42-43 LSB 2022 Ideas International_muk.qxp_NEW LSB 2008 GRID 11/01/2022 09:58 Page 42
IN CONVERSATION WITH… IDEAS INTERNATIONAL
Launching a travel product just before a global pandemic wouldn’t be an ideal situation for anyone. But it was where Ideas International found itself at the beginning of 2020. Anyone who has met Isabella King, brand development manager at the company, though, will tell you it would take far more than that to bring her down. LSB finds out more about the journey so far.
Inset: The Little Tikes Traveller was officially launched at Spring Fair 2020 and has proved a hit.
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sabella King has grown up in the world of licensing. Her father, Simon King, ran Custom Accessories Europe, and was behind the Jelly Bean car air fresheners, among many other household licensed products. Isabella, brand development manager at Ideas International says: “My dad is in licensing, so osmosis has definitely given me the knowledge. I think my sister and I knew what FOB was at the age of seven. “I’m so proud of my dad, he’s a really great guy, he’s humble Inset: Isabella as a toddler with her very and always very helpful. It’s so own Cosy Coupe. nice to be in the same industry to carry on his legacy.” When Simon was in a meeting with MGA Entertainment he had no idea it would be the start of the father/daughter duo working together and creating Ideas International. Isabella explains: “Dad
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LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2022
was looking to do some licensing with MGA, and made a joke with them asking where their ride-on case was, because I’d said it to him previously. It was said as a joke and it has transpired into this. “We put the idea together originally through my dad’s company, but he sold that around three years ago to Energiser. So he spun it off into Ideas International, and MGA really went for it.” At the time, Isabella was working in Switzerland. She continues: “I was really invested in the company, so I was nannying, I was doing my law degree and I was running the company. In the end, I had to give up the kids, which was so sad. I really wished I could do all of it, but I can’t.” The Little Tikes Traveller – a ride-on case based on MGA Entertainment’s iconic Cosy Coupe design – was launched officially at Spring Fair 2020. Isabella
