Gaining Insight - The Insights Family discusses sales opportunities for movie-themed toys

Movies set to spark sales

As kids in the UK return to the cinema, the opportunities for sales of licensed products should be grabbed with both hands, says The Insight Family’s founder and CEO Nick Richardson

After a diffi cult 18 months for the fi lm and cinema industry, the second half of 2021 is set to be an exciting time with a host of highlyanticipated fi lms due to be released, as well as several that have been pushed back from 2020.

Before the pandemic, over half of children aged six to nine (55%) reported that they visited the cinema at least once a month in Q4 2019. Having been closed for the majority of 2020, cinemas fi nally reopened on 17 May 2021 in the UK, which created a buzz about subsequent fi lm releases.

As a result, brands can utilise this heightened sense of excitement to appeal to a receptive audience. Over 10% of four-to-eight-year-olds in the UK are buying food and 30% are buying toys related to their favourite movie.

Kids aged three to 12 report that they visit the cinema more with their family than their friends. Suggestive of the type of content that will reign as most successful in 2021, it is likely that kid and family-friendly fi lms will prove to be the most popular as things return to normal.

Meanwhile, production companies have not been

standing still and “are trying to open up new avenues for profi t. Acamar Films recently launched ‘The Bing Store’: an online shop centred around the Bing character with ranges of clothing, homeware and personalised products. Bing currently ranks as the 20th favourite character of preschoolers in the UK and peaks as the seventh favourite for threeyear-olds. The availability and variety of licensed material is especially critical among younger kids who rely on these products to engage with their favourites.

Establishing an online store means that the accessibility of licensed Bing material has been signifi cantly heightened, thus pushing engagement. As a result, over fi ve times as many three-to-fi ve-year-olds identifi ed Bing as their favourite character in February 2021 than in

Over 30% of September 2020. four-to-eight- What this means year-olds buying toys to you… This summer, after so many months of lockdown, related to their families may regularly be favourite movie “ visiting cinemas again, providing excitement for kids to engage with their favourite characters. One trend observed during the pandemic was that kids found comfort in the familiarity of brands, characters, and IPs that they engaged with the most. They feel comfortable choosing something related to their favourite movie or TV show for example, which they have probably watched many times during the lockdowns. The main factor that can be seen across the most popular IP in kids’ ecosystems is consistent engagement with certain characters across multiple platforms, whether that’s watching the latest TV show or playing the next big video game. With this in mind, The Insights Family has just released a new IP Tracker. This tool is a holistic performance monitor, which identifi es the strength and opportunities for your brand. It enables you to measure your performance against competitors and also discover up and coming IP/brands. To learn more about IP Tracker and to get freemium access to The Insights Family real-time data portal, visit https://get.theinsightsfamily.com/ iptracker.

The Insights Family (formerly The Insights People) specialises in kids, parents, and family market intelligence. Providing real-time data on their attitudes, behaviour, and consumption patterns, the company surveys 6,970 children aged three to 18 and 3,400 parents every week across 17 countries. To learn more and to get freemium access to The Insights Family realtime data portal, visit: https://try.theinsightsfamily.com/toysnplaythings.