Category Archives: Live

World of Toys will return to Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair 2021 with new safety measures

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The 2021 Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair will once again play host to the popular international fair programme, World of Toys, created by Spielwarenmesse to make overseas trade fairs more accessible to companies. The international pavilion will be held at the Hong Kong show taking place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in January next year.

Given the challenges the world is currently facing, the closing date for registrations has been extended to September 30th 2020. Companies appearing at the pavilion will have direct access to business contacts in the region. They also receive support from Spielwarenmesse eG in the technical and organisational aspects of showing at the event.

A total of 27 exhibitors (2019: 25) from 13 countries (2019: 12) took part in this year’s Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair. To ensure that exhibitors can continue to enjoy the benefits of a successful fair, this year’s event will require more organisation due to the current coronavirus situation.

Additional measures will include the expansion of the meeting and hospitality area to enable exhibitors to hold business meetings with visitors whilst still observing social distancing rules.

Companies taking part in the World of Toys programme receive an Allround Package. The comprehensive services include, among others, a complete exhibition stand with basic fittings and furnishings, the selection and recommendation of service partners, announcements in the exhibition organiser’s publications as well as marketing activities in the relevant media. Participation in the World of Toys Pavilion will be subsidised in 2021 by the HKSAR Government.

Further information and registration forms for the World of Toys Pavilion at the Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair can be found at www.world-of-toys.org/asia-pacific/hong-kong-toys-games-fair/.

Winners of the 2020 Licensing International Excellence Awards revealed in virtual awards ceremony

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The winners of the 2020 Licensing International Excellence Awards have been revealed in the industry’s first virtual awards ceremony that brought together nearly 1,000 executives from around the world for the celebrations.

Hosted by Handcraft VP and stand-up comic Marshall Mizrahi, the event saw licensing powerhouse Martha Stewart inducted into the Licensing Hall of Fame.

It also played host to a showcase of this year’s six international Rising Stars in Krystyna Braxton (NFL Players Inc.); Allison Cimino (RockLove); Carolina Garcia Souza (Cinecolor Colombia, representative of The Walt Disney Company); Gao Qiang (Tencent); Hannah Stevens (The Point.1888); and Louis Yenik (Crunchyroll). 

Newly redesigned trophies for both the main Awards and the Hall of Fame were also unveiled at the event, designed by Alternatives and PowerStation Studios, respectively. 

The 23 Awards winners hail from around the globe, including companies from Brazil, France, Germany, Korea, the UK and the US, and were unveiled by 10 leading licensing executives who each brought their own special flair to the event.

The Coca-Cola Company and Sesame Workshop each “took home” multiple trophies – Coca-Cola swept the Food & Beverage categories, winning Best Product for its Coca-Cola-flavoured Tic Tacs in partnership with Ferrero, and picking up the prize for Best Food & Beverage Brand of the Year. Sesame Workshop’s “Sesame Street” was named Best Live-Action Entertainment or Character Brand and also won for its “A Cautionary Tale” promotion with Squarespace. Meanwhile, Wildbrain CPLG was crowned as the first winner in the newly added Best Licensing Agency category. 

A number of companies supported the Licensing International Small Business Global Grants Fund by taking space in the Awards Program, which was made available digitally Monday. Thanks to their contributions, the Grants Fund has raised more than $110,000 to help small businesses in the licensing community impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. 

“This year marks the 35th anniversary of the International Licensing Awards, and while we had of course looked forward to celebrating in person, this virtual gathering was an amazing event,” said Maura Regan, president, Licensing International.

“Perhaps more than ever it was important to celebrate the incredible creativity and innovation of our industry. Seeing the very best work of this industry on display, alongside some of the dynamic executives who drive it, was a powerful reminder that, in the wake of uncertainty, the power of trusted brands and well-known licenses is more critical than ever before.”

