Tag Archives: funko

Igloo Products welcomes Funko’s Andrew Perlmutter to its board of directors

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Andrew Perlmutter, the president of the pop culture giant Funko has joined the board of directors at Igloo Products. Known in the pop culture world as a renowned brand builder, Perlmutter brings decades of professional expertise to the role and will guide the company’s strategic plans for the Playmate collection through licensing and partnerships.

Igloo is widely known for its expertise in the coolers category, and has recently expanded its offering and audience with a raft of licensed products under the Playmate umbrella, including coolers featuring graphics from Scooby Doo, Batman, Star Wars, Hello Kitty, and more.

“We are very excited to have Andrew Perlmutter assume his new Board of Directors role. He is an immediate asset to the team and the brand,” said Dave Allen, president and CEO of Igloo. “Through the years we’ve seen how he has strategically grown Funko’s business and what his team has accomplished under his leadership. We look forward to leveraging his experience to continue to expand and grow the Playmate category and licensed offerings.” 

Perlmutter added: “I am very proud to join the Igloo board. Igloo is an iconic brand within American culture. When I think about the brand, it brings back nostalgic memories I’ve made throughout the years and how it’s played a part in my life’s moments. It’s an honor to be part of the team and I look forward to contributing to Igloo’s success.” 

With decades of experience, Perlmutter is the co-founder of Bottle Rocket Collective, a board and travel games company, President of Funko, Inc., President at Funko Acquisition Holdings LLC (a subsidiary of Funko, Inc.) and holds an B.A. in Interpersonal Communications from Southern Illinois University.

 

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

Funko Games: “The future of gaming? Things are going to get weird”

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Jay Wheatley, general manager of Funko Games has a simple vision of the future of tabletop gaming as it continues to push boundaries and draw in new audiences, and that’s that things are going to ‘get weird.’

It’s an idea that strikes a particularly sweet chord with the man now heading up Funko’s recently acquired games division. It was, after all, in a former life that Wheatley once took particular pleasure in imposing ‘weird and uncomfortable’ scenarios upon diners back in the days of his experiential restaurant business Entros.

He recounts to ToyNews a time he instigated a game between two players who were given the roles of a car salesman and a car buyer, each with their own backstory and specified amount they had to sell and buy a car for. The pair would then spend the evening negotiating, in a back and forth game play. This all took place in the middle of his packed out Seattle restaurant; subverting social constructs like awkwardness to turn it into entertainment.

This is the kind of ‘weird future’ Wheatley envisions for the tabletop gaming hobby. And this is the kind of man now presiding over Funko’s boldest move for the board gaming space today.

It should come as no surprise, of course. Wheatley – and the team of creative thinkers, game designers, and all-round play creators around him – has made quite the career out of tinkering with gaming mechanics to develop and innovate the tabletop gaming genre for some 20 odd years now. In doing so, he has also led a team that has produced and licensed games to some of the biggest names in the space today, the likes of Spin Master, Mattel, Asmodee, Hasbro, and Goliath included.

“In fact,” he recalls, “we have probably made around 400 to 500 games.” And that even extends to some of the most recent New York Toy Fair launches in Disney’s Villainous, Jaws, and Universal Monster’s Horrified, all of which were licensed to Ravensburger back before his team was acquired by Funko at the end of 2018. If there’s one man who knows the business of board gaming – and how to continue to push the boundaries within it – it’s going to be Wheatley.

The move came just a couple of months into a commissioned project to develop a strategy game that used the Funko Pop! figures by bringing them into a common universe, or Funkoverse, for tabletop gameplay. Having taken a shine to the output, ethics, and methodology of this team of game creators, and with an eye on making a concerted move into the board gaming arena, Funko’s Andrew Perlmutter and Brian Mariotti tabled a deal to acquire this unit of creatives.

“To us, it sounded like heaven,” Wheatley tells ToyNews. “Funko was the embodiment of what we love. We were making non-licensed games, but we were also making a lot of licensed games, and we love all of that kind of stuff . This was a deal that was about like-mindedness and culture, and we immediately saw that synergy with Funko.

