Bandai celebrates 40 years in business

With its 40th anniversary coming up on 29 April, Bandai UK is celebrating four decades of bringing some of the world’s most iconic brands to the UK market.

Having successfully set up as a UK arm in 1982 for its Japanese parent company, Bandai UK launched trading with its foundations steeped firmly in the boys’ action figure market, gaining significant success with the likes of big-name properties such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers.  Over recent years, however, the business has undertaken a period of realignment to establish itself as a top multi-category player within the toy industry.

Forty years on and Bandai UK possesses an enviable portfolio of leading brands and ranges within its key divisions – Toy, Collector, Own IP, and Third-Party Distribution – all equally fundamental to the company’s early and ongoing success. Primary IPs include the best-selling Tamagotchi, Pac-Man and hit anime series Dragon Ball, while distribution lines such as CoComelon, Miraculous, McFarlane, and National Geographic are proving to be hugely successful inclusively within their associated categories and the overall toy market.

“It’s a massively exciting time to be at Bandai UK,” says Nic Aldridge, Bandai UK’s Managing Director. “Our approach is to continually challenge and evolve to remain relevant, and innovative, especially as the market becomes increasingly competitive. We are now well-established as a multi-category toy company and our recent positioning as the No.15 toy company (February 2022 NPD) assures us that this is the right approach for growth and driving forward the business. We’re looking forward to celebrating with our partners, retailers, and consumers, and planning ahead to thrive for years to come.”

 

Bandai celebrates 40 years in business

With its 40th anniversary coming up on 29 April, Bandai UK is celebrating four decades of bringing some of the world’s most iconic brands to the UK market.

Having successfully set up as a UK arm in 1982 for its Japanese parent company, Bandai UK launched trading with its foundations steeped firmly in the boys’ action figure market, gaining significant success with the likes of big-name properties such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers.  Over recent years, however, the business has undertaken a period of realignment to establish itself as a top multi-category player within the toy industry.

Forty years on and Bandai UK possesses an enviable portfolio of leading brands and ranges within its key divisions – Toy, Collector, Own IP, and Third-Party Distribution – all equally fundamental to the company’s early and ongoing success. Primary IPs include the best-selling Tamagotchi, Pac-Man and hit anime series Dragon Ball, while distribution lines such as CoComelon, Miraculous, McFarlane, and National Geographic are proving to be hugely successful inclusively within their associated categories and the overall toy market.

“It’s a massively exciting time to be at Bandai UK,” says Nic Aldridge, Bandai UK’s Managing Director. “Our approach is to continually challenge and evolve to remain relevant, and innovative, especially as the market becomes increasingly competitive. We are now well-established as a multi-category toy company and our recent positioning as the No.15 toy company (February 2022 NPD) assures us that this is the right approach for growth and driving forward the business. We’re looking forward to celebrating with our partners, retailers, and consumers, and planning ahead to thrive for years to come.”

 

Antstream Arcade strengthens exec team in move to be at the forefront of video game streaming

Antstream Arcade has made a new move to ‘put itself at the forefront of video game streaming’, welcoming the games industry veteran, Mike Rouse to lead its production team and help build out its internal studio.

The move comes during a period of record user growth for the company following its establishment as the world’s first free-to-play game streaming platform.

With over 20 years’ experience in the games industry, Rouse joins Antstream from 2K’s Brighton based Hangar 13, where he was head of production and responsible for developing and co-ordinating strategy across the studio’s four global locations and 400 employees. His career has seen him work in key roles at Microsoft where he oversaw the development of Microsoft Hololens, and at Sony.

With extensive experience in pushing the boundaries of how players interact with games, Rouse will be looking to put Antsream Arcade at the forefront of video game streaming, helping the company to build upon the slate of licensing partnerships it has already secured with the likes of Disney and Bandai as it eyes growth in the market.

Rouse said: “As a lifelong fan of what we now have to call “vintage” games, working at Antstream Arcade represents the perfect combination of my passion for retro gaming and changing how players interact with games themselves. I think it is very likely that we are nearing the end of physical consoles – with physical media losing relevance to the rise of cloud-based gaming, it is all but inevitable.