The 23 2020 Licensing International Excellence Awards winners are:

Best Licensed Products

  • Apparel/Footwear/Accessories – Vans for David Bowie Apparel & Footwear Range
  • Appliance/Automotive/Housewares/Electronics – Pro-Ject Audio Systems for The Beatles Turntable
  • Toys/Games/Novelties for ages 0 to 8 – WowWee for Pinkfong Baby Shark Song Puppets
  • Apps/Software/Video games – Story Toys / Touch Press for LEGO Duplo World App
  • Food/Beverage – The Coca-Cola Company / Ferrero for Coca-Cola Tic Tac
  • Health and Beauty Aids – Lipsmacker for Crayola Lip Care Line
  • Home Decor – Dreamtex Ltd for National Geographic Recycled Bedding
  • Publishing/Back-to-School – Party City – Pantone’s 2019 Color of the Year Partygoods & Tableware
  • Toys/Games/Novelties for ages 8+ – LEGO for Stranger Things Lego Set

Best Licensed Brands

  • Art/Designs/Celebrity/Fashion Brand – V&A by Victoria & Albert Museum 
  • Digital/ App/ Video Game Brand – Brown & Friends by LINE Friends
  • Corporate Brand – Cat by Caterpillar  
  • Entertainment/Character Brand: Animated – Peppa Pig by eOne / Hasbro
  • Entertainment/Character Brand: Live Action – Sesame Street by Sesame Workshop
  • Food/Beverage/Restaurant Brand – Coca-Cola by The Coca-Cola Company
  • Sports/Collegiate Brand – Rugby World Cup by World Rugby / IMG

Other Awards

  • Best Licensed Promotion – Squarespace & Sesame Street “A Cautionary Tale”
  • Best Licensed Collaboration – SpongeBob Squarepants x Nike x Kyrie Irving
  • Best Experiential or Location-Based Initiative – The Very Hungry Caterpillar at the Royal Horticultural Society
  • Best Retailer for a Character/Entertainment Initiative – Galeries Lafayette for Batman 
  • Best Retailer for a Corporate/Lifestyle/Sports Initiative – NBA Stores Brazil 
  • Best Licensing Agency – Wildbrain CPLG
  • The Newcomer Award – Harrogate Tipple Ltd for Downton Abbey Gin & Whisky

 

Downton Abbey Gin takes home silver and bronze in the International Wine and Spirits Competition

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The Harrogate Tipple’s licensed Downton Abbey gin has picked up a silver and bronze award at the International Wine and Spirits Competition this year. The firm’s Premium Downton Abbey Gin took home the silver, having scored 91 out of 100, and the Rhubarb Downton Abbey Gin was handed bronze for scoring 88.

The International Wine and Spirits Competition has been the world’s premiere contest to find the best in wines and spirits across the world for the past 50 years. This year’s competition saw The Harrogate Tipple take home a total of five certificates.

Steven Green, chief tipple taster for the company, remarked: “A panel of world-renowned experts from across the globe carried out a blind tasting of hundreds of spirits. All spirits scoring 90 and upwards as a result of this process were then re-tasted by the Judging Committee for their final confirmation. With such rigorous tasting, we’re delighted that our two premium Downton Abbey gins received scores of 88 and 91 out of 100. Otterley marvellous.”

Kelvyn Gardner of Asgard Media, who brokered the Downton Abbey license with Universal Studios, added: “Winning these prestigious Silver and Bronze Awards underscores Harrogate Tipple’s commitment to quality. Steven and his team created this gin from scratch after much research going back to the 1920’s era for style, taste, botanical content and even the shape of the bottle.

“Licensors can be sure that Harrogate Tipple will always deliver premium spirits carefully crafted. We’d like to thank Universal Studios for their confidence in granting the Downton Abbey rights.”

For more information on The Harrogate Tipple and their award-winning range of premium spirits visit  https://www.harrogatetipple.com/

For licensing enquiries please contact Kelvyn Gardner at Asgard Media www.asgardmedia.com

 

Marvel Mania returns to the global stage for fifth year with new retail and product initiatives

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The popular Marvel retail celebration, Marvel Mania, is making its return this year, bringing kids, families, and fans new ways to wear, connect, and play with the franchise, and it is all kicking off this month with a Marvel-sponsored Superhero Series sports challenge.

