Tag Archives: pandemic

The Entertainer partners with Mattel to bring a virtual Christmas grotto experience to children this year

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The family-owned high street toy retailer, The Entertainer, has teamed up with Mattel to create a virtual grotto experience for children missing out this Christmas due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With government restrictions, lockdowns, and social distancing measures taking experiences and events off the table this year, the pair are looking to recreate the experience of the Christmas grotto visit in a unique way with a giveaway offering 50 places to families who will get the chance to ‘dial through’ to the North Pole and chat with Santa and his elves.

Supporting some of those families most at need, 25 of the 50 spaces will be split between families from The Salvation Army nurseries and families supported by the support group Enabled run by The Salvation Army who provide spiritual and social fellowship for people with a disability and their carers.

The remaining 25 spots are open to the public to win. Families have from November 5th to 21st to enter. Full T&Cs can be seen on the website alongside the entry form by following this link: https://emails.thetoyshop.com/public/m/santa_competition

As well as a chance to meet Santa, there will also be toys from Mattel to be won including the latest Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels cars, Mega Bloks construction toys as well as games including UNO and Scrabble. All entrants will also receive a 10 per cent off voucher for Mattel toys at The Entertainer.

Gary Grant, founder and chief executive of The Entertainer, said: “Covid-19 has had a huge impact on our children, from missing play dates with friends to time away from learning and this Christmas is already looking very different. Visiting Father Christmas is a time-honoured Christmas tradition for thousands of children across the country, and whilst social distancing means this isn’t possible this year, we wanted to bring Santa to children in the virtual world so families can share the joy of Christmas together.”

The London Stationery Show confirms new May dates for 2021

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The London Stationery Show will be making its return in 2021, taking up a new summer slot across May 18th and 19th at the Business Design Centre.

Exhibitions in the UK have been halted over the course of the pandemic and were originally due to resume in October. The government Department for Culture, Media and Sport has already approved the event industry’s Covid-19 guidance, and was also satisfied with pilot events which took place in September.

It is now expected that events will be allowed to restart from March 2021.

The London Stationery Show is the latest in a calendar of events to have to adapt to the current climate and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this week, the organisers of the annual Spring Fair confirmed that its 2021 show would not be going ahead, but instead be held as an all-virtual event ahead of the return of its physical format with Autumn Fair 2021 and Spring Fair 2022.

Last month, the British Toy and Hobby Association made the decision to call off London Toy Fair.

“We are confident that exhibitions will resume in the spring,” said London Stationery Show’s event director, Alex Butler “And to ensure we’re in the best position possible to host a second-to-none event, we have secured a slightly later date than usual for next year’s show.

“From speaking with exhibitors and visitors over the course of this year, we know that everyone is craving the opportunity to meet face-to-face. The industry is in agreement that nothing can replace the organic business which comes from an exhibition.

“The health and safety of everyone involved will continue to be at the core of our planning, and we will be working hard to communicate our plans to ensure everyone feels confident attending the show.

“We are ready to safely open London Stationery Show’s doors and cannot wait to see everyone there.”

London Stationery Show will take place on Tuesday 18 May and Wednesday 19 May 2021. For more information you can contact the team at stationeryshow@oceanmedia.co.uk.

Funko sees 14 per cent sales dip but CEO Brian Mariotti praises global team in a ‘challenging 2020’

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Despite a decrease of 14 per cent in net sales in its third quarter financials year on year, Funko’s CEO Brian Mariotti has praised the efforts of the pop culture specialist’s international teams in its executions throughout a challenging 2020, and believes the firm is ‘well-positioned for the Holiday season’ with its most diverse product offering to date.

The company’s chief executive has also expressed optimism for the outfit’s Q4 2020 performance, citing expanded presence within key retailers as it makes plans to “remain agile in the face of today’s dynamic environment.”

Funko saw net sales decrease 14 per cent to $191.2 million in the third quarter of 2020 compared to $223.3 million in the same period the year prior. The decline has been primarily attributed to the slower recovery from Covid-19 impacts within the domestic specialty channel and European region.