“This is a company that is extraordinarily passionate about pop culture and properties, brands, stories, and characters, and bringing those to life and celebrating all of the touchstones that we have grown up with.”

By 2019, the team had been acquired and Funko Games had been established, and Wheatley had been given a new remit to explore a world of pop culture IP – a library literally in its thousands – and what it could mean for the tabletop gaming space.

“It’s wonderful to be with Funko,” Wheatley continues. “As great as our relationships have always been with Ravensburger, Asmodee etc, the companies we highly respect, deeply, there is a certain distance that creates between us and the consumer.

“If they are doing the marketing, or making the decision around customer service or they’re between the creation of the items and the retailers that they are presenting it to, all those elements of distance are things that we can close now, as we are able to have that direct relationship with the consumers – we are able to present the games directly as we intended them in the creation of them, and we are able to develop a brand that is recognised by everyone.”

For Wheatley, it means making decisions on what licenses the unit develops games for, from what he calls Funko’s “playground of licensed properties that it is working with.” It also means being able to have a real conversation with the end user, the gaming audience itself, as well as licensors – an asset that, he realises, is integral in pushing the envelope in gaming today.

“Funko does a lot of business with licensors, and it allows a certain amount of partnership that we haven’t experienced in the past that the licensors see what Funko has done in terms of licensing and product categories,” says Wheatley. “I can’t think of any company other than Funko who could come up with a game system of multiple different licenses that you can place within one kind of universe, I think that would have been a hard sell for most publishers.”

Of course, Funko Games’ board gaming output may start with Funkoverse, but it certainly doesn’t end there. Wheatley tells ToyNews of the excitement around New York Toy Fair earlier this year, when it finally got to reveal a raft of signature games, including Back to the Future, Godzilla, Yacht Rock, and a Pan Am licensed title, all of which go a very long well to not only establish Funko’s credentials in the tabletop gaming arena, but reflect the fascinating relationship that tabletop gaming now has with society today.

“And that really is a fascinating subject,” says Wheatley. “There was a time in the mid 2000s when we thought we were going to go out of business because of the rise of app games. It was an existential time for board games. People began playing games everywhere and all of the time, whether in mass transit or before they went to bed.

“But actually, we think it whetted the appetite and made game playing more of a constant part of people’s worlds and lifestyle, and so today, board gaming has never been stronger.

“In the last year or two, we have seen the adoption of more complex or interesting games (what we used to call Eurostyle games, but now days are coming from all corners of the world), we are seeing game nights become a standard part of people’s social behaviour, and there is a robust world of gaming happening.

“It reminds me of the quote from [Canadian philosopher] Marshall McLuhan that ‘the medium is the message.’ For me, I think of ‘what does the medium say here?’ What does game playing say about society and our culture, irrespective of the content? What does this medium say about us in this time and place of human existence?”

What it says, Wheatley answers, is that people want to spend time together.

“They want to sit across a table and share experiences, laugh, have fun in a big shared space together, and how great is that?” he says. “Tabletop gaming is one of the healthiest things people can be doing – spending social time together, engaging their intellect, their imagination, and sharing all of these wonderful things.”

Then there is what this newest ilk of board game developers are bringing to the space by exploring an IP’s narrative to its fullest and bringing it to life on the board and in game play.

Wheatley continues: “We love diving deep into the content and the licenses. It is one thing to have a game that is filled with imagery and words, and ideas and characters that people recognise, but that is not enough. It’s very important that the actual structural experience of the game, the mechanics of the game, support the message or theme, or principals of the property itself.”

Wheatley takes the work he and his team put into Jaws prior to the Funko acquisition as an example. Jaws is a hidden movement game which builds up a lot of tension through its cat and mouse gameplay.

“And that’s great, because that is what the movie is about. You could take a game and put a shark on it, and a few touchstones from the movie, but it is not good enough unless you’re putting players into something evocative of the emotional and psychological experience that the property offers,” the game designer explains.