Now in its fifth year, Marvel Mania is recognised as the only campaign to bring all the Marvel Super Heroes together as it offers a suite of global retail activations, new content launches, and new products for fans of all ages. The campaign will continue with a host of global activity through to October this year.

Powered by Marvel, the ‘Superhero Series’ is the UK’s largest interactive sporting event dedicated to the nation’s 13.3 million people with disabilities. Six families and their celebrity team captains will be starring in a special shopDisney.com-sponsored Channel 4 programme as they take on this year’s ‘At Home Superheroes’ challenge.

Due to air on August 15th, the programme will be presented by Clare Balding and includes ‘Marvel Mania’at shopDisney break-bumpers. Supporting the at-home initiative Marvel will bring the energy of its iconic Super Hero characters to participants’ homes and neighbourhoods through downloadable games, signs and more to help participants feel like a true Super Hero.

“What started as a targeted retail campaign in the US has grown into an international celebration with a wide range of retailers and more than a hundred global licensees supporting worldwide,” said Paul Gitter, SVP, Marvel Licensing. “The success of Marvel Mania is a testament to the strength, power and diversity our characters represent on screen and beyond with amazing products and experiences.”

In Mexico, Marvel will be collaborating with a sporting and cultural phenomenon this October and in the US shopDisney.com will feature a month-long ‘Marvel Mania’ collector event to debut new products, content and Marvel-themed accessories and apparel.

In China, a Marvel ‘Find Your Power’ campaign will launch this fall with additional Asia Pacific region retail touch points, new product offerings, and multiple consumer activations running through 2021. Japan will feature “A Universe of Heroes” exhibition that celebrates the Marvel Cinematic Universe opening in Osaka, Japan from August 10 to November 23 with limited-edition products sold exclusively at the exhibition including Beams Marvel t-shirts designed by three local artists.

Supporting Marvel Mania will be robust merchandising programmes from major UK and European retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Argos, Smyths, ASDA, Amazon and Carrefour as well as shopDisney and The Disney Store.

In the US Walmart, Target, Amazon, Kohl’s, Hot Topic, Box Lunch, FYE, Party City, Walgreen’s and Books-A-Million will all be taking part. Fans in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and India can look forward to an exciting line-up of Marvel campaigns now until November across the region’s largest online retailers and e-Commerce platforms, such as Lazada, Shopee, Flipkart and Amazon.

These campaigns will bring the latest Marvel merchandise online, from kids’ favourite Hasbro and LEGO offerings, to the ultra-affordable-but-chic MINISO for an added touch of “power” to any home and living space. Latin America rounds out the programme with support from El Palacio de Hierro, Walmart and Marathon. All participating retailers will feature unique ‘Marvel Mania’ promotions and special offers.

Additionally, an exciting cross-category merchandise portfolio spanning video games, publishing, apparel, accessories, toys and more will give kids, families and fans the biggest, broadest, and ‘most diverse merchandise line ever.’

Highlights include launches for the Marvel fanatics such as X-Men 20th Anniversary collectables toys from Hasbro, Marvel Zombies Funko Pop! collectables, the LEGO Marvel Studios Iron Man art set and more, while for kids there will be the likes of the BattleWorld Thanos Ship Showdown from Funko,  Spider-Man: Maximum Venom toys including Venom Burst Action Figures and role play from Hasbro, construction sets from LEGO, and Funko Pops.

The Asian Animation Summit goes virtual for 2020

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The ninth annual Asian Animation Summit has bitten the bullet and confirmed that this year’s event will take place in the virtual landscape, a move made in response to the continued travel restrictions and health and safety issues related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Summit will now take place online from November 16 to December 4 this year.

The event will see its regional partners undertake the process of selecting the most promising projects from their regions that are new to the market, and look for financing and partners. Event delegates will be able to watch along in real time as these projects are presented to panels of programming buyers.

Project presentations will be scheduled in morning and late evening time slots (EST) over three weeks. Because time zones and scheduling conflicts at home and work may prevent delegates from tuning in live, the sessions will also be recorded and made available for two weeks of catch-up viewing online.