“As the first company to successfully launch a free-to-play platform with thousands of games, Antstream is well placed to be at the forefront of this change.”

Steve Cottam, CEO of Antstream, said: “Between our new licensing partnerships with the likes of Disney and Bandai, and our decision to adopt a free-to-play model, we’re in a period of immense change here at Antstream. Bringing on someone with Mike’s expertise and experience in altering how people play games is a huge boost for us as video game streaming continues to drive the game industry forward as a whole.

“We look forward to working with him in taking our library of iconic video games to the biggest audience possible.”

Mike’s love of retro gaming is on full display on his Retro Gamer Boy YouTube channel, where he posts weekly unique videos delving into his own extensive retro gaming collection, and discussing the best retro games and consoles ever made.

His retro gaming goal is to collect every SEGA Megadrive game, with only a few notable holdouts like Pirates of Darkwater standing between him and the holy grail of completionism.

Children’s entertainment licenses praised by Toy Retailers Association among its Toy of the Year Award winners

Children’s entertainment licenses PAW Patrol, Super Mario, Harry Potter, and Star Wars have been among those praised by the Toy Retailers Association for the role they have played in helping the toy industry through a troubled 2020.

In this year’s Toy of the Year awards, reflective of the change of pace for the retail scene in general over the course of last year, a strong line-up of licensed product has been championed alongside some of the best performing companies to have fuelled the industry’s five per cent year on year sales increase.

In a change of approach to the usual Toy of the Year selection process, this year’s listing reflects the impact that the pandemic has had on the sector. Yet, while online sales have accounted for just under half of all toy sales of 2020, suppliers and retailers have still played a major role in keeping the nation’s children smiling.

Amid the uncertainty, there have been four outstanding categories which have played their part in delivering the industry’s growth, all of which have outperformed the overall market.

The TRA recognises that multiple suppliers have played an integral part in each of the categories, but the selection panel has decided to highlight a ‘winner’ in each of these categories to represent the largest overall contribution to the category in a unique year for the industry.

“This year, in keeping with the year we have just experienced, we decided to be total different in our approach,” Alan Simpson, chairman of the Toy Retailers Association, told ToyNews.

“When people look back at award winners in years to come, they will notice that 2020 was totally different. I believe that this was the correct approach to reflect the challenges we have all had to overcome.”

GAMES & PUZZLES

This was a key performer in the overall market. As well as helping educate and entertain children, this category topped the growth (year on year) performance with various suppliers driving this increase.

It was the like of Ravensburger, Orchard, Gibsons Games, Asmodee, Hasbro and Tomy (Drumond Park) that all performed superbly well throughout the year.

The panel has chosen RAVENSBURGER as its standout performer in this category.

BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION 

This is an area dominated by one supplier, although Hornby with its Airfix range added a different dimension to this category with notable ranges from K’Nex and Geomag.

The winner in this category is LEGO. Delivering remarkable growth consistently over the last 10 years, LEGO has yet again outperformed the market and is to be commended for keeping the nation’s children (and kidults) entertained and amused throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and various lockdowns.

OUTDOOR & SPORTS

In a category that benefitted from people having to stay at home, it was inevitable that growth would be achieved in this area. Many products helped with our children’s mental and physical health – bicycles, trampolines, skateboards, as well as outdoor ranges from the likes of Little Tikes.

The standout performer in this category was MOOKIE TOYS for its swingball range.

ARTS & CRAFTS

Again, a variety of suppliers contributed to making this category such a success. These were Galt, Crayola, John Adams, and Spin Master with its Kinetic Sand, to name but a few.

The winner in this category is HASBRO for its domination in the arts and crafts sector through its Play Doh brand.

Many other suppliers contributed to the success of 2020 and the panel recognised the most notable listed below, with the reasons noted alongside. These will all receive a “Highly Commended” certificate this year.

BANDAI for its launch of the Cocomelon range.

