THE BIG INTERVIEW NICK THOMAS
Vivid’s vision Nick Thomas, general manager of Vivid Toy Group/Goliath discusses products, plans and projections for the toy giant What’s your background? A toy industry stalwart, I’ve enjoyed a career at Vivid for more than 20 years working on some of the most exciting industry brands in its time including Spiderman, Ninja Turtles, WWE, the launch of Bratz dolls and Moshi Monsters.
Tell us a bit about your company. Vivid was acquired by the leading games company Goliath Group in 2018, which immediately accelerated our growth to become a global player and enjoy market-leading credentials in the kids and family games categories. Goliath is committed to developing best-in-class product across multiple categories, and today we enjoy successful sales across toys, games, and outdoor, as well as being privileged to manage the Crayola portfolio across EMEA. Our portfolio allows us to balance sales across the year where (usually)
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We are constantly looking to expand the portfolio and find gaps where we can bring newness to a category
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the sun shines from late spring onwards and our outdoor ranges, including Phlat Ball and Wubble, spring to life and sell out as kids venture into gardens and outdoor spaces. Crayola’s all-important back to school range is a huge retailer opportunity and new innovations such as Colours of the World - a range of pencils and crayons celebrating diversity - keeps the offering fresh and relevant for children. Lastly, the all-important second half is supported by new TV advertised games such as Skid Marks (yes, you heard it right), Gobble Monster and a reversioned Pop the Pig and Doggie Doo for Kids, as well as new family games Battle of the Ages, Harry Potter Sequence and Unsolved Case Files. We are also launching Tiki and Toko: an adorable, interactive gorilla duo that love to play together, feed, sleep and burp (sounds like your regular toddler); and new category launches including Reaxion: a build and destruct domino set where you can build bigger structures and stunts than ever before.
What changes have you made in light of the restrictions that Covid has created? We adapted quickly to working from home and are now fairly familiar with each other’s children, pets and supermarket delivery slots! Joking aside, there has been merit to working remotely and moving the business on effectively with Microsoft Teams Meetings, but nothing replaces the tangible aspect of our industry - playing with toys. It is still such an essential part of our role and we’ve had to be creative in how we present new ranges to our retail partners and avoid ‘death by PowerPoint’ slides. We also needed to remain flexible and nimble with our marketing plans to ensure that we were still in front of kids through TV and YouTube, but also layered in the all-important communication to parents who became a more critical gatekeeper while shops were closed. We increased our digital marketing on social platforms and now have far more engaged and relevant channels to talk to parents and gather feedback on our ranges.
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