The Entertainer: 35th Anniversary Publication, by Progressive Preschool & The Licensing Source Book

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Congratulations from one entertainer to another

It’s an honour to be one of your partners, working creatively and collaboratively over the years.

Proud to be part of your story

One of the most recent journeys we’ve been on together resulted in your new brand – Super Saturdays.

35 years young

With a lot of stories yet to tell, we look forward to celebrating many more.

From your friends at The Walt Disney Company

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elcome to our special birthday booklet which we hope captures The Entertainer’s 35 years in toys. I’d like to start by thanking you for being such a fantastic partner to The Entertainer over the last 35 years and for helping us become what we are today. This has been a long and exciting journey and one which will continue.

It seems just a short time ago that The Entertainer was simply a small toy shop in Amersham, taking £2000 a week, employing one part time shop assistant with myself as manager. It was 1981, two years after we married and just a year before our first child. To support us financially, Catherine worked full time in the NHS and we both worked all evening, moving stock to and from our garage at home and restocking the shop in readiness for the following day. It was sheer hard work and a determination to make a go of it that helped to lay the foundations for what The Entertainer

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WELCOME

is today, but actually we would not be here without the many people and companies who helped us along the way, especially in those early years.

Catherine and I would like to acknowledge the contributions made by others in the toy trade who came alongside us as we worked to establish the business.

Their faith and confidence in our vision enabled us to flourish and grow. Now 35 years later we are a significant player in the international world of toys and

although it may seem as though we are strong enough to survive by our own endeavours alone, Catherine and I and the family are ever mindful that without the commitment and enthusiasm of our partners in the industry - then and now - our business would not be what it is today.

Together, each doing our best, we can explore opportunities to expand, always looking to be ahead of the curve – and always brave enough to pioneer change.

That’s our nature. A changing retail landscape demands courage, creativity and thinking outside the box – we have all of these.

There is much still to play for.

Catherine and I have enjoyed the adventure so far – thank you to everyone who has been part of the story of The Entertainer – let’s be excited about what is ahead!

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS 7 – 9 11 – 17 19 – 21 23 – 25 27 – 31 35 37 – 39 41 – 43 45 – 53 55 – 57 59 – 61 63

Business Overview The Entertainer Through the Years Meet the Team The Retail Approach Consumer Engagement Focus on…Nickelodeon The Store Fit Website Action Trade Feedback Charity Matters International Plans Looking Ahead

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This special Enter tainer publication was produced by Max Publishing. Editor : Michelle Board. Editor in chief: Jakki Brown. The advertising was handled

by Ian Hyder and Rob Willis. The designer was Gary Freeman. Copyright 2016: While every effor t has been made to ensure that the information in this publication was correct at the time of going to press, the publishers cannot accept legal liability for any errors, omissions, nor can they accept responsibility for the standing of adver tisers, nor any organisations mentioned in the text.

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DreamWorks congratulates The Entertainer on their 35th Anniversary!

Š 2016 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Celebrating 35 years of business

Some 35 years ago The Entertainer was a single store in Amersham. Now it is a multi-million pound business with 127 stores all over the UK and an expanding international programme. An unwavering commitment to staff, customers and communities has laid the foundations for what The Entertainer is today.

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hen Gary and Catherine Grant opened their first Entertainer store in Amersham in 1981 they employed one part time shop assistant and turned over £100,000 in that first year. Fast forward 35 years and there are now 127 stores and growing, a new 235,000 sq ft distribution warehouse, 1,419

employees working throughout the business and a head office headcount of 195. Thanks to the collective efforts of The Entertainer’s extended team, the budgeted turnover for 2016 is an impressive £165 million.

“Never forget who your customers are - and ours are mainly under four feet high!” is one of Gary Grant’s mantras which has stood The Entertainer in good stead over the last three and a half decades, elevating Above: Gary Grant in the Amersham store in the 80’s. Left: Costume characters were an important part of The Entertainer’s offering even 33 years ago when Darth Vader came to Amersham.

Inset: Business may have moved along in 35 years, but children will still be children!

it to the position of the UK’s leading privately owned toy shop and a major, award-winning retailer of licensed products.

Although still very much the ‘father’ of the business, he is extremely deferential to his team of co-directors, senior managers and the many long-serving staff.“We have gone through an amazing period of growth, there is no

Thinking outside the box When Gary and his wife Catherine took over the Pram and Toy Bar in Amersham in 1981 they didn’t know they would necessarily stick with toys. Choosing the name The Entertainer left their options open to maybe going into selling musical instruments or other entertainment if need be. The jackin-the box element of the logo, devised

by Gary’s step father, was so children too young to read would recognise it immediately as a fun shop.

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Despicable Me, Minion Made and all related marks and characters are trademarks and copyrights of Universal Studios.

Licensed by Universal Studios Licensing LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Above: It’s a lot of fun working at The Entertainer and staff are encouraged to dress up for special events. Right: Stores are designed with children in mind, including steps so they can reach up to the till. Below right: Toy demonstrations in-store are all part of The Entertainer experience.

way this could have happened without the skill sets that the other members of the team have brought in to play,” Gary explains.