Wheatley breaks it down into three elements; diegetic, extra-diegetic, and nondiegetic, these being elements from the property itself – many of which you will find in Funko Games’ Back to the Future board game; elements not from the property but built into the game’s narrative in order to enhance the gaming experience and still rooted in that world; and elements such as randomisers (like dice) and point scoring systems, respectively.

According to Wheatley, a successful game knows how to strike the right balance or cook up the right recipe with the correct quantities of each of these elements.

“It can be challenging, editorially, to make all of these components work together in order to keep players immersed in the IP’s narrative and not distracted by those elements that are necessary, yet have the ability to take them out of the narrative if the balance isn’t right.”

The technicalities in this regard can run deep, and it is obvious that this is a favoured topic of talk for Wheatley, a man who self-professes ‘feels like he has studied a Phd in board games’ simply through the number of hours he has dedicated to the craft.

We, however, stop short, to tackle the topic of where tabletop gaming is heading from here.

“The bar is constantly being raised, and everyone in this industry is super energised about delivering for gamers these incredible experiences that are authentic and feel immersive,” he explains. “It is a great time to be a gamer because everyone is trying to deliver that deeper and better experience.

“I think we are going to see more innovative and interesting ideas, and I don’t just mean what’s happening with the variables and equipment at the table, but things that produce unique behaviours; things where the gameplay is taking place not just in the same room, not just in the same time space, but taking place over longer periods of time, or connecting people in different ways.

“I think we are going to see more experimentation and they’re not all going to work, but that is the way it is when you try new things. We are going to see more exotic, meta experiences happening. We have a couple of things in the works – things we started before we became Funko Games that will come out through other channels, but that is an area to keep your eye out for because there is going to be some weird games, in the very best of ways.”

Funko, the pop culture lifestyle, and why 2020 is going to be a game changer for its European business

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It’s likely the fact that Funko – in one form or another – can be found in most toy shops on the high street or otherwise today, that the firm’s insistence that ‘it is not a toy company,’ takes some time to comprehend.

As the pop culture explosion that Funko found itself at the centre of mid-way through the last decade continues to surge across the UK, it stands to reason that the purveyor of Pop! has found itself an almost omnipresent figurehead of the trend.

It wouldn’t have escaped many people’s attention that year on year, the Funko brand has been gaining shelf space inch by inch across the retail landscape; most recently it compounded its growth within the toy space with the launch of its ‘revolutionary’ Paka Paka platform into The Entertainer’s boundary-pushing Westfield store – a concept that went on to launch in Forbidden Planet’s Glasgow store, and will be followed with launches in Primark and Smyths Toys.

Nevertheless, Funko’s mantra remains. This is more than a toy company, and for the past number of years it has been actively positioning itself as a lifestyle brand, with a portfolio that spans all manner of categories from its vinyl figures, to softlines, bags, purses, wallets and homewares, developed in conjunction with its Loungefly brand.

There aren’t many toy companies, after all, that can lay claim to presence in such a diverse line-up of retailers; and it’s this, diversification, that has just helped Funko’s EMEA operation to one of its better financial years to date.

“We grew significantly in EMEA, it was the strongest growing of the regions internationally,” Andy Oddie, Funko’s managing director of EMEA, tells Licensing.biz. “And it is being a lifestyle company with the lifestyle businesses that we have got, that has helped us in the face of the challenges in the industry.

Funko EMEA managing director, Andy Oddie, says 2020 will be a game changing year

“We are in a broader channel, and that’s allowed us to tap into many different opportunities at retail and through e-commerce. One of the biggest initiatives for us at the moment is with Primark.

“But with our multi-channel and multi-category approach we can attack in certain areas and defend in other areas, and be in a multitude of places that others would maybe fail to reach.”

It came as a surprise to many in the business when Funko’s US division detailed an eight per cent dip in its Q4 2019 results last month, finishing up at $214 million compared to the $233 million the year prior. It was the challenging retail environment of the US that contributed to the majority of the dip.

The story for Funko’s EMEA operations, however, offers a stark contrast. 