CHARACTER OPTIONS
 for continued success with its Peppa Pig, Goo Jit Zu and Pokemon ranges

FUNRISE for its Fart Ninja line

GOLDEN BEAR
 for its Hey Duggee and Bing ranges

MGA ENTERTAINMENT
 for its L.O.L. Surprise! range

MATTEL
 for its success with its Barbie, Hot Wheels and Star Wars’ The Child ranges

SPIN MASTER for Paw Patrol

VTECH
 for its varied pre-school learning range

ZURU
 for the successful launch of its 5 Surprise Mini Brands range

Meanwhile, LICENSES continued to play a big part in 2020. In addition to licenses already mentioned, Frozen, Super Mario and Harry Potter continued to deliver throughout the year.

The TRA sincerely hopes that ‘normal service’ resumes in 2021 when we can revert to our customary criteria and identify the actual toy winners and allocating awards accordingly. In the meantime, we wish you all a successful and healthy 2021.

Bandai UK teams with Sanrio to launch Hello Kitty Tamagotchi

Bandai UK’s Tamagotchi is joining forces with the ever-popular Hello Kitty to allow users to enlist the help of the iconic Sanrio character to raise and nurture their digital pets. ‘It’s everything that is familiar to people who have played with Bandai’s virtual pet gadgets,’ says the firm, ‘but with added cuteness of Hello Kitty.’

The Hello Kitty Tamagotchi comes in two different shell styles – Hello Kitty and Favourite Things. The white shell is with Hello Kitty’s red bow and whiskers, and the red shell features Hello Kitty’s Favourite Things.

Owners can raise their Tamagotchi from egg to baby to adult, feeding them treats like apple pie and milk, and getting Hello Kitty to clean up the mess that Joey – her best friend – makes in the Tamagotchi character’s space.

There are seven adult characters and how each user rears their pet will determine which adult they end up with. For particularly good parenting skills, users could even be rewarded with one of the surprise characters.

Hello Kitty Tamagotchi features two fun mini games – Piano Game and Balloon Game – as an added bonus and is suitable for kids aged eight and upwards.

Brand manager, Priya Jadeja, said “Tamagotchi has been an incredible brand for Bandai for over two decades and we’ve had many collaborations within that time period. Like Tamagotchi, Hello Kitty is a universally loved brand and we can’t wait to see the fan’s reactions.”

Going viral after the virus: Fanbytes’ Timothy Armoo talks the new future of toy and brand marketing

Timothy Armoo is the CEO and founder of Fanbytes, a digital marketing business that has shot to success in the three short years it has been plying its trade as a leading light in Gen Z marketing and tapping into the global TikTok sensation early doors. At 24 years old, Fanbytes is Armoo’s third business.

At the age of 17, the young entrepreneur had sold his second business, EntrepreneurXpress, a platform that held open the door for his subsequent success in the world of social media marketing.

Before the coronavirus really took hold of the UK earlier this year, Armoo – working alongside the team at Playtime PR – launched the first TikTok campaign for the global toymaker Bandai and its Yolkies product campaign.

Bandai is just one of five major toy companies that Armoo’s company is now working with, and one of many more global entertainment brands that have turned to the young marketing magician to better tap into today’s younger audiences.

Licensing.biz catches up with Timothy Armoo, CEO and founder of Fanbytes for his insight on the future of toy marketing in a post-pandemic world.

Last time we connected, Fanbytes had just kicked off a marketing campaign with Bandai – how did it all go? What was response like, and what kind of engagement did you guys see with that?

The reception was incredible, the brand Yolkies was a perfect fit for TikTok and working with the team at PlayTime PR meant that we could have a full 360 approach both with media and PR. The content now stands at millions of views but most important are the comments, with a 93 per cent positive sentiment across the comment. TikTok is one of those platforms where it can be very easy to swipe and leave

A lot has happened since back then. How have things evolved at Fanbytes over the last few months? How has lockdown and the pandemic impacted on the social media marketing space in that time?

