Bringing people together

In bringing together two separate arms, purchasing and marketing, Asmodee is aiming to innovate and improve in bringing product to market. New Head of Product – Commercial at the company Greg Stanton outlines his vision and why he loves adding value and is enthused by data… said, noting how

“It’s all about adding value,” says newlyinstalled Head of Product – Commercial at Asmodee, Greg Stanton, outlining his vision for the company and its future.

He’s keen to force the point home, repeatedly referring back to adding value and ensuring that TnP mentions it in the published interview.

TnP is chatting to Greg at the UK Games Expo, four weeks into his new job, and things are going well for Asmodee.

It has just released its latest Star Wars board game, Shatterpoint™, and the product is much in demand as it landed at the company’s assorted sites across the NEC in Birmingham and other retailers’ stands dotted around the show. It is growing proof that the strategy and vision the full team has set out is already beginning to work.

Greg has worked across the divide throughout his career, moving seamlessly from buying and retail to the other side, working at Asmodee to oversee its Amazon account and now in this newly-created role.

With his fierce passion for the business as a whole – and, most crucially as he again reiterates – data and insights, he makes a logical argument about bringing the disparate arms of Asmodee closer together; so much so, in fact, that you wonder why other companies aren’t doing it already, and whether they’ll follow suit.

“I’m passionate about data,” he says, noting how insight is key to understanding the business and using it to maximise sales across different channels.

“We have an amazing team of experts here,” he says, outlining the thinking behind the move.

His job, he says, is being a people person, to bring the different people at the company together, so the left arm knows what the right arm is doing.

He stresses it’s not about criticising what has gone before – and Asmodee’s successes show that it’s worked well with the more standard set-up in recent years – but as he states: “I’m making sure we can progress cohesively as a team.”

It’s a pressured environment, he notes, where the work is “relentless”, but he is clear he wants to challenge the norm.

“It’s about asking ‘what are the opportunities?’, about being innovative and entrepreneurial,” he says.

That was, he explains, the hallmark of his time at the coal face – 19 years or so in retail buying, after a placement at Mothercare from university ended up with him landing a job at the company.

Starting off with product development, he says, he “fell in love with retail product, brand management, getting things right for the consumers”.

Those skills are transferable, he adds. “You spend two years developing a product concept to market; you have to ask lots of questions, you have to be relentless, to get the best product portfolio for the end consumer.”

Those rigid disciplines have stood him in good stead beyond Mothercare. “I’m huge on data and insights, I love learning something every day in my job. GIve me an insight, I’ll congratulate you; it will help us do a better job and we can implement it. It’s all about challenging yourself.”

Greg has most recently been working with Amazon, where he ended up as EU account director with Asmodee, and the work he’s done there is indicative of how he plans to work in his new role moving forward.

“Negotiating terms was at times mindbending, but I think it was more about asking the right questions, not about horse trading. It was looking at how we got the best from the relationship.”

When we speak, Greg is only in his fourth week, but it’s already working well, he explains, with purchasing and marketing working closer together under his stewardship. “Straight away there’s a benefit of understanding what the business is trying to achieve,” he says. “We can look at what’s purchased, what the targets are, making sure everyone knows the business directives. Understanding the overall goals and aims, where a product should be, is crucial,” he continues. “There’s a constant progression, asking ‘what can I do to the next stage?”

Shatterpoint™ is among the first fruits product-wise and again it points to the way forward for the company. “When we have some big product to launch, such as Shatterpoint™, it’s about getting the marketing right as early as possible. We’re now in a scenario with me sitting in both camps, where we can do that. It’s about working at the intersection of purchasing and marketing, and working closer with the sales team, too.”

One key element is letting marketing know a lot earlier about a product, but also about who it’s aimed at and where they should be targeting their marketing efforts and skills.

“It’s not a one size fits all marketing approach. Something might work for one type of customer and market, but not another. Some of our products are for hobby, they’re not necessarily mass market.

“We need to think differently, to have that awareness as it affects how you approach it and how you market it. We need to be commercially aware.”

And, as he noted, the separate teams are rising to the challenge. “I’m delighted by the pace the team is showing and responding to it.

“It’s all about sharing the information, looking at what products are driving the business, what objectives they are trying to achieve. It’s having a big impact on what we’re trying to do, to deliver more quickly.”

Earlier planning from the new system will, he adds, enable the marketing team to be better acquainted with who a product is aimed at and the best way to reach them. “Your target market and consumer should have an effect on how you market.”

He points then to discussions the company has already had with retailers, brainstorming ideas on how to reach the end consumer. And it enabled Asmodee, he notes returning to a theme, to add value to what the company is doing because of that understanding. This, coupled with his passion for product and product development, would help generate new thought processes.

This new way of thinking is informing both sides of Asmodee’s business. He notes: “We have two businesses –our own in-house team, designing games and owning the IP, but we’re also out shopping for games we can bring to market.

“We’re using all sorts of data, market share, marketplace insights, customer research… Great data helps you feel more confident; it reinforces your gut feeling for things. Being data reliant is music to my ears; I’m a firm believer in data, both qualitative and quantitative. A good feel for something has a place, but data removes the emotion. We don’t want to stifle creativity, but data is critical to everything we do.”

In terms of the games they’re looking for, Greg, who counts the likes of Dobble, Catan and Ticket To Ride among his favourites from the Asmodee portfolio, says it is looking for things that will add to its existing titles. Dobble is, he notes, a perfect example of a simple idea that works, with the new variant, Dobble Connect, adding to the concept and making it ‘more of a team game’. The Ticket To Ride series is, he adds, “really exciting, and about as commercial as it gets. It’s not just about development, it’s about finding the right amount of that product to meet continually changing customer needs, that’s just as important.

“We’re looking for true unique selling points… Something different, something that gives us a different angle, we’re not here to do me-toos. We’re looking at identifying games that will be different; we have to be an innovator.

“The barriers to entry are a lot lower than they used to be for the industry, so we can look for rough diamonds.”

And then it comes down to Asmodee’s ability and its new “visionary” way of working. “We’re experts with complex accounts. We’re not just shifting boxes, we’re providing a service.”

And, he adds: “Our job is to make sure we’re adding value, adding value to everyone.”

Concluding, Greg’s passion for the job and his vision is summed up by his parting words: “It’s a privilege to be working here, it’s absolutely invigorating. I can’t get over what a privilege it is.”