“All categories grew and all markets within EMEA – that’s nearly all 116 markets in the EMEA region – grew, and all those sub-markets that look after and feed into them grew,” continues Oddie. 

“In fact, we grew the workforce by 25 per cent and we have opened a new distribution centre in Coventry, which is state of the art with logistics systems and hardware meaning that we can be even quicker to market with our product.

“We are famously quick to develop items, but we have been criticised in the past for being poor operationally. I think this will be a game-changer for us, our operational capabilities will be massively upgraded with this facility.”

The new facility sees Funko move its current operations unit out of Essex and into its new Coventry address, from where it will service the majority of its key customers. A portion will continue to be serviced from the Netherlands distribution centre it opened in 2018. Oddie summarises the past year and a half at Funko making preparations for 2020 to be a game-changing year for the firm.

“Suddenly we are not only going to be quick to the market with product, but able to fulfil it and get it to the customer quicker than before as well,” he says.

“We have got growth, growth, growth, and we have got the new distribution centre – so that all sounds fantastic.”

But Funko isn’t totally immune to the susceptibility that hounds the toy, entertainment, or licensing industry. It’s US business already placed blame for its Q4 dip at the door of a weaker movie slate through 2019 compared to the year prior, while many have already lamented a softer line up still for the year ahead.

“The Disney slate is lighter than it has been previously,” states Oddie. “Warner has a good film out with Birds of Prey, but net – we are in a weaker environment in terms of properties for 2020. I think fortunately we are in the multichannel and with multi-categories.

“We are somewhat guarded from the difficulties of a soft movie slate, simply because we have such a broad product slate which is tapping into every imaginable piece of IP and opportunity, but at some point or another you can’t directly replace something as large as Marvel End Game… you need a lot of bits to replace End Game or Fortnite.

“But we do have all of the armoury available to defend from any lack of content, and, by the way, the 2021 IP slate looks awesome.”

Funko EMEA’s new state of the art logistics centre in Coventry

Visitors to this year’s New York Toy Fair were offered a glimpse at that armoury that not only spanned the diversity of its lifestyle portfolio, but also witnesses Funko make a concerted step into the toy space with the launch of Snapsies: a toy line developed for the younger market that features snap and match technology that allows kids to collect a diverse line-up of characters.

In a move to offer a fully-branded experience, Funko has even launched the line with content created by its in-house team at Funko Animation Studios.

Funko’s lifestyle division Loungefly gives Disney’s Mulan the Funko feel

On top of this, of course, is Funko Games, the tabletop gaming arm to Funko’s pop culture-spanning entity, that brings the brand roaring into the ever growing market for IP-driven board games with a collection that includes the Back to the Future: Back in Time tabletop game, Godzilla: Tokyo Clash, and a left field title that uses the Pan Am license.

With this now all falling under the Funko brand name, it’s increasingly obvious as to how the pop culture specialist is gaining those inches at retail, while the larger – grand plan if you will – for Funko appears to shift into view.

“We will always say that we want more space,” says Oddie. “Space gives us the ability to trade on a linear basis, and we have the product to achieve that. If we have three bays in retailer X, we say if you give us six bays, we will always achieve double what we did in three bays due to the items we have in strength and breadth.

“What we are looking to do is create Funko dedicated experiences and experiential retail execution that is interesting to fans, people spend time looking at it, perhaps there is a TV screen in there and some Funko branding in there, which really supports a much more interesting kind of experience for the customer – which is what everyone is looking for right now.

“The customer needs to be kept in store and needs to be excited about what’s in store. They need to see something new every week, and we can give that. Very few others can put their hand on their heart and say that they are delivering on all of that,” Oddie concludes.

Funko launches new licensed board games, opens shop-in-shop with Hamleys and moves for the kids toy space

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Funko has now partnered with Hamleys Russia to launch a new Funko shop-in-shop in the toy retailer’s flagship Moscow store – helping the firm step its international efforts up a level.

