THE BIG INTERVIEW CASDON
‘Toy-making is in our DNA’
Phil Cassidy, managing director at Casdon, talks to Clare Turner about the company’s new rebrand, new licences, new products and more What’s your career background? I started out in the catering trade. I had 10 amazing years of fun and learning in bars, hotels, and restaurants. My first ‘proper job’ was in a hotel on Blackpool promenade working in the bars. I worked my way up to assistant manager in a relatively quick time. I then moved into more general management of a family-run hotel in Fleetwood, joining as assistant general manager. I finished my hospitality career helping a university friend manage an amazing gastro pub just outside Chester. I have very fond memories of my time in this trade but was equally as delighted when I ‘got the call’ to join the family business. From 24/7 - 365 days a year to 9-5 with weekends off! I’ll have that, I said!
Tell us a bit about Casdon. We’re a family-run business that has been going for over 75 years. Founded by my grandfather in 1946, the business has been passed down three generations, so we like to think toy-making is in our DNA. We still operate from the original premises in Blackpool and have grown the business from 18 employees in 2019 to a team of 38 in 2022. We’ve
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When my grandfather set up the business in 1946, he believed that toys should be both fun and developmental for children, and our toys capture this perfectly
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also recently completed a full rebrand, which we unveiled at London Toy Fair. We needed to modernise our brand to better capture the sense of fun and excitement that our products bring to children. We landed on the tagline ‘live playfully’, which perfectly captures our company ethos to inject fun and play into everything we do.
In 2021, Casdon celebrated 75 years of trading. How did you mark the occasion - and what factors do you attribute to the company’s impressive longevity? As this important anniversary fell in Covid times, it was difficult to have any traditional celebration. But we did go big in celebrating with our customers and audience, and we launched a series of ‘Birthday Giveaways’ on our social channels. Our customers are so important to us, and we wanted to celebrate with them. We also embarked on our first-ever schools’ campaign during our anniversary year, which saw 100 education settings across the country benefit from our ‘Helping out in the Home Corner’ packs. It was brilliant to see such active and engaged play in the pictures that teachers kindly shared with us - and we had fantastic feedback across the board. We’ll be running another schools’ campaign this year as a result. 2021 was a year of change and growth for us - both among the team and within our product range. We reviewed our existing product range and are bringing new licences and toys to market in the very near future.
In terms of what has attributed to our success for all these years, I’d say that’s down to the fact that we’re a thirdgeneration, family-run business, which makes everything we do very personal. We care, so our team cares, and we’re passionate about the work we do. This shines through in our products, making them great fun and great quality - and we like to have fun along the way too.
A new licence - housewares brand Joseph Joseph - recently joined the Casdon portfolio. Can you tell us more about this partnership? Our partnership with Joseph Joseph is a great fit for Casdon. Not only are there great synergies in the fact that two brothers [twins Antony and Richard] own Joseph Joseph, in the same way my brother Peter and I operate at Casdon, but their line of innovative and vibrant products lends so perfectly to ‘toy’. We’re incredibly proud of this collection and to be working alongside such an iconic brand.
You have launched a new corporate logo and tagline. Tell us more about that. We recognised that we needed something more ‘toyetic’ and playful. After we’d completed our consumer research to better understand perceptions of the brand, we got to work on tackling some disconnects. Red will always be a core colour for us. However, we’ve adapted the tone to add more warmth and to better co-ordinate with the colour palettes of our fantastic licences too.
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