These impacts were partially offset by growth within the domestic third party e-commerce and mass-market channel as well as the Company’s own direct-to-consumer business. Funko’s direct to consumer e-commerce sales increased more than 150 per cent compared to the year prior.

Meanwhile, Funko’s Loungefly branded products grew 25 per cent compared to 2019, driven by the momentum of Loungefly.com and within wholesale channels.

In the third quarter of 2020, the number of active properties was 715, which represents a 14 per cent increase from the third quarter of 2019.

On a geographical basis, net sales in the United States decreased four per cent to $140.9 million. Net sales internationally decreased 34 per cent to $50.3 million, reflecting more significant impacts from Covid-19 primarily within the European region.

On a product category basis, net sales of figures decreased 18 per cent to $145.0 million. Net sales of other products decreased one per cent to $46.2 million, reflecting strength in Loungefly branded products which increased 25 per cent compared to the prior year due to strong momentum on Loungefly.com as well as at wholesale retailers.

“Our teams have executed well in 2020 despite the challenges presented by the pandemic,” said Brian Mariotti, chief executive officer. “In the third quarter, we outperformed revenue expectations, reflecting strength within our domestic mass market and digital channels.

“We also maintained strong gross margins and cost controls, which allowed us to deliver improved profitability. The quarter was highlighted by our successful evergreen programs, expanded product offerings and enhanced e-commerce capabilities, all of which are enabling us to drive increased engagement with our fans around the globe.

“While we expect to face continued headwinds in specific channels and regions in the fourth quarter, we believe we are well positioned for the holiday season with our most diverse product offering yet and an expanded presence within key retail partners. Looking further ahead, we are staying focused on our four key strategies and remaining agile in the face of today’s dynamic environment.”

The Company anticipates that effects from the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to impact sales in the fourth quarter of 2020 and currently expects net sales on a percentage basis to be down 10 per cent to eight per cent compared to prior year.

Lockdown II: Primark expects further loss of £375m in sales after initial shop closures cause 60 per cent slump

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Store closures at the hands of the coronavirus pandemic have seen sales and profit at the international retailer, Primark slump by as much as 60 per cent as reported in its full year financials ending September 12 2020. The value retailer has seen adjusted operating profit plunge to £362 million, while full year revenues fell 24 per cent to £5.9 billion.

These figures have been driven by a total loss of sales in the third quarter as stores were forced to shut under government-enforced lockdowns around the world – particularly in the UK, Primark’s biggest market. The retailer has been one to feel the impact of the pandemic the hardest, having no online operations in place at all.

But despite its trading performance, Primark has still managed to open 12 new stores in the financial year, bringing it total portfolio to 384 stores globally.

According to the Retail Gazette, Primark’s trading performance impacted the overall full year figures for parent company AB Foods, which reported a 40 per cent drop in operating profit to £810 million, while group revenues declined 12 per cent to £13.93 billion on an actual currency basis.

The retailer will now have to re-live the effects of a national lockdown, following the announcement over the weekend that England will enter its second country-wide lockdown from Thursday this week, closing all non-essential shops until early December. Yesterday AB Foods said it expected Primark to lose £375 million worth of sales as a result of the second lockdown period from November 5 to December 2.

AB Foods said the new restrictions would have a “significant” impact on Primark, although it still expected sales and profits in the retailer during the current financial year to be higher.

“I am proud of how our people have responded to the many challenges presented by Covid-19,” AB Foods chairman George Weston said. “Throughout, we have provided safe, nutritious food under the most extraordinary conditions, proving the value and resilience of our supply chains.

“Following a three-month closure, Primark delivered a robust performance, receiving an overwhelmingly positive response when it safely welcomed customers back to its stores.

“Uncertainty about temporary store closures in the short-term remains, but sales since reopening to the year-end of £2 billion demonstrate the relevance and appeal of our value-for-money offering.”