“We are excited about the new opportunity this virtual AAS format creates to invite many more leading broadcasters to participate in the event than is usually possible,” said Kidscreen VP and publisher Jocelyn Christie. “And without the challenges of travel to consider – the costs, and time away from work and home – we are hoping that more attendees will be able to take part in the event virtually this year and discover some great new content from Asia-Pacific.”

Kidscreen’s intention is to return to a live AAS event format in 2021, and the regional partners remain committed to holding the event in Bali, Indonesia next year.

Registration for AAS Virtual 2020 is now open. More information about the event can be found online at www.asiananimationsummit.com.

From page to stage and the digital age: Beast Quest’s journey from print to mobile and video gaming

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Beast Quest is a global publishing sensation that to date has sold more than 20 million books since its first publication in the UK some 12 years ago. In just over a decade, the book franchise has released over 150 titles in over 30 languages and transitioned itself from print into a wider world of video gaming, live events – through a successful partnership with Hampton Court no less – and now, its latest iteration of mobile gaming with Beast Quest Ultimate Heroes.

Licensing.biz catches up with the leadership team at Coolabi, Michael Dee, director of content, Naomi Dare, head of digital, and Allison Watkins, director of consumer products and TV distribution, to talk about the latest developments for Beast Quest, and just how you start to turn a children’s publishing property into a successful video gaming franchise.

Hello everyone! Let’s start by talking about the success of Beast Quest over the past few years. What has the journey for the brand been like, evolving from a published title to a multi-media franchise?

Michael Dee, director of content: Beast Quest is a global publishing phenomenon, with sales of more than 20 million books since it was originally published in the UK 12 years ago. To date over 150 titles have been published in over 30 languages. It is a brand that is recognised and appreciated by kids, parents and teachers.

There are not many libraries, both inside and outside school that don’t have a huge range and the storytelling is recognised as being hugely important in encouraging kids, especially boys to read more. Our social media feeds, and communication with parents are full of ‘thank you’ stories for getting their kids to engage with books.

The move into games was a natural extension to that, and our rich world of characters, recognisable narrative of good vs. evil provided the perfect content to support that, both digitally and for console games.

Our initial gaming partner was Miniclip in 2015, and our game with them has been downloaded over 17 million times, and still achieves 200,000 downloads every month. Maximum Games are our console partner, and the Beast Quest game is available across all formats.

Experiential was our next move, and half term saw an incredible interactive experience at Hampton Court Palace which delivered 10 per cent more visitors than they had seen before, so conversations are already underway for 2021 to revisit on an even greater scale.”

What sort of growth have you seen for the Beast Quest brand over the past year? What is it about the brand and your approach to its licensing strategy that has fuelled its success in this time?

Allison Watkins, director of consumer products and TV distribution: As a publishing brand, Beast Quest continues to grow and we have very much taken an evergreen approach to brand extensions through licensing. One of the key advantages to Beast Quest is its ability to appeal to a whole new audience with each new group of kids who discover it for the first time so maintaining that remains key to our strategy.

However, we know that kids like to experience their favourite brands in other ways too so Maximum Games expanding the platforms and launching on Switch last Christmas was perfect as it suits our younger age group of kids aged six to nine.

How is Beast Quest – and its licensing activity – reflective of changing audience tastes and the way in which fans today engage with published title?

Naomi Dare, head of digital: We want to engage with our audience where they are choosing to spend their time, so gaming and events are a key part of that. Our new mobile gaming app Beast Quest Ultimate Heroes moves that on further, with a new design style consistent with the tower defence genre that Ultimate Heroes is based on, although moving it on even further with the player able to battle in 3D map environments and with 3D characters, with the ability to zoom in and out of the action.

It has various game modes for players to choose from as well as regularly scheduled game events/ battles for them to play online or in endless mode. We will allow our audience to build here, and then expand on the product offering through licensing in key categories.

Beast Quest has been across not only publishing, but video games, live events, and now stepping into mobile gaming. What will this latest development do for the brand in terms of tapping into new audiences and stepping up the licensing strategy?

Michael Dee: The new mobile game should see not only existing fans engage on a new level with the brand, but also we should see brand new audiences across the globe becoming familiar with the brand through discovering the game via the App Store and Google Play. We already see lots of people playing the Miniclip mobile game across the world, and with Animoca based in Asia we expect to see this new game expand into more Asian markets too.