Gary and Catherine are ever mindful that without the dedication and enthusiasm of their staff over the years, the business would simply not be what it is today. “We treasure the ‘family business’ culture that we have at The Entertainer.

In a practical way, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to keep Sunday as a day off for all staff throughout the business. It is also evident in the way that we prioritise recruitment from within the business wherever possible. In this way, we can make a real difference to the lives of our staff who are ambitious and committed to the business.”

At the beating heart of the business are families and children.

Below: LEGO Ninjago costume character at the opening of the 100th store in Aylesbury.

“Our main customers are children, but we’re also happy to see the ‘big people’ they bring in with them,” says Gary. “We’re constantly dreaming up ideas to delight existing customers and connect with new ones because we never want to take their custom for granted. Our responsibilities

extend beyond the walls of our stores and out into the local community. For that reason we’re committed to donating at least 10% of our profits each year to charities that work with children.”

Gary readily accepts that it was the misfortune of Woolworths that opened doors (literally) for The Entertainer. “When Woolies went down in 2008, I saw it as a huge opportunity. After all, the chain accounted for 14% of all UK toy sales – and their closure meant that there were 800 less shops selling them. We had 40 stores then and saw an uplift in turnover in these the year after Woolies closed, but we needed cash to invest in new stores,” explained Gary. The solution was staring at him out the window – he sold off a plot of land where the company’s headquarters are based and reinvested it into retail stores.

Gary was never in any doubt that it would be money well spent.

“The thing about toy shops is that children love them. And the parents love the children being happy. As long as you have the right products, at the right price and create a good environment in store, everybody wins.”

Since 2008, The Entertainer has opened a further 85 stores including stores in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Jersey. It also has six international stores with franchise partners in Pakistan and Azerbaijan. The Entertainer’s reach is growing beyond bricks and mortar stores.

Online sales now account for 15% of the total business, and this is increasing every year.

Celebrating the 100th store

Right: A time capsule will be opened when the 200th store opens.

The Entertainer opened its 100th store in Aylesbury on Saturday 14 March 2015. This milestone was celebrated around the company with a number of different activities. Each store and head office department picked a worthy local charity to receive a £100 Entertainer gift card. Over £12,000 was donated to charity through this. All stores and head office contributed towards a large time capsule by writing down their thoughts and predictions for The Entertainer’s future. The rocket-shaped time capsule, currently sitting in the head office main reception, will be opened when The Entertainer opens its 200th store.

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S N O I T A L U T A NGR

CO

on 35 years of great Entertaining, from all your friends at Mattel.

Š 2016 Mattel Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The

e r ta i n e r t n E through the years

So much has changed over the last 35 years when The Entertainer first opened its doors in Amersham. Not only do the stores look different but the toys inside do as well. Take a stroll back through the history of The Entertainer.

1981

TIMELINE

Then and Now Between 1981 – 2000 The Entertainer opened 22 stores.

Between 2001 – 2016 The Entertainer opened 100 stores.

In 1981 The Entertainer sold 7000 toys.

In 2015 The Entertainer sold 24 million toys.

1981 The first The Entertainer store opened in Amersham

by Gary and Catherine Grant.

1985 The second The Entertainer store is opened in Beaconsfield.

What we were playing with

1985

My Little Pony: My Little Pony took off in the 80’s and is still going strong to this day.

Rubik’s Cube: This became a global phenomenon, selling over 350 million.

Sylvanian Families: With hundreds of figures and accessories, these cute critters were a dream-cometrue for little collectors.

Koosh Ball: Every 80’s child had one of these at the bottom of their toy box.

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T 5 3 FROM ALL A

© Viacom. SpongeBob SquarePants created by Stephen Hillenburg. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES © Viacom Overseas Holdings C.V. PAW PATROL © Viacom International Inc. Nickelodeon, Simmer and Shine.© 2016 Spin Master. All Rights Reserved. Lily’s Driftwood Bay™ © Copyright Sixteen South Limited 2016.

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TIMELINE

1991 The Entertainer’s third store opens, kick-starting a major company expansion.

1996 Cardiff, the first store in Wales opens.

1996

1999 TheToyShop.com is launched.

1999

What we were playing with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The cartoon aired in 1990, followed by a toy craze.

Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story: The huge success of the film made this intergalactic hero a nobrainer at Christmas.

Thunderbirds Tracy Island: A Christmas shortage meant you were lucky to get your hands on one of these.

Tamagotchi: The electronic egg you could raise yourself.

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TIMELINE Below: Kingston Store.

2001 The 25th store opens.

2002 F irst flagship store opens in Kingston Upon Thames.

2003 The stores get a makeover from red to blue. ebsite is updated 2009 W and re-launched.

2010 50th store opens.

Before

2003

After 2003

What we were playing with Beyblades: Beyblades came spinning into the early 2000’s.