Toys and Consumer Products revenue lifts as WWE negotiates Coronavirus fall-out

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The chairman and CEO of the sport and entertainment franchise, WWE, has championed the business’ creativity throughout a challenging environment, highlighted a strong performance for the brand in its third quarter financials.

WWE has been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic that has rendered live events – the model upon which WWE generates a majority of its income – impossible to maintain to the same volume and capacity of live audiences as pre-Covid times. Despite the impact that has driven a 97 per cent decrease in revenue generated by live events, the organisation remains optimistic.

Consolidated results see the franchise hit third quarter revenue of $221.6 million, an increase of 19 per cent – or $35.3 million – on the same period last year, that has been primarily driven by the growth of core content rights fees in the media segment. This revenue was partially off-set by the loss of ticket and merchandise sales that resulted from the cancellation, postponement and relocation of its live events.

Revenue generated from live events plunged to $0.7 million.

However, the brand’s consumer products sales witnessed a revenue increase of 17 per cent on Q3 2019, taking it to $19.9 million in reflection of increased merchandise sales at the Company’s e-commerce site, WWE Shop, and higher video game and toy royalties. Increased sales via its e-commerce platform substantially off-set the absence of venue merchandise sales resulting from the absence of ticketed audience events in the quarter.

“Our third quarter financial performance was strong and reflected our ongoing creativity in a challenging environment,” said Vince McMahon, WWE chairman and CEO. “We continue to adapt our business, as demonstrated by the creation of WWE ThunderDome, focusing on increasing audience interaction and engagement to support the value of our content globally.”

Kristina Salen, WWE chief financial officer, added: “In the quarter, we delivered revenue of $221.6 million and Adjusted OIBDA of $84.3 million based on increased rights fees for the Company’s flagship programming. With $638 million in cash and short-term investments at quarter-end, we believe WWE has substantial capital resources to manage challenges that may lie ahead and to deliver on key strategic initiatives.”

Net Income for the WWE business was $48.2 million, an increase from $5.8 million in the third quarter 2019, primarily reflecting stronger operating performance.

Cath Kidston will ‘draw on British heritage to operate as a digital-first retailer in the UK’

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Cath Kidston has identified opportunities to bolster its brand relevance and product innovation, as well as improve its digital presence and international partnerships, the retailer has said, in a move to deliver “a sustained profitability model” over the next three years.

The fashion and lifestyle name entered administration and underwent a restructure in April this year. Since then, it has leaned into online retailer, an arm that now accounts for 85 per cent of its business. The firm has now detailed a transformation plan that puts digital acceleration and global growth at its centre.

With renewed support and investment from parent company Baring Private Equity Asia, Cath Kidston said it has realigned its cost base and structure to create an “economically viable operating model” as a brand-led, digital first retailer.

The retailer has said that it would draw on its British heritage to operate as a digital-first retailer in the UK.

As reported by the Retail Gazette, Cath Kidston will re-open its Piccadilly store in London next month, which will operate as its global flagship and its only high street store in the UK. It will seek to leverage its wholesale relationships and franchise partnerships in over 35 countries.

Other transformation measures include streamlining Cath Kidston’s product range by curating content for customers in more meaningful ways, and refining the offer to focus on key products and easier ways to shop.

The retailer has ambitions to reclaim its status as a gifting destination where one in five UK customers have either bought or received a Cath Kidston gift, and will continue to build new categories to reflect growing consumer demand in areas such as home and kids.

Cath Kidston chief executive Melinda Paraie, said: “We truly believe that Cath Kidston is a brand for our time, and we have worked incredibly hard to create a sustainable, profitable future for the brand following our restructuring.

“Our customers sit at the heart of our new strategy, and it was fundamental to our vision that we could maintain Cath Kidston’s role of inspiring the everyday optimist with our hand drawn prints and joyful products.

“Particularly as we all face our new normal world, the role of bringing moments of joy to everyday is even more relevant.”