Pretty interesting. At the start of the lockdown, we brought out the Bytehouse which was the first-ever UK TikTok house which did insanely well. We put 6 of the biggest and most influential creators on TikTok in one house to create content We’ve now clocked over 100 million views on our content and we signed on What Do You Meme as our games partner which did very well and now work with Rubik’s, Gymshark and even helped Government organizations with spreading the word about coronavirus.

I think the pandemic has accelerated some changes in the social media world where agencies who solely relied on client revenue from one service are failing. We’ve had to be nimble in what we do constantly bringing out products and services which are innovative. The Bytehouse for example was featured on BBC News, Sky and every major press article because it was genuinely innovative, taking all the IP and insight we’d used from helping brands reach this audience to then build our own brand.

How far do you think the last few months will influence the future of social media marketing? Will brands be adopting the ‘home made’ social media approach more? Have you guys seen an increase in activity here?

Yes, this was a trend we were already seeing with people not needing the Hollywood treatment of content with “shot at home” becoming more in vogue. It’s clear this works. People buy from people and the less photoshopped and real it looks the better.

Fanbytes is working with some big names in entertainment – Warner, Universal, Paramount and more – why are companies like these now turning their attention to this kind of marketing, and Fanbytes in particular? 

I think it’s because we’ve stayed incredibly true to what we do. Helping brands win Gen Z audiences. Everything we do is centred around that. The insights we share on our socials, the language we use when communicating to clients, it’s one of those things that if you’re an expert in, people will always come to you for.

We often turn down work if we think we can’t do a good job which is quite funny sometimes, try saying to your investors we turned down this six figure deal because we didn’t feel like it hit our sweet spot! But it’s been a good decision for us.

What’s the uptake been like from the toy industry to date? What potential do you think this market has for TikTok marketing – is the industry waking up to idea, and is it being quick enough to react?

We now work with five of the biggest Toy companies in Europe and funnily enough, they’ve all come to us. I think the shift has come because people think that on TikTok it’s just brand awareness, however, when you show clear case studies of being able to drive sales, that always wins.

We’ve developed a framework we use for all our campaigns which works exceptionally well to drive sales and when we can predictably guarantee results that’s very strong. We’re also starting to bring out long term collaborations with these toy brands, rather than just a simple collaboration.

What do you think the next stage of evolution for influencer/social media marketing could be for brands and for the toy industry in particular?

I think it’s going to be deeper integrations between influencers and brands where people will bring out their own collection in partnership with a brand. You see a lot of makeup brands doing this, but I think it will extend to toys where the influencer could bring out their own range of a particular toy. This makes intuitive sense. Most toy manufacturers sell through retailers so with a bit of personalisation you could have the influencer as the retailer, which will drive huge volume and sales.

How did this all get started for you? What does the future look like for Fanbytes in the coming years – any big plans we can be shouting about?

I built my first company at 14 and sold my second company, EntrepreneurXpress at 17 which really got me into the social media world. I started Fanbytes in university three years ago and it has grown well into being a strong force in the advertising world which I’m very proud of.

The future is very interesting for us, using our expertise we are building our own products tailored to Gen Z as well as branding out the agency itself into supporting clients on a whole range of things including paid media + partnerships. Of course, we’re also gearing up for our US launch, we do a lot of business there but no real meaningful presence. That’s going to change soon.

Going viral after the virus: Fanbytes’ Timothy Armoo talks the new future of toy and brand marketing

Timothy Armoo is the CEO and founder of Fanbytes, a digital marketing business that has shot to success in the three short years it has been plying its trade as a leading light in Gen Z marketing and tapping into the global TikTok sensation early doors. At 24 years old, Fanbytes is Armoo’s third business.

At the age of 17, the young entrepreneur had sold his second business, EntrepreneurXpress, a platform that held open the door for his subsequent success in the world of social media marketing.

Before the coronavirus really took hold of the UK earlier this year, Armoo – working alongside the team at Playtime PR – launched the first TikTok campaign for the global toymaker Bandai and its Yolkies product campaign.

Bandai is just one of five major toy companies that Armoo’s company is now working with, and one of many more global entertainment brands that have turned to the young marketing magician to better tap into today’s younger audiences.