Also Beast Quest Ultimate Heroes has a completely new art style that brings the world to life. The new 3D art and assets make it easier to envision new products and even potentially animation.

How is Beast Quest pushing for innovation in the licensing space today?

Allison Watkins: I don’t think that it’s about pushing for innovation in the licensing space, but more about how to manage the brand to both protect its huge existing fan base, while continuing to push in new areas and styles. We think Ultimate Heroes goes that brilliantly.

As demands, tastes and the licensing space continue to evolve, how is Beast Quest maintaining its position of strength within it?

Allison Watkins: We keep our reader at the front of all we do – they are our audience, and if we keep them happy and engaged with the book then they will want to enjoy the brand as it expands into other areas.

What’s the next big step for the Beast Quest IP?  

Michael Dee: The next big step for Beast Quest will be content and there are some very exciting plans that we will be able to share later this year, but for now just enjoy the game.

 

Funko, Ryan’s World, and MoMA among first Licensing Leadership Summit speakers confirmed

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The first speakers for this year’s new-format Licensing Leadership Summit have been confirmed, with representatives from the Museum of Modern Art, Funko, Ryan’s World and more on the bill for the virtual event. The summit will be the closing event of this year’s all-virtual Festival of Licensing and will take place on October 28th and 29th 2020.

The summit is the only virtual conference to unite C-level executives from the world’s largest players across manufacturing, retail and brands to discuss, debate and collaborate on the future of brand licensing. It will take place in the last week of the four-week Festival of Licensing virtual event taking place throughout October.

Drawing from modern art and youth culture to tackle top brand licensing trends and topics such as TikTok, eSports and gaming, to evergreens like museum licensing, early Licensing Leadership Summit speakers will include:

Robin Sayetta, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – Different by Design: MoMA’s Modern Approach to Museum Licensing

Lauren Winarski, Funko –I Want it Now!: Using the Fan to Expand Distribution

Stone Newman, Pocket.watch, and Shion Kaji, Ryan’s World – Influencers: Are they Delivering on their Brand Promise?

Chris Petrovic, Zynga – How Games Ate the Licensing World

Maca Rotter, Panaderia – Esports: The Hottest New Licensing Category

Greg Goodfried, UTA – Session on TikTok

Sid Kaufman, UTA, and Stevin John (Blippi), YouTube star – Digital Talent: The Future

Max Luthy, Trendwatching – Finding Opportunity in the Overwhelm: Key Trends in Consumerism

Connie Chang, C-Life Group, and Tonya Kirby, Retro Brands – What Do Licensees Want?

The Global Licensing Group at Informa Markets, the organisation behind Licensing Leadership Summit and Festival of Licensing, is calling for additional speakers now and are asked to visit Call For Papers to submit for topics or speaking opportunities.

Amanda Cioletti, event and content director, Global Licensing Group, Informa Markets, said: “As with everything, if you look in the right places, there is always a silver lining. Transitioning Licensing Leadership Summit online and bringing live broadcast content to our attendees means our event is now more accessible than ever to a truly global C-suite audience, which means more diversity of speakers, more opportunities to connect and richer content on offer. We are excited for our speakers and content to reflect a world vision of the future of the brand licensing industry.”

Anna Knight, vice president, Global Licensing Group, Informa Markets, added: “The Licensing Leadership Summit will bring together leaders and decision makers from around the world with the experience, expertise and influence to shape the future of the industry. They will analyze the huge, world-changing events of 2020 including, of course, the impact of COVID-19, and draw on key learnings from the previous three weeks of Festival of Licensing to drive strategic direction for this sector in 2021.

“It is an unmissable two-day event for all senior leaders working directly or indirectly with the licensing industry to play a critical role in ensuring this sector is fighting fit for a future beyond the pandemic.”

Delegate information can be found at www.licensingleadershipsummit.com

Licensing International hosts first Diversity & Inclusion Workshop and launches toolkit to encourage a more diverse industry

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The licensing industry’s trade organisation, Licensing International held its first Diversity & Inclusion Workshop this week where it brought together leading minds in the business to discuss the challenges and opportunities for companies looking to better enhance diversity and inclusive practices.