Cath Kidston chair Marty Wikstrom, added: “[Cath Kidston] is a brand with a powerful heritage and loyal customer following that has pivoted its business strategy to ensure that it is positioned for success in a changing retail environment.”

Cath Kidston’s administration process occured at the height of lockdown in April this year and led to the closure of 60 of its UK stores and the loss of 908 jobs. Baring Private Equity Asia had secured a pre-pack administration deal that saw it buy back Cath Kidston’s brand, wholesale and online operations.

The retailer’s 100-plus stores overseas, especially in Asia, were untouched from the administration process.

Asmodee’s licensing game: “It’s about time this happened, the fans out there are starving for stuff”

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“The world is going to look very different now that Asmodee – one of the biggest players in the board gaming sector – is very actively pushing into licensing,” Alexander Thieme, manager of licensed publishing and consumer products, Asmodee Entertainment, promises.

The board game giant kicked off October with a show of force when it entered Festival of Licensing’s European leg with a tranche of partnership announcements covering both its hobby gaming portfolio and publishing imprint Aconyte Books.

Tapping into a fanbase and core audience of gamers and pop culture fans that are “positively starving for Asmodee licensing,” all of a sudden, the international hobby gaming specialist was landing graphic novel deals with CMON, bringing its artwork to the fore in pop culture collaborations, and partnering with the major entertainment studio, Ubisoft, to develop novels based on some of the largest video gaming IP on the planet.

Alexander Thieme, licensing manager of publishing and consumer products, Asmodee Entertainment

Yet while it may seem there’s not been a day over the last two weeks that a new development hasn’t emerged from Asmodee Entertainment, Thieme confidently informs us this is just the beginning.

“It’s about time this happened,” he tells Licensing.biz. “The fans out there are hungry, they are starving for stuff. Whenever I talk to fans and tell that I do the licensing, I ask them what they are looking for – is it comics, is it this, or that? And they bite my hand off. They are really crazy for it right now.

“But it’s the truth to say that we are just getting started.”

And that must be music to the ears. As dedication to a cause goes, you’ll find few more resolute than the tabletop gaming audience and the connection they have with their favourite titles. Yet, for so long, this has been a vastly under-served, if not, unrecognised market. With tabletop, hobby, and board gaming reaching new global heights, Asmodee Entertainment is on a mission to change all of that.

“I was part of the inventory at Games Workshop for many years, and I know the fanbase and the depths of their immersion,” says Thieme. “But I was surprised at how strong the connection is here, between fans and their board game titles.

“Arkham Horror is one of those that I am just super fascinated with how positive or how engaged the fans are when we announce something. It is incredible, they just pour out their love. The trick now is to find the right partners that are willing to jump into the boat with us.”

This will be Thieme’s remit. In the ten short months since he joined the board gaming giant, he has already seen this side to the business begin to flourish. The formation of Aconyte Books last has been an ace up the sleeve for the games publisher, having given the company a swinging door through which to license in and license out. It’s allowed the company to align itself with major entertainment companies such as Marvel and Ubisoft, as well as a platform from which it can propel titles like Twilight Imperium or Arkham Horror outside of the board game space.

“For me,” says Thieme, “as much as Asmodee’s statement is that there is a game for every gamer, I believe that here, there is a brand for every licensee. It’s about finding the right commercial endeavours.

“Dobble behaves very differently and has different opportunities to Arkham Horror. Catan is a beautiful hybrid of a mass market casual game and a super-ingrained hobby game. All of this produces very distinct audiences and very distinct opportunities.”

It’s just a matter of unearthing them. And that is what excites Thieme the most. His is a vision for Asmodee Entertainment unburdened by limitations of the IP. His is a belief that the opportunities are boundless, and that the success can be big. Bigger even than video gaming.

“How far can the medium be taken into licensing? That’s a simple answer,” he says. “Look at other media, such as video games, and how they are branching out. We have three licensing managers here at Asmodee; me for publishing and consumer products, a licensing manager for interactive games – so we can do interactive licensing next to us having our own publisher, and we have someone in Los Angeles talking television and film.