Licensing.biz catches up with Timothy Armoo, CEO and founder of Fanbytes for his insight on the future of toy marketing in a post-pandemic world.

Last time we connected, Fanbytes had just kicked off a marketing campaign with Bandai – how did it all go? What was response like, and what kind of engagement did you guys see with that?

The reception was incredible, the brand Yolkies was a perfect fit for TikTok and working with the team at PlayTime PR meant that we could have a full 360 approach both with media and PR. The content now stands at millions of views but most important are the comments, with a 93 per cent positive sentiment across the comment. TikTok is one of those platforms where it can be very easy to swipe and leave

A lot has happened since back then. How have things evolved at Fanbytes over the last few months? How has lockdown and the pandemic impacted on the social media marketing space in that time?

Pretty interesting. At the start of the lockdown, we brought out the Bytehouse which was the first-ever UK TikTok house which did insanely well. We put 6 of the biggest and most influential creators on TikTok in one house to create content We’ve now clocked over 100 million views on our content and we signed on What Do You Meme as our games partner which did very well and now work with Rubik’s, Gymshark and even helped Government organizations with spreading the word about coronavirus.

I think the pandemic has accelerated some changes in the social media world where agencies who solely relied on client revenue from one service are failing. We’ve had to be nimble in what we do constantly bringing out products and services which are innovative. The Bytehouse for example was featured on BBC News, Sky and every major press article because it was genuinely innovative, taking all the IP and insight we’d used from helping brands reach this audience to then build our own brand.

How far do you think the last few months will influence the future of social media marketing? Will brands be adopting the ‘home made’ social media approach more? Have you guys seen an increase in activity here?

Yes, this was a trend we were already seeing with people not needing the Hollywood treatment of content with “shot at home” becoming more in vogue. It’s clear this works. People buy from people and the less photoshopped and real it looks the better.

Fanbytes is working with some big names in entertainment – Warner, Universal, Paramount and more – why are companies like these now turning their attention to this kind of marketing, and Fanbytes in particular? 

I think it’s because we’ve stayed incredibly true to what we do. Helping brands win Gen Z audiences. Everything we do is centred around that. The insights we share on our socials, the language we use when communicating to clients, it’s one of those things that if you’re an expert in, people will always come to you for.

We often turn down work if we think we can’t do a good job which is quite funny sometimes, try saying to your investors we turned down this six figure deal because we didn’t feel like it hit our sweet spot! But it’s been a good decision for us.

What’s the uptake been like from the toy industry to date? What potential do you think this market has for TikTok marketing – is the industry waking up to idea, and is it being quick enough to react?

We now work with five of the biggest Toy companies in Europe and funnily enough, they’ve all come to us. I think the shift has come because people think that on TikTok it’s just brand awareness, however, when you show clear case studies of being able to drive sales, that always wins.

We’ve developed a framework we use for all our campaigns which works exceptionally well to drive sales and when we can predictably guarantee results that’s very strong. We’re also starting to bring out long term collaborations with these toy brands, rather than just a simple collaboration.

What do you think the next stage of evolution for influencer/social media marketing could be for brands and for the toy industry in particular?

I think it’s going to be deeper integrations between influencers and brands where people will bring out their own collection in partnership with a brand. You see a lot of makeup brands doing this, but I think it will extend to toys where the influencer could bring out their own range of a particular toy. This makes intuitive sense. Most toy manufacturers sell through retailers so with a bit of personalisation you could have the influencer as the retailer, which will drive huge volume and sales.

How did this all get started for you? What does the future look like for Fanbytes in the coming years – any big plans we can be shouting about?

I built my first company at 14 and sold my second company, EntrepreneurXpress at 17 which really got me into the social media world. I started Fanbytes in university three years ago and it has grown well into being a strong force in the advertising world which I’m very proud of.

The future is very interesting for us, using our expertise we are building our own products tailored to Gen Z as well as branding out the agency itself into supporting clients on a whole range of things including paid media + partnerships. Of course, we’re also gearing up for our US launch, we do a lot of business there but no real meaningful presence. That’s going to change soon.