The partnership between the two titans kicked off with a launch party to amplify the shop within a shop model being rolled out in store this February. The Moscow shop-in-shop – also known as the Funko Zone, launched on February 21st to media and influencers, followed by a grand opening for the public on February, 22nd.

 Key press and taste makers took part in photo opportunities at the opening of the new permanent shop-in-shop, which plans to offer an immersive experience, allowing customers to experience and celebrate a world of Funko through a life sized Pop! box, large statues of Disney’s Maleficent, Harry Potter’s Hagrid, and a Star Wars Storm Trooper.

There will also be screen takeovers with Funko’s own animations of Disney’s Frozen and Star Wars.

 The space, which will be a tribute to the Funko stores in Seattle and Hollywood, will be home to new Funko launches including Loungefly (fashion accessories), Funkoverse (board games), a wealth of Pop!, and more, but to kickstart it all – will be the launch of the following Hamleys Russia exclusives; Overwatch D. Va Pop! (Diamond Edition), Cruella De Vil Pop! (Diamond Edition) and Pennywise with Glow Bug Pop!

 Andy Oddie, managing director at Funko, EMEA, said: “Launching a shop-in-shop in Moscow’s iconic Hamleys store is an absolute honour and a key milestone for us. The famous store and brand is the perfect home for a Funko Zone, bringing our pop culture retail experience to Moscow’s city centre.”

 Sveta Farnieva, brand director of Hamleys Russia, added: “Partnering with the pop culture giants of today to bring their collectibles and apparel via the vessel that is our store is just the beginning of amazing things to come. Watch this Funko space.”

Funko has been expanding its brand depth in recent weeks, culminating with the recent unveiling of the newest titles to emerge from its Funko Games umbrella. It was at this year’s New York Toy Fair that Funko Games, the board game group of the Washington-based pop-culture firm, unveiled a diverse lineup of games.

Among its first wave were the likes of Back to the Future: Back in Time, Godzilla: Tokyo Clash, and a new title making use of the Pan Am license.

“The Funko Games new releases span from deep strategy board games to collaborative family fun to quintessential party picks that are all rooted in clever stories, nostalgic pop-culture touchstones, and fan-favourite licenses,” read a statement from the outfit.

On top of this, Funko also used the New York Toy Fair as the launch pad for its debut into the toy category via its newest product line called Snapsies. Through Snapsies, Funko has developed a toy line specifically for the younger market, featuring patent pending snap-and-match technology which allows kids to add personalisation to a diverse lineup of characters like rock star unicorn Jett, super-athletic mountain goat Billie, and hedgehog Boe, the baker.

Eva Verhaak, head of marketing and strategic sales at Funko, EMEA, added: “We are ecstatic to launch into toys with Snapsies, a product that heroes friendship, creativity and being an individual.

“The fact this is intertwined with a new snapping technology makes it a unique proposition for retailers and consumers. Additionally, all characters were brought to life with beautiful animations created by our in-house team at Funko Animation Studios. Collectively, we can’t wait to see kids ‘snapping and matching’ away this year and building their collections.”

Snapsies  will be available in the UK this summer.

Funko is relocating its operational base to ‘state of the art’ centre in Coventry

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Funko is relocating its operational base to a new ‘state of the art’ distribution centre located in Coventry, in the Midlands, in a move prompted by the firm’s continued ‘exceptional growth’ across the UK and Europe.

Since it began trading in January 2017, Funko EMEA has seen significant expansion, with the past three years growth surpassing expectations as the business continues to extend into new and existing markets.

In 2019, Funko further accelerated its business development through diversification, bringing in brands such as Loungefly, Funko Games, Funko Home + Gifts, and softlines, all in order to meed the demands of new and existing customers across EMEA.

Compounding the expansion, Funko is relocating its operational base to the new centre in Coventry in order to ‘provide its partners with an upgraded level of service, and alleviate pressure on the company’s operational infrastructure.’

With 349,000 sq. ft. of operating space, including 17,000 sq. ft. of new offices, the state-of-the-art fulfilment centre is nearing completion. The new facility will mostly be servicing the UK and Irish markets, however, a portion of its capacity will be dedicated to mainland European customers.