“There is no segment or category that won’t work. Of course, it won’t be everything for all of it. Dobble as a movie will not work. Dobble in a TV show… that can work. Dobble in apparel? Absolutely. Dobble in publishing? Oh yes. Comics or a Dobble Kids’ magazine? Hell yes.

The chances that Asmodee has as a licensor are gigantic. But it is early days right now; we are getting the first people in the boat and getting the market used to the idea that there is more to a board game than just rolling a dice. Customers and consumers are emotionally linked to them.”

What is intrinsic to Asmodee’s output is its storytelling. The board gaming scene thrives off its immersive storytelling; it’s ability to bring an audience one level deeper into a narrative by having them play a role within it. Of course, you can argue that video games do it just as well. Thieme will argue back that what analogue gaming delivers, however, is a social, shared-experience of living a narrative together.

“There’s a social story happening with every board game,” he explains. “I and many others find stories in board games that we remember for the rest of our lives. These social stories are extremely strong, and strong for licensing because what you want is a brand that someone will wear in their heart.

“Board games are in the home, on the table and a part of your life, more so, I would say, than digital games. You see the people around you. You have a drink with them, it’s a shared experience and it creates social fabric, and this is the canvass that we paint the licensing programme on.”

It’s with this that Asmodee Entertainment can start to have fun with the licensing endeavours it embarks upon. Over the coming months or years, promises Thieme, fans will begin to see what he calls ‘licensing with secret handshakes,’ or ‘guerrilla licensing’; the kind that will nod to the internal jokes or idiosyncrasies found in individual gaming titles.

“I call them the secret handshake of the geek, the kind where you’ll have just a symbol on a hat or something subtle,” says Thieme. “Of course you’ll have more obvious ones, but games like Arkham Horror or Pandemic are good for those idiosyncrasies.

“I think this will all be very welcomed. I think there has been a media fatigue in licensing and people are looking to break the monotony and be more dynamic. It’s why I can assure you, Asmodee Entertainment has plenty more to come.”

Costume specialist Rubie’s opens digital doors of Nuremberg virtual showroom and tours

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Giants of the costumes and dress up market, Rubie’s isn’t letting the postponed calendar of trade shows stop it from putting on a show early next year, as it prepares to open the digital doors of its 365 dedicated Nuremberg showroom with exclusive virtual tours and live appointments.

The new Virtual Showroom will be streamed through private viewings, providing buyers with an experiential approach to remotely research, interact and place orders from their expansive portfolio of global licensed brands.

Graham Gardiner, general manager EMEA, said: “Online retail and remote selling is one of the big growth areas for our sector. With the Virtual Showroom, we are bringing the same tailored personal showroom experience our customers are used to when they visit our Nuremberg venue, from the comfort of their home or office.

“At Rubie’s we’re keen to position ourselves at the forefront of digital excellence through our ecommerce website, HUB platform and now our virtual Showroom. We are adapting the way our business operates to respond not only to the current crisis but also to be at the forefront of long-term trends and adapt to the shifts in consumer behaviours.”

Rubie’s states that increasingly, digital viewing platforms are on the rise and quickly becoming key tools to accommodate growing expectations in the current climate. They’ve been adopted as a means of promoting brand to the marketplace in the absence of physical events.

Gardiner continued: “Last weekend over 40 Key Customers from around the world were treated to a one-on-one interactive experience by using a live broadcast demonstrations of all the new products from Marvel, Disney, Lucas, Sony, DC, Harry Potter, Universal, Looney Tunes, Power Rangers, and many others major licenses.

“By using our Nuremberg Showroom, we were able to meet and present with our key partners. Customers have appreciated the personal approach and effort we have made in bringing our inspirational showroom to their desks.”

Rubie’s is looking to repeat the event early next year in the absence of physical Trade Shows and will be expanding these events in order to accommodate access for more customers throughout the UK and rest of the world.