The Beyblade toy line went on to be one of the most popular toy lines in the world!

Bratz: These dolls had real attitude not to mention the latest fashions.

In the Night Garden: Preschoolers had the perfect nap time buddy with this Iggle Piggle.

Bob the Builder: The loveable tradesman was the top of every Christmas list in 2001.

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The UK No. 1 in Licensed Greetings switchboard: +44 (0)1264 388400 sales hotline: +44 (0)1264 388436 e: enquiries@gemma-international.co.uk w: gemma-international.co.uk

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TIMELINE 2011 Awarded Toy Retailer of the Year and Online Toy Retailer of the Year by the BTHA for the first time.

Pennies scheme is launched in stores.

2012 First store in the Channel Islands opens in Jersey.

Winner of BTHA Online Toy Retailer of the Year.

2014

2013 First Scottish store opens in Glasgow.

Oracle RetailWeek Awards finalist.

2012

2015

2014 Opened stores in Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

Winner of BTHA Online Toy Retailer of the Year.

2013

2014

e 2015 Gary Grant presented with Lifetim Achievement Award by the BTHA. Main warehouse moved from Swindon to Banbury.

Awarded the RetailWeek Speciality Retailer of the Year Award.

2015

2016 First store opens in Northern Ireland.

The Entertainer wins Profit Track 100 Award.

Six stores now open internationally.

2016

What we were playing with Furby: The return of a 90’s best-selling toy proved you couldn’t keep a good Furby down.

Loom bands: This craft craze took the world (and our carpets) by storm.

Disney Frozen: The smash-hit Disney movie has enchanted millions of children around the world.

Pie Face: Because watching a family member get splatted simply never gets old.

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Galt Toys has supplied The Entertainer from its launch and we want to shout about it!

Congratulations on your 35th Birthday from all at Galt Toys!

James Galt & Co. Ltd. • Sovereign House • Stockport Road • Cheadle • Cheshire SK8 2EA tel: +44 (0)161 428 9111 • fax: +44 (0)161 428 6597 • www.galttoys.com

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TEAM TALK

Meet the Team

Stuart Grant

Gary Grant Managing Director and Owner Length of service: 35 years Best memory: My best memories are always the deals that we have done. Some that stick out are the crash test dummies from Tyco and the Fisher-Price garage and doll deal I worked on with David Fogel. We always try to be in on a craze and get stock when it’s not available. I remember having stock of the Rubik’s cube when no one else could get it. We started out small, but shifted huge volumes. At Christmas in 1984/5 when My Little Pony and Transformers came out from Hasbro our single shop sold 144 pony palaces, 144 Transformer Optimus Prime toys and 144 Decepticon toys. That was a significant number, equivalent to us selling 25,000 MLP castles today!

Phil Geary Marketing and Ecommerce Director Length of service: 2 years Best memory: The ‘craze’ nature of the industry does lend itself to some funny moments.

December 3rd 2014 is forever etched on my memory. We studiously tracked a shipment all day and there we were at 8pm in the evening, the web team and I, crouched around a computer with our fingers crossed that our website could cope with the 15,000 customers all waiting for us to release the Frozen Sing-a-Long Elsa doll…it did, fortunately.

Working at The Entertainer is a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun. Some of the key team members share their favourite memories of working at The Entertainer.

Rebecca Naish

Buying Director Length of service: 12 years Best memory: My fondest memories are the crazes that drive our industry. In my 12 years I have lived through heelys, crazy bones, Moshi Monsters and loom bands. It never ceases to amaze me how fast these crazes take off. That’s the joy of working in a kids’ industry; it’s so unpredictable!

Nick Hargreaves

Head of Marketing & Licensing Length of service: 10 years

Retail Operations Director Length of service: 7 years

Best memory: Our Stakeholder event in 2013 at Millbank in London. It was great to see so many of our stakeholders there and to deliver the future strategy of the company. It was a great atmosphere and felt like a really successful event that people received really well. It made me feel really proud to work for The Entertainer.

Best memory: My fondest memory is the Jersey store grand opening event in 2012 where we had a record day with queues from the till all the way out of the shop and down the High Street. The opening demonstrated yet again the power and appeal of our brand; 4 years later there still isn’t another retailer in the High Street space doing what we are doing.

Duncan Grant Strategy Director Length of service: 10 years Best memory: One that sticks out for me is visiting our store in Baku, Azerbaijan on its grand opening day; the shop was so busy that you had to queue to get in. I found it amazing that we could open a store thousands of miles from the UK, in a country where no-one had heard of The Entertainer and yet the local customers immediately felt a connection with the brand.

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TEAM TALK

Katie Gritt Retail Marketing Manager Length of service: 6 months Best memory: I knew I’d found the perfect job for me the day Optimus Prime and Bumblebee visited our office. There aren’t many jobs where you have those kinds of visitors.

My time at The Entertainer has reminded me why I chose a career in marketing. It’s fast-paced and fun and I find it extremely rewarding to see children enjoying the stores and The Entertainer experience.