Managing director of Funko EMEA, Andy Oddie, confirmed: “We are reacting to our customer needs with an innovative operational system that can mirror the pace of our company – the new space meets all our extensive requirements, and we are delighted.”

The transition to the new location in Coventry has already begun, and is scheduled to go live from early April, 2020.

Disney reveals toys and consumer products line up for both Mulan and Onward

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In a double whammy for the studio, Disney has revealed the consumer products portfolio for not one but two of its upcoming blockbuster movies, detailing the toy lines and licensed products line-up for both Mulan and its new animated feature film, Onward.

Hasbro, Mattel, and Funko join the ranks of a heaving portfolio of product partners across the two movies, both slated for a cinematic release this March. The live action remake of Mulan will land on March 27th this year, while Onward will debut on March 6th.

Disney has pulled out all of the stops to deliver a consumer product programme that ticks all of the boxes this year, with ranges spanning some of the biggest names in toys and collectables, from Hasbro, Mattel, and Funko, to Rubie’s, Half Moon Bay, and more.

The Mulan programme kicks off with fashion dolls from Hasbro, Pop! Vinyl figures from Funko, and Disney Store exclusives including an enamel pin set and a Mulan dress up set. Centum Books has been tapped for a movie novelisation, while Rubie’s is delivering on the Deluxe Mulan Costume.

Pandora is releasing a line of licensed charms, while Half Moon Bay has mugs, travel mugs, and dishes covered. Bonnier is releasing storybooks, while there is still plenty more in the line-up to be discovered.

Meanwhile, Mattel well and truly has the Onward license on lock down with an expansive line up that includes role-play items such as the Onward Wizard Staff, as well as blind bag collectables, a core figure assortment, a mini vehicle assortment, feature plush, and a line up of soft toys of each of the film’s main characters.

The Disney Store has its obligatory line-up of gifts and accessory exclusives, including enamel pins, diaries, figurines, mugs and more, while Bonnier is delivering on the activity books, Phidal has a busy book and a jigsaw puzzle, and Panini completes the initial line-up with an Onward Sticker Collection.

Check out the trailers for both Mulan and Onward below:

Surprise results at Funko as Q4 2019 financials take 8 per cent dip

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In a surprise turn of events in the narrative of the pop culture specialist, Funko has detailed lower than expected net sales of $214m in its preliminary fourth quarter 2019 results.

The company reported its preliminary financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2019 this week, showing that it expected to see a decrease of eight per cent compared to the $233m is totalled in Q4 2018.

Net sales were below expectations in mature markets, including in the US, due to the challenging retail environment, which according to the firm, resulted in lower than expected purchases among Funko’s top customers over Christmas.

The lack of big hitting, box office films through 2019 has also been highlighted as a reason for the decrease. These factors more than offset the strong growth that Funko had seen in Europe, as well as the strength of the Loungefly brand during the quarter.

“While we are disappointed in our fourth quarter results, we are confident that our strong track record of innovation through new product categories and properties, as well as continued international expansion, will continue to propel the company in 2020 and beyond,” said Brian Mariotti, chief executive officer.

“The underlying strength of our Pop! And Loungefly brands, combined with Funko’s unique ability to leverage evergreen properties will enable the company to achieve high-single-digit to low-double-digit sales growth in 2020.

“Since 2017, we have grown sales at a compound annual rate of more than 20 per cent. The key drivers that have fuelled our growth and brought Funko to where it is today remain intact. Looking forward, we plan to continue investing in existing and new products, people and global operations to ensure the company is positioned for long-term success.”

Pop!, Loungefly and new product introductions in toys and games have all been highlighted as drivers for the company’s growth throughout 2020.

Funko will report its fourth quarter and full year financial results after the market closes on Thursday, march 5th this year.

Funko bolsters its EMEA marketing team following a year of growth across the region

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Funko has bolstered its EMEA marketing team with a triple hiring for 2020, welcoming a new PR manager, marketing manager, and brand marketing manager to the team.