Trend Bible CEO Joanna Feeley talks spotting the consumer shift ahead of Festival of Licensing

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Among the many facets promising to keep visitors glued to their screens for the duration of October’s Festival of Licensing this year will be a dedicated channel to spotting the newest and emerging trends in a bid to spy the opportunities in what the future consumer will think, feel and do. It sounds like witchcraft. But it isn’t.

Moreover, it’s the work of Joanna Feeley, the CEO of Trend Bible, the company she founded in 2011 after identifying that the market for predicting the future of life at home was under-served, yet set to grow dramatically. Today, the team specialises in home and interiors, baby and kids, gifts and greetings, and FMCG. Trend Bible also works with global brands in over 35 countries, helping them to understand what their future consumer will look like.

With Festival of Licensing now waving at all of us from our calendars, Licensing.biz catches up with Feeley ahead of her presentation at the month long festival kicking off from October 6th.

Hello Joanna, to kick off with the obvious question – how have consumer needs and behaviour changed during the pandemic? 

The changes have been quite broad, and they vary from category to category. The pandemic has dented demand for certain products and increased it for others. I think it’s important to note – and we’re huge advocates of this – that brands and retailers need to understand the whole person that buys from them. It’s impossible to get a clear picture of that consumer if you only look at the relationship with them and your product. 

We have seen an increase in behaviours we weren’t seeing so much pre-pandemic. For example, a notable interest in heightened hygiene, the rise in demand for crafts, the increase in eating and drinking from home. People have been anxious and worried and that naturally impacts behaviour. 

Surprise events with global implications – like the pandemic – are known as Black Swan events and they can have interesting and unexpected implications. For example, a Danish study showed a 90 per cent decrease in extremely premature births in the month of lockdown compared with the same period during the previous five years. Why? We don’t know for sure, but it’s presumed to be linked to a reduced stress levels from working from home together with a drop in pollution levels. And this is a fascinating trend, because it forces us to look at what this means for mothers and if – or how – we should change the way they are treated medically. 

Our approach as trend forecasters is to pay attention to consumer attitudes as these are often indicators of change long before a new behaviour is exhibited. Often, a consumer’s mindset has already shifted, but it’s difficult or impossible for them to live behaviours that match that mindset. For example, there was a growing awareness of the environmental damage done by landfill, so consumers wanted to recycle more, it just wasn’t that easy to do before governments and local councils gave us the tools to do that.

More recently, we spotted there was a growing desire among office workers – particularly those with families – for more flexible working, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit and businesses were forced to allow home working, that workers were granted that flexibility. 

Companies like Google and Facebook recognised this many years ago, but the rest of the business community hadn’t caught up. Covid has accelerated that transition. Whether it’s worked and people will want to continue working from home, is yet to be seen, but I do believe most people will want to retain that flexibility and we need to be aware of what that means for the home – functioning as an office – and for the workplace, with many spaces now being transformed to offer a clubhouse style of working.  

 So what are the key trends to have arisen over this period? 

There are so many that we have been mapping trends in terms of three categories:

  • Accelerated trends – things that were already happening but that have now become more prominent or possible, like working from home
  • ‘Elastic’ trends – the behaviours that have changed for now, but we expect them to ping back
  • New trends that the pandemic has been a catalyst for

What innovations have you seen from retailers to piggyback on them? 

So many. And they’ve been so broad and varied. It’s fair to say, that retailers who had already nailed the D2C channel or who pivoted quickly have performed much better. 

We’ve also seen an increase in sample culture from a home and interiors viewpoint. So, consumers are now keen to order tile or paint pot samples online. And some retailers have responded really well to this. 

I think Pret a Manger’s shift to a £20 p/m coffee subscription is really interesting. There’s a widespread move to cashless, cashierless and menuless restaurants, something that’s already very common in China, where you scan QR codes to get a table and view the menu, and then pay online with WeChat. The only human interaction is with the person who brings your food. This will be truly transformative for our service industries.