Michelle Coulson Online Marketing Manager Length of service: 5 months Best memory: Having recently joined The Entertainer, seeing the engagement on the first Twitter party I was involved in with the team was very #magical!

Scott Norman Buyer Length of service: 24 years Best memory: My fondest memory was my first trip to Hong Kong. There was a bit of a muddle up on the first morning, so I ended up attending the first client meeting by myself. Stuart and Gary both overslept and came along later!

Mark Whittle Head of Buying Length of service: 1 year Best memory: My first managers’ conference is one of my best memories. My area team decided to dress up as the Grinch and without any pre-warning we then performed a group dance routine in the evening! It was a great welcome and introduction to The Entertainer; it’s what the people and teams are all about, working hard and having fun.

Stephen Moran

Antony Buckle

Online Merchandising Manager Length of service: 5 years

Head of Store Development Length of service: 33 years

Best memory: Being recognised in the 2016 Toy News ‘Top 30 Under 30 in the Toy Industry’ list is my fondest memory. I’ve spent most of my working life working for The Entertainer, and it felt great to have not only been put forward for this by the business but to actually make the list.

Best memory: Gary’s first delivery van was a white Mitsubishi. I passed my driving test in the morning and was driving it in the afternoon! After a while we hit the big time and had a brand new Transit van.

One day, upon returning to the Amersham store I had to tell Gary I had hit the Mitsubishi.

He took it very well, until I told him I had hit it with the Transit!

Rob Wood

Lianne Barber

Head of Online and Digital Length of service: 5 years

Brand and Licensing Manager Length of service: 6 years

Best memory: My best day at The Entertainer was Black Friday 2014. Up until that year Black Friday hadn’t really been a ‘thing’ in the UK so we weren’t expecting anything like the level of interest. Over 50,000 people shopped on the website before 9am and we ended up tripling our previous best day’s online sales. Most of the day was spent scrabbling round trying to find enough stock to meet demand. Needless to say, we did a lot more preparation for Black Friday 2015!

Best memory: The first time I attended BLE was a moment for me, just walking into Olympia really does make you feel like a big kid again, getting to see all the brands come to life.

It’s always a manic three days, but it is always such an experience and a great place for building our partnerships and relationships. Some of our best ideas have started in a noisy, colourful booth at BLE!

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WISHES THE ENTERTAINER

A HAPPY 35TH BIRTHDAY! For building ideas, videos, competitions and more, visit

knex.co.uk

©2016 K’NEX LIMITED PARTNERSHIP GROUP.

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RETAIL APPROACH Inset: Visiting a toy shop should be part of growing up.

Every childhood filled with wonder Right from its beginnings in Amersham 35 years ago, The Entertainer has been a toy shop that does more than just sell toys. Gary and Catherine Grant had a dream that their store would be part of the wonder of growing up; that a trip to The Entertainer would be an experience in itself.

A

toy shop should be a place where children and families come first. Where children can run around and are not afraid of being told off for touching. “A toy shop is a fun place,” says Managing Director, Gary Grant. “And it should revolve around the children. Yes, the parents hold the purse strings, Below: Costume characters support the latest craze, whether it’s Moshi Monsters (below) or Shopkins (below right).

but the children are our customers.

Even now I still love seeing children in our stores looking around and trying to decide what they want to buy. And when they finally decide they can actually buy the toy themselves – all our tills have steps so children can reach the counter.”

Children and family are at the heart of The Entertainer’s business, and that goes for both customers and staff. Gary explains: “We are a family business through and through. We are run by a family and we place a lot of emphasis on families. We put family first. None of our stores open on a Sunday; that is a day our staff can spend with their own families. We will always try to accommodate the needs of our staff, whether that is time off for sports day or a school play.”

Above: The Entertainer is a place for children to have fun!

It’s this value that The Entertainer has for staff that really sets it apart according to Gary. “The enthusiasm and energy of our teams is second to none. We have amazingly committed teams and they all buy into the ethics of the business. Our staff genuinely love what they do, and that comes through in the way that they interact with our customers. We have 19 people who have been with the company for over 20 years and another 117 who’ve been with us for over 10 years. That’s quite something to achieve in the retail industry.”

This importance on staff is something The Entertainer carries through all of its stores, whether they’re in the UK or abroad.

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RETAIL APPROACH

GROUND Y A PL

RULES

ou CUS TO

TH

E

It will only work with partners to do brilliantly – that’s good internationally that reflect for my bottom line and the its values, including putting licensor or supplier, but it’s families first, giving to charity also good for the customer. and not stocking certain They’ll keep coming back.” products it feels are not The Entertainer does appropriate for children. have a reputation in the The Playground Rules are 10 ways in which The But it is the customer that licensing industry for r Entertainer brings its values and vision to life. ou liers keeps the wheels of the being demanding and pp “It’s very easy to have a mission statement, but r ERS su M the hard part is making that happen,” says Gary. business turning. “We it is something Stuart “Our Playground Rules are the practical ways in never take our customers acknowledges as a strength. which we make our vision happen.