It was Madeline Di Nonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media at Mount Saint Mary’s University who kicked off proceedings with a presentation of the findings of a recent study of diversity in the licensing industry, commissioned by Licensing International.

Among other findings, the research shows that while 30 per cent of companies surveyed currently have a Diversity & Inclusivity programme, only 10 per cent have budgeted financial support to those programmes.

“If you don’t measure, you don’t you have any substantive understanding of where things stand or a benchmark by which to gauge success,” said Maura Regan, president, Licensing International. “This research is the crucial first step in creating real, lasting change in our companies and the global licensing community as a whole.”

The full research study is now available for download at www.LicensingInternational.org.

Following the presentation of the research results, newly elected Licensing International Board Member Steven Wolfe Pereira, CEO and co-founder of Encantos, was joined by Petco’s chief marketing officer Tariq Hassan, for a screenside chat about what it means to create an organization that is truly inclusive and how to go about doing it.

“You cannot only do this from executive-level down,” said Hassan. “If you want to tell people to bring their authentic selves to work, you’ve got to allow them to have a place to express it, and you’ve got to allow it to then influence the decisions of the company. … ‘You don’t have to ask for permission to be who you are’ – we have to create a culture that celebrates that insistence. When you put it that way, it stops being about what’s wrong, and it focuses on the energy and creativity of what’s right.”

The panelists who participated in the third part of the event echoed that sentiment, and shared details about how they are nurturing diversity at their own companies. They included: Bryony Bouyer, senior vice president, Diversity & Inclusion and Multicultural Strategy at Hasbro; Cindy Levitt, senior vice president of Licensing, Mad Engine LLC; Dolores Ordas, vice president of People and Culture, Mad Engine LLC; and Eric Ueno, SVP of Human Resources of Hot Topic Inc.

Much of the conversation throughout the event centered on where and how organisations can start to take action. To that end, Licensing International is proud to share its new Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit, developed in conjunction with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

For the next month, Licensing International is making this Toolkit available to the global licensing community at large, after which time it will continue to be available to Licensing International members and partner trade organizations.

 

Ascot Racecourse renews its global licensing partnership with IMG

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Ascot Racecourse has renewed its exclusive global licensing representation and on-site retail agreement with IMG through to 2025. Since being appointed in 2016, IMG has curated a robust year-round licensing programme for the iconic racecourse.

Highlights of the brand collaborations and products inspired by the 309-year-old racecourse and its flagship racing festival, Royal Ascot have included collections with British brands such as Favourbrook, TM Lewin, Oliver Brown, Radley London, Christy’s Hats, Christy, Charbonnel & Walker, and more.

Products are now sold around the world in licensees’ standalone stores, as well as concessions and online.

Under the renewal, IMG will continue to manage the on-site retail operation on behalf of the racecourse, having expanded the retail experience at Royal Ascot from three stores in 2017 to eight in 2019, spanning all four enclosures.

Juliet Slot, chief commercial officer at Ascot Racecourse, said: “Fashion, accessories and food are key facets of everyone’s experience at Ascot. We have worked hard to create and grow a retail experience for our customers that matches their expectations, and we are delighted that so many wonderful brands are working with us, both on-site and through high-street retail partners.

“We are excited to continue our relationship with IMG and look forward to further expanding our offering in the future.”

 Tim Smith, senior licensing director at IMG, said: “In just a few years, together with Ascot Racecourse, we have developed a carefully curated portfolio of premium partners and products that reflect the brand’s rich British heritage, along with its unique sense of occasion.

“We are thrilled to extend our relationship with Ascot Racecourse and are looking forward to further expanding its licensed product portfolio, in addition to continuing to build the on-site retail experience.”

 

 

“There’s opportunity in the chaos” – FanGirl Consulting’s Anita Castellar talks pop culture licensing

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While the world’s lockdown over the past few months will go down in history as a period of inertia for businesses worldwide, the pop culture merchandising space could be about to experience a further boom, as the industry ‘begins to spy opportunities within the chaos,’ to maximise on a newly engaged audience of fans created via the pandemic standstill.