I was Head of Trends at Tesco 15 years ago, when supermarket shopping and the ability to buy everything under one roof was deemed the next big thing. For 20 years that large-scale retail format had dominated. But now, we’re seeing small independents dominating again – small butchers, coffee vans delivering to the consumer, pop up artisan bakers, and that could be good news for the local high street and the suburbs. 

As a retailer, how do you ensure you spot trends early? 

Most retailers access future trend intelligence from a forecaster like Trend Bible but knowing about trends is pointless if you don’t act, and act in a timely fashion. 

We’re forever reading about retailers who have failed saying that they knew about incoming trends, they just hadn’t seen their relevance and that ultimately led to their demise. We speak to a lot of brands who struggle to activate the trends inside their business and find it difficult to take a trend from being merely interesting information into meaningful change from board level through to the product designers. 

How important is it for retailers to be agile with their responses? 

Agility is important, but it’s really about having a clear idea of how your customers world is going to change and how that’s going to impact what they come to you for. The strategy has to be right and timing is everything. You can go too early with a trend as well as too late. It’s pointless focusing on being agile without having a deep understanding of how your customer is going to shape-shift in the coming months and years. 

What role can licensing, and licensed product, play in all of this?

What we often find when working with people in licensing is there is an assumption that assets can’t be changed to fit with trends. Yes, trends have to be applied more carefully, but they can still be used to update products without upsetting the visual DNA. It’s about being aware of the socio- political environment of the day and how that sits with your consumers.

For example, I was watching an old episode of a pre-school animated series that included an expression of motherhood that I felt was sexist, old fashioned and totally out of step with how I feel as a modern parent. That IP could have changed the story to move with the times, and the context which the brand lived in, without having to change the design or colour of its assets. 

Trends can – at their best – keep a license relevant, and some brand owners excel at this. So, Spider-Man and the Marvel licensing programme, is a fantastic example. They really understand how to use those assets, no matter how old they might be, in a context that feels contemporary and in step. Black Panther felt very timely. For licensing, it’s about being in tune with the social context that exists. It goes back to what I said right at the start – always ask, what is the end consumer ALSO consuming outside of my product to identify who your future consumer will be. 

Why should retailers tune in to your session at Festival of Licensing? 

I would love the audience to leave clear in their minds that they either are confident they have the tools and wherewithal to know what their future consumer will do in the next 12 months, or they do not. Being honest about what you currently know about how your customer will behave in the future is a critical first step. 

The Asmodee Group is opening its games portfolio up to interactive and video game developers

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The Asmodee Group, a powerhouse in tabletop gaming and board game entertainment, is looking to bring its portfolio of brands and IPs into the interactive video games and digital games market.

In the firm’s latest move, it is opening the floodgates to developers in the video gaming sector, eyeing partnerships for physical game brands within its portfolio, including the likes of Dobble (Spot It), Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Braintopia, Small World, KeyForge, or heavyweight titles like Legend of the Five Rings and Twilight Imperium.

The boardgame goliath is urging developers looking for publishing partnerships, including development and marketing supports, to connect with Asmodee Digital via the unit’s COO Nicolas Godement. Developers and publishers looking to create interactive titles under license meanwhile, are being guided towards the Asmodee Entertainment team.

With more than 250 Asmodee games and IPs in the company catalogue, there are many exciting new opportunities for developers and publishers in the interactive games market.

“Asmodee has established a world-leading platform for developing and publishing authentic and compelling digital versions of the best board and card games,” said Nicolas Godement, Asmodee Digital’s COO.

“Now, while we can’t wait to disclose some of the exciting titles we have been working on, and to sign new ones, we also look forward to working with the experienced licensing team at Asmodee Entertainment to further expand the range of interactive games based on our sterling array of Asmodee properties.”

Andy Jones, head of Asmodee Entertainment, added: “This is a fantastic opportunity for developers, publishers and of course, Asmodee Entertainment to enter into many new licensing partnerships and further explore the wealth of Asmodee titles through interactive games across all platforms and genres.

“We encourage developers and publishers to get in touch at licensing@asmodee.com, and meet up with us at GDC in March.”