They cover all for granted,” says Gary. “We “Yes, we are demanding, but parts of our business: our customers, our staff, know they have choices and if we’re not, we can’t offer our communities, our prices, our products and we appreciate that they choose the best for our customers. our suppliers. They are what give The Entertainer to shop with us. That’s why we We complete the chain its personality. The Playground Rules are how we continually strive to offer the from licensor, to licensee, do what we do; they are real and tangible. best we can, in terms of service, to retailer – it has to be a For example, we say that we are a store for the local community. So we commit to not only product choice and value.” seamless flow from film or donating 10 percent of our profits to charity, The Entertainer has always TV programme to children’s but every store has local charities it supports. prided itself on its product hands – converting licenced The community shops in our stores, so we give selection, offering the full range characters into consumer sales.” back to the community.” across a brand. That’s what is Over the years, The o u r Entertainer’s relationship with Below: A trolley dash in one of the important to children according p EOPLE stores to support the charity PACE. to Stuart Grant, Buying licensors and licensees has our Director. “We don’t just changed as the licensing communities stock the popular items. If industry itself has changed. you’re collecting Thomas “Licensed product is so & Friends, you don’t just much more interesting and want the main characters, diverse today,” says Stuart. you want the more obscure “In the early days there was engines as well. You should a concept of ‘label slapping’ – see the delight on a child’s face the same toy, different label. when they rummage through But children are so much the display and finally finds that more brand-aware these In –store de mos & com engine they’ve been missing!”

Ten or 15 years ago petitiondays.

– Satu rd s Only – Stgeneric One thing The Entertainer our storesaywould sell arting Satu rday 5 th Mar “Our suppliers ch… does really well is collectables. dress up outfits: a nurse, doctor, and partners are so When Moshi Monsters were cowboy, important to us and we big, it had in-store swap days, policeman and work very closely with character appearances and a Moshi pirate. Now 90 them all,” says Gary. “It Land World in the Bullring store, percent of that is all about delighting Birmingham. Now it is Shopkins, dressing up is a our customers, so it is Tsum Tsum, Num Noms, Star branded licence.” in everyone’s interest Monsters and Animal Jam. Bringing But the for us to execute any these toys to life and supporting relationship has promotion as best brands is part of what makes The also changed as as we can. I want Entertainer the go-to retailer for The Entertainer all our promotions so many licensors and licensees. has grown. It is now a national toy retailer and a promotion in its 127 stores can help make a brand instantly recognisable.

“Every year we work with our partners on some truly amazing campaigns and every year I wonder how we’re going to better them,” says Gary. “But we always do!”

Above: The Entertainer works closely with partners to brings brands to life in-store.

Left: In-store swap days are part of The Entertainer difference.

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The Entertainer - 35 Years_Layout 1 14/09/2016 20:02 Page 1

We would like to congratulate Gary, the Grant family, Directors, Managers and all sta at

The Entertainer on their 35th Anniversary.

It’s a pleasure to be associated with, and to support, The Entertainer with all things PR.

We wish you the very best in the next 35 years.

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CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT

Are you coming to play?

The Entertainer works proactively with licensors, licensees and suppliers to bring brands to life in ways that benefit everyone – the customer, the stores and the partners. It’s one of the reasons why The Entertainer is the fastest growing toy retailer in the UK.

T

he Entertainer has a reputation for bringing together truly innovative 360˚ campaigns to engage with its customers across all platforms.

Like all parts of The Entertainer’s business, forming good relationships with partners means everyone wins.

Rebecca Naish, Head of Marketing and Licensing explains: “Working in close collaboration with our partners allows us to develop some fantastic brand extensions and that’s good news for all of us.

We want to sell more toys, but

Above: Costume characters regularly visit The Entertainer stores for special promotions. Right: The Entertainer’s business is built on engaging customer experiences.

it’s more than that. We want to make sure we’re bringing the best brand experience possible to our customers. When we do that, everyone benefits.”

It’s important that The Entertainer is flexible and Rebecca recognises that this is an advantage the company has over larger ones. “We can

react very quickly to changing market trends. It is up to just us to make decisions, we don’t need to jump through lots of hoops like larger retailers.

When we could see that Frozen was taking off we got in as much stock as possible.

We went from having one bay to four within a week, as well as a window display. Loom

Focus on: Transformers A life-size replica of Transformers’ Optimus Prime and Bumblebee visited the Staines and Leeds stores during a month-long promotion with Hasbro in April this year. This was part of a wider campaign including windows, end of bay POS, a landing page takeover on the website and a competition for a child to win a visit from Optimus Prime at school. “The feedback was very positive,” says Rebecca.

“Lots of people turned up to see such an iconic truck. It was the perfect photo opportunity. Some lucky customers even got to sit inside the cab.”

Sales of Transformers increased in-store and online, but particularly in the Staines and Leeds stores, which hosted the Optimus Prime and Bumblebee visit – store sales were up 66% on target in Staines, and 74% in Leeds.