While it’s true that the scene has found itself hitting the pause button along with the rest of the world over the course of the spring, with the temporary closure of retailers in the space hampering sales, a rising demand in pop culture merchandise could now be expected as a knock-on effect of audiences finding new properties to engage with via SVOD platforms during the season of staying home to stave off the spread of the coronavirus.

It’s according to Anita Castellar, founder and the face of FanGirl Consulting, a specialist in brand development and licensing within the pop culture space, that ‘opportunities are now starting to present themselves from within the chaos’ of the world’s reaction to the pandemic.

Streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ have played a major role in facilitating new engagement in content and fuelling the pop culture scene, while the demand for retro properties and the popularity of pockets of the pop culture space such as anime – both areas that were experience growth before the appearance of Covid-19 – has only gained momentum over recent months.

“A lot of the retro properties are coming back, there were a lot of these reunions that were happening during the lockdown with virtual reunions for Friends, The Office and so on, but then there’s also – in the vein that anime is becoming more and more mainstream in general – a ton of anime that is being watched and rediscovered nowadays,” Castellar told Licensing.biz.

“As far as pop culture and content, whether it’s older or newer – and Disney+ has helped a lot with Mandalorian which is on fire for them – there’s a lot of content being delivered which is really helping the cause. The Trolls movie debut on VOD was a great idea and I think it shows that people are willing to experiment now a little bit, they’ve seen that if you’re willing to toss something in to the fire, it might actually work.”

Couple the forced evolution of the licensing and entertainment industry at the hands of the pandemic and its restrictions with the light that has been shone on the topic of diversity, it’s been anything but a quiet period for the business.

“The Black Lives Matter movement is one that has been in movement for the last ten years, but people are finally waking up to it, and it is really good that people are now becoming conscientious,” said Castellar. “People are becoming conscientious of who their licensees are, who their vendor base is if they’re a retailer, and there’s more awareness of the companies that are out there.

“There’s a black-owned company called Saturday AM which published Manga – diverse Manga – which is finally getting recognition, so it’s really good that the world is opening up to companies that before this, many people didn’t know existed. We just have to make sure that this doesn’t die off. You have to make sure you are conscientiously pushing that forward.”

With a background in product development for toys with Disney Theme Parks, followed by her role with Hasbro as the global brand manager for the Star Wars master toy line, Castellar has a deep affinity with the pop culture toy space. Her latest client signing – Panda Mony Toys – falls well within that region, presenting its retro-style Alter Nation action figure toy line.

Under the new partnership, Castellar and the FanGirl Consulting team will work to promote and market the Alter Nation name as it looks to take on the toy industry.

“They want to have their own voice, so we are trying to curate that in the framework of a very traditional toy industry,” said Castellar. “We have to balance off being the rebels. We can’t piss everybody off then expect them to be our friends and buy our products, so we’re trying to balance that off.”

Alter Nation comes with its own series of webisodes, animated in a retro style that will speak to an audience of nostalgia-chasers, while presenting a wholly unique, new IP within the toy space. Already the team has been in conversation with broadcasters to develop the webisodes into an animated series for TV or SVOD.

What’s clear is that Castellar and the FanGirl Consulting unit is now looking at how to start bringing new approaches and ideas to the branding, merchandising, and licensing business, a message that she often likes to promote through her FanGirl Friday social media platform, that, over the course of lockdown, has evolved into a live streaming event each Friday via Instagram.

“I wanted to keep in touch in a way that wasn’t sales-y but showcased the knowledge that we have in the company. And just have some fun,” she said. “Fangirl Friday was something I posted 10 to 15 years ago on social media, it became part of my personal brand. It’s fun, and there’s a business piece behind it as well, and I wanted a platform that showcased talent, information, networking and it’s an easy way to stream all of that.

“I think a lot of us will have to shift that way; it won’t go away. The community piece and connection, we all know and feel that very keenly – a virtual event won’t replace a sense of community when you’re face to face with people you work with.”