After another year of growth for the company throughout Europe, Funko has completed its EMEA marketing team with three new hires. Based in London, the team will implement marketing and PR plans to support its catalogue of products throughout key European regions.

Heading up PR is Angela Lee, who joins from Premier, where she served as account director working on publicity strategies for consumer entertainment properties with the likes of Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Entertainment One, Rakuten and Hearst Live. Lee will be leading on the brand’s PR strategy through consumer and trade media relations, publicity activations and supporting influencer engagement.

Meanwhile, a new marketing force comes in the form of Chris Barnett who joins from Entertainment One where he managed UK retail marketing for popular preschool brands Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, and Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom.

Prior to this, Barnett was a buyer for the F&F menswear clothing range at Tesco across the UK and Central Europe, before joining the Tesco licensing team to develop the licensed personalised home and gifting proposition. He will be principal to marketing initiatives for leading retailers in the UK.

Finally, Liz Simpson will be spearheading brand marketing. She joins from Unilever where she led key strategic initiatives for global brands, driving innovation, market development and digital transformation, across the world’s leading FMCG products in homecare, beauty and personal care.

Previously, she worked for Unicharm, delivering marketing strategies and award-winning marketing campaigns in the Australian market. Simpson will be integral to marketing activations for Funko’s portfolio of sub-brands and its new categories being released this year.

Eva Verhaak, head of strategic marketing and sales, commented: “I am beyond thrilled the marketing team is now complete with an arsenal of new talent, from all different backgrounds of expertise to help continue our growth across EMEA.”

The team can be contacted at:

angela.lee@funko.com (PR Manager)

chris.barnett@funko.com (Marketing Manager)

liz.simpson@funko.com (Brand Marketing Manager)

ITV Studios secures raft of US and Canadian partners for Schitt’s Creek

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ITV Studios has detailed a raft of new US and Canadian licensing deals for Schitt’s Creek, as the hit comedy series readies for the launch of its sixth and final season this month.

The show received four Emmy, five Critics’ Choice and two SAG nominations, and won multiple Canadian Screen Awards in 2019, picking up a growing audience of cult fans due to its own brand of quirky humour. 

The 14-episode sixth season will air on the same day and time across the US on Pop TV, and Canada on CBC, with syndication across the US to follow in Autumn 2020 along with Netflix in the US, UK, Eire, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Japan.

Created and produced by Daniel Levy and his father Eugene Levy, the series follows a wealthy family who lose their fortune and are forced to relocate to a rundown motel in the small town of Schitt’s Creek.

The cast includes Eugene Levy (American Pie), Catherine O’Hara (Home Alone, Beetlejuice), Daniel Levy, Annie Murphy, Chris Elliot (Everybody Loves Raymond, There’s Something About Mary), Emily Hampshire, Jennifer Robertson, Noah Reid, Dustin Milligan, Sarah Levy, and Karen Robinson.

Licensing partners include Rizzoli with 2020 and 2021 calendars, Beekman 1802 for a collection of  high end gift toiletries based on the in-world brand Rose Apothecary, Hi-Line whose official web store is now live and who support the ongoing live shows with tour merchandise, and Funko who will launch a range of Pop! Vinyl figures based on the main characters from March.

UGC and fan art designs are also available direct-to-consumer through Redbubble.

To celebrate the launch of the new season, Pop TV held exclusive pop up Visit Schitt’s Creek immersive experiences in New York City and Los Angeles this past November and December, with Hi-Line servicing the official merchandise.

The event offered free reservations, which were all claimed within minutes by thousands of fans who interacted with authentic set pieces and detailed recreations, allowing them to visit the world of Schitt’s Creek; coverage of Visit Schitt’s Creek has reached billions of impressions.

In addition, Beekman 1802 is planning a Rose Apothecary-branded takeover in their flagship New York store on January 7th to promote the new range and the return of the series.

Further deals currently in negotiation include Apparel, Publishing and other exciting merchandise tie-ins.