Optimus Prime visits the Staines store in April.

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It’s a Sonic you haven’t seen before – an ensemble comedy that pokes fun at action-adventure storytelling, but still manages to deliver plenty of adrenaline.

Think malfunctioning giant mech-monsters, bizarre inventions, evil interns, and ridiculous conversations at high speeds.

The series is set in a wideopen world, where most of the characters live in and around a Village. Just over the horizon is a vast landscape

Our blue blur is the star of the show. But wherever he goes and whatever heʼs up against, Sonic is aided by his sidekick, Tails, and his friends Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks – and, of course, attacked by his arch nemesis, Dr.Eggman.

undersea civilizations, cloud cities, and all kinds of other environments.

The Sonic Boom series is supported with a costume character tour in stores nationwide, regular promotions, competitions and with the TOMY toy range. ®

For Licensingqueries, queries,please pleasecontact: contact: For Licensing

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST& &AFRICA: AFRICA: EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST Jason Rice | Email: jason.rice@sega.co.uk| |Tel: Tel:+44 +44(0) (0)208 208996 9964568 4568 Jason Rice | Email: jason.rice@sega.co.uk 00_The Entertainer 2016.indd 1

© SEGA / Technicolor © SEGA / Technicolor

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CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT bands were the same; we reacted extremely quickly and were able to flex our promotional calendar to give looms a higher profile.”

The customer experience is always at the heart of any campaign and The Entertainer doesn’t just do something for the sake of it. “We want to engage with children and parents, giving them a fun experience of the brand,” says Rebecca. “We’re always working with our partners on new ways to bring a brand to life.

We like to do something different and we’re not afraid to try new things. Our mission is to be the bestloved toy shop. Creating memories and experiences is always at the back of our mind when working with our partners on promotions.”

The Super Saturday programme forms the backbone of The Entertainer’s marketing strategy, with 13 campaigns planned every year around four week blocks. Each Super Saturday will have a different brand focus, but the mechanics are similar. The event is promoted with landing page takeovers online, branded email and in TV spots on the lead up to the event and during.

In store there are demonstrations, competitions and special offers, complemented by window displays and POS. There are often different challenges each week, to encourage customers to come back each Saturday and on the final Saturday customers can collect a free gift.

Right: YouTube mega star caused mass hysteria when he came to meet fans at the Hemel Hempstead store. Below: Face painting is always a favourite with customers at special events.

Focus on: Disney Princess The Entertainer ran its first Disney Princess Super Saturday event in March this year. The event was pre-promoted on TV, in-store and online. During the event the stores had a Disney Princess makeover with windows and end of bay POS. The staff were also encouraged to dress up. There were different activities in-store each Saturday, with children collecting a sticker for their pass books each time they came into the store. On the final Saturday children could claim a Disney Princess activity pack and their names went into a prize draw.

The event was an amazing success. Store sales on key Disney Princess lines increased 330% week-on-week when the activity launched. Online traffic to the Disney Princess pages increased 275% and sales week-on-week increased 326% at launch. During the event The Entertainer had 20% of the market share for Disney Princess sales.

It was the first time The Entertainer had collaborated with Disney on something of that scale. “We’ve always worked with Disney, but never on such scales as what we did with the Disney Princess Super Saturday,” says Rebecca. “The sales figures were phenomenal. The event was a huge success and has really built up a lot of momentum for the brand at The Entertainer.

Now we have to beat that in 2017!”

Top left: Staff and children dressed up for the Disney Princess Super Saturday event.

Top Right: End of bay promotion during the Disney Princess Super Saturday event.

“Super Saturdays are our way to do something really different with a brand,” says Rebecca.

“We work very closely with our partners to come up with something truly innovative. The results speak for themselves. As an example, during our Avengers Hero Up Super Saturdays in September 2015, we saw a 65% increase in sales across all SKUs and the Avengers’ market share increased from 6.5% to 10% during the event.”

A recent addition to the marketing mix has been TV adverts which were first introduced in March 2015. The Entertainer has made 42 adverts since, which mainly air during key children’s TV slots. “We’d never advertised on TV prior to this as we didn’t have the store coverage to warrant the cost,” says Rebecca. “But now we’re in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland we can justify the spend.

The response has been amazing; we regularly see sales uplifts of hundreds of percent in lines that have been advertised on TV.”

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CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT

Above: The Entertainer was one of the first retailers to spot the potential of Masha and the Bear. Above right: Children get the chance to play with the latest toys in stores. Right: The Entertainer has embraced social media hosting numerous Twitter parties and events.

Below: TV adverts have lifted sales of key items by hundreds of percent.

As well as TV advertising, The Entertainer is investing considerable time and money into digital platforms, engaging with the consumer away from the store. It invests a lot of money into its own website, but also works with other platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and bloggers.

“We work with about 30 mummy bloggers who we invite to store openings and preview events as well as working with them on product reviews,” says Rebecca. “Bloggers are very influential, especially in the parenting space. We can connect with mums and dads on a very personal level.”

