charts; a second series of Large Family started on CBeebies in January; and in March our BAFTA-nominated live-action series Dead Gorgeous began airing on CBBC and ABC in Australia.”

The opportunities clearly exist then, even in tough times, but this sort of progress is not just the result of identifying some good prospects. “A company needs the right strategies and approach to prosper — and of course the right skills,” Dee says. And, he points out, Coolabi has built up all of these in recent years. For example, as well as its licensing objectives, television is an important part of the firm's strategy.

“When we have a television property of course we want to create intellectual property that works internationally across all the licensing categories. However, there are occasions when we would do adaptation of live action drama — like Dead Gorgeous — that will also benefit us from a production and TV sales perspective, and these often have publishing opportunities attached to them as well.”

But while reacting flexibly to market needs is undoubtedly about making intelligent use of established media, there are, says Dee, other important elements to a responsive strategy — such as embracing newer technologies. Scarlett & Crimson, for example, has a powerful web presence and Purple Ronnie is using new media to enhance the brand strengths.

Dee explains: “In the last year we’ve been working with Hallmark on its print-on-demand range: adding your picture or message to a Ronnie design. This customised approach is very exciting for Ronnie because he is strong in delivering social expression.”

And this approach now extends to two distinct Purple Ronnie personalised greeting apps for the iPhone, customised gifts with licensee PMC, and two soon-to-launch Purple Ronnie online stores for further personalised merchandise. “Increasing numbers of people who shop online are prepared to pay more for a customized product — something they have made their own.” says Dee. “That part of the business is going to grow.”

And with a strategy taking in such a wide range of opportunities, the team behind it needs to offer the abilities to make the most of them. Which is where the skills part of Dee’s equation comes in — first of all in the form of the recent arrival Zoë Scurfield, former executive director of programming for Disney Channel, as head of development and production. “She’ll be responsible for our three to five-year development timeline so we continue to have a clearly thought-through strategy in terms of reacting to market needs,” says Dee.

The company’s focus on licensing growth was also apparent earlier this year with the appointment of Anna Hewitt, former head of international licensing at BBC Worldwide, as Coolabi’s head of licensing. Hewitt oversees brand licensing development globally across all Coolabi properties and across all categories.

Dee is clearly delighted with the progress of the company in the relatively short space of time. But he is wary of anything that smacks of complacency. “We have the right strategy, the right approach and the right team to make the most of what we genuinely feel are brands and programming for the long term,” he says.

“However, like everyone else, we’re in a period of change where you’ve got to support your existing business model but also be looking at something very different five years from now. We need to position ourselves for Web 3.0 and beyond, whatever that may look like. It’s hard to do crystal ball gazing but we know that we need to be there, and we know that we’ve got the type of brands that will adapt well to that space.”