Focus on: Tsum Tsum Disney Tsum Tsum toys were first released in Japan in 2013. They quickly caught on in the States when Disney released them there in July 2014. Shortly after this The Entertainer spoke to Disney about bringing Tsum Tsum to the UK. “We could see that Tsum Tsum was taking Japan and the States by storm, so we started talking to Disney and Zuru about bringing a toy line to the UK,” says Rebecca. “We moved incredibly fast on this, bringing the toys to market in the space of a few months. We had exclusivity on the brand for about three months in October 2015.”

The Entertainer has invested heavily in Tsum Tsum with TV adverts, POS sponsorship, windows, a collector’s club and swap days.

Left: Tsum Tsum swap day at The Entertainer.

YouTube is increasingly important in The Entertainer’s strategy going forward and it will be working on its own videos as well as with existing YouTubers. “YouTubers are incredibly powerful.

We didn’t realise exactly how powerful until we had DanTDM in our Hemel Hempstead store to promote Jazwares’ Tube Heroes. Fans started queueing at 2am and there was mass hysteria when he finally arrived at 9am!” says Rebecca.

But it’s not just about embracing digital; it’s understanding it as well. The shows and brands that children are tapping into nowadays are not just on TV, more and more are starting life on VOD platforms. Masha and the Bear is a good example of this, as Rebecca explains: “We noticed that it was doing well on YouTube so started talking to Animaccord and Simba about how we could support the brand. For a while we were the only retailer with Masha and the Bear toys. It is now one of our fastest growing preschool brands.”

That’s not to say TV is losing its importance; it is still a vital platform for content.

“The key is getting content on the free-to-air channels,” says Rebecca. “When Power Rangers came to Channel 5, sales doubled almost overnight. Airtime on freeto-air channels can turn a good property into a great property.”

Looking to the second part of 2016, Rebecca is particularly excited about the campaign around the new Trolls movie.

“What I’ve seen of the film is amazing and I think the toys look brilliant too. We’ve got a holiday to Denmark to give away and some very cool POS. DreamWorks has really reinvigorated the brand and I can’t wait to see how our customers react.”

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Congratulations to The Entertainer on its 35th Anniversary!

Paw Patrol Dress-up from Rubie’s – Available from The Entertainer stores nationwide

© 2016 Spin Master PAW Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Paw Patrol and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Spin Master Ltd, Nickelodeon and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

08453 070707 00_The Entertainer 2016.indd 1

www.rubiesuk.com 09/09/2016 17:05

FOCUS ON…NICKELODEON

Last year The Entertainer teamed up with Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products to create an exclusive range of Nickelodeon licensed science and craft kits. The Discover Awesome range spanned 26 products and has been a huge success for both partners.

Only at The Entertainer!

‘‘ N

ickelodeon is well-known for its incredibly strong licensed brands that we represent from a consumer products perspective,” says Marianne James, VP Consumer Products, UK and Ireland and European Retail Sales and Marketing for Viacom International Media Networks. “From pre-school, with Paw Patrol and Blaze and the Monster Machines, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Spongebob to name a few, we also have the strength of the Nickelodeon brand itself. That is something we have never really maximised from a consumer products point of view until now.”

Joining forces with The Entertainer was the perfect fit according to Marianne. “The Nickelodeon promise is to stay true to kids, and our mission is to make the world a more playful place, which mirrors The Entertainer and its audience perfectly. The Discover Awesome range of kits that launched last year reflected the playfulness, curiosity and irreverent humour of the Nickelodeon brand, encouraging children to explore their world and be creative.”

The range came into stores in time for Christmas last year with a high-profile promotional campaign including TV advertising, on-air competitions, window displays, in-store demonstrations, sampling to national consumer media and bloggers and a strong social media presence.

“We are delighted to partner

Far left and left: Craft kits are part of the Nickelodeon Discover Awesome range.

with Nickelodeon to bring these amazing and interactive ranges to market,” said Rebecca Naish, Head of Marketing and Licensing at The Entertainer. “We have developed a strong partnership with them over recent years, so it is great that we have been able to work so closely on developing such an exciting product range. The range has been extremely successful for both of us and we are looking forward to extending the range.”

Coming out in time for this Christmas is the new Ready Steady Dough range aimed at pre-schoolers and utilising the Nick Jr. brand. “We spotted a gap in the market for a great value dough proposition and have worked on creating a number of exciting creative products around this,” says Marianne. “We shared the dough range at Las Vegas Licensing Expo earlier this year and had lots of very positive feedback. We can’t wait to hear what customers think!”

26 days of discovery To celebrate the launch of the Discover Awesome play sets, Nickelodeon and The Entertainer ran a competition in November last year – the 26 Days of Discovery. The competition was promoted on The Entertainer’s TV spots as well as on Nickelodeon’s TV channels, websites and through email. There were 10 prizes each day for 26 days of the new Discover Awesome play sets.

And one lucky winner won a family trip to Nickelodeon Land at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool.

The competition was a great success with over 16,000 entries.

Above: The new range was promoted in windows at launch. Left: Discover Awesome science kit.

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THE SHOP FIT

From the first store

to the latest

So much has changed at The Entertainer over the past 35 years – the stores look totally different, computers have taken over from manual tills and stock is controlled centrally. But one thing that hasn’t changed is The Entertainer’s commitment to giving customers the best possible experience.

T

he contrast between how the first shop looked back in 1981 and the latest 2016 stores couldn’t be more different. Antony Buckle is the Head of Store Development and has been with The Entertainer for 33 years, since he was 16 years old. “If you imagine the TV programme Open All Hours, you’d get a pretty good picture of what the first store was like! It had a Below: Before (left) and after (right) a store re-fit.

pull-out blind, more stock on the pavement than inside the store and all deliveries got unloaded on the pavement and walked through the store and through a curtain dividing the shop from the back room.”

Since then The Entertainer has gone through several re-designs, starting with red and grey and settling in 2003 on the familiar blue livery. With the new colour came a new store format. Early stores were jam-packed to the rafters

Top: Then and now: The first store in Amersham (1981) and the latest store in Belfast (2016). Above: The first (and at that time only!) delivery van for The Entertainer.

with stock in a ‘supermarket aisle’ format and one or two areas for demonstrations. New stores are brighter with unified signage running throughout and a modular layout. This new look puts The Entertainer up there with most other brands on the high street.

Another major difference in stores now is, of course, in technology. “The first computerised tills did not arrive until 1992,” says Antony.

“Until then you

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THE SHOP FIT Left: The Entertainer stores were red up until 2003. Below: Computerised tills arrived in 1992 – it’s now hard to imagine doing business without them. Below left: Every store is fitted with steps at the till for little customers.

just sold stock and the only way you knew what to replenish was by the memory and list-making skills of the store manager. That did have its advantages though, as if you didn’t like a particular toy you could ‘forget’ to re-order. But it was a short-lived advantage as Gary forgets nothing and would give you twice as many when he found out!”

So much of the business was completed manually, which is nearly unimaginable now. As well as the handwritten order lists, prices were also updated by hand in a huge book with hundreds of pages. Everything was ticketed with manual price guns and at the end of the day the manager had to stay behind to run the end-of-day sales reports which were printed out on till rolls.

In the past year, a major enhancement in store has been the provision of android tablets that link into the mainframe.

These tablets perform a

multitude of tasks and place store staff in front of customers, fully armed with the ability to look up product information, check stock, administer click and collect orders and directly sell to a customer.

The ability to perform these functions on the shop floor leads to efficiencies for store staff and makes them more available to customers.

“The stores may look and operate completely different to the

way they did in 1981, but I believe we still have the same values at our heart,” says Antony. “We have the customer in the forefront of our minds in everything we do, from our store layouts and technology to the steps at the till for children and our value for money toys. The way we do business hasn’t really changed – a smile and saying hello is just as important today as it was back then.”

Above: The Entertainer store in the Bullring, Birmingham opened in 2003 and features several dedicated demo areas as well as a tunnel slide for its young customers.

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WEBSITE ACTION

The Online Outlook The Entertainer’s online business continues to grow year-on-year, with website sales tripling since 2013. Online now accounts for 15% of the total business and shows no signs of slowing down.

T

he Entertainer’s website, TheToyShop. com, first appeared in 1999 as an online portal for the business. Over the years the website has moved with the times, keeping pace with changing technologies and purchasing patterns. The Entertainer’s whole digital presence – including the website and social media – is very much an integral part of the business raising brand awareness and driving customers into the store.

Two of the biggest gamechangers for the website came in 2012 and 2014, firstly with the introduction of the 30-minute click and collect service and

The Social Scene When social media took off, The Entertainer was suddenly able to engage with customers on a completely personal level, creating and sharing with customers the latest events, competitions, toys, news and more. Facebook is now the biggest single touchpoint for consumers engaging with The Entertainer. “We concentrate primarily on Facebook with mums and parents,” says Rob. “Facebook is a huge part of raising our brand awareness and a great way to share content from our licensors and licensees, building the excitement around a particular brand.”

Above: Sales on mobile platforms now account for 60% of all The Entertainer’s online sales. Left and below: Personalised brand club emails convert 100% more than normal email campaigns.

then the launch of the mobilefriendly version of the website.

“Click and collect is a very important part of our business now,” says Rob Wood, Head of Online. “It accounts for 40% of our web sales and continues to grow. It’s a real point of difference for us, customers can buy online and their order will be ready to pick up in-store within 30 minutes.

Our mobile business is also growing phenomenally fast. Sales on the mobile platform now account for 60% of all online sales.”

The Entertainer is already thinking about ways to make its delivery proposition more convenient next year. In 2017 it plans to launch new collection options via MyHermes ParcelShops and Doddle to give Below: Doddle stores are located in and around train stations across the UK.

The Entertainer In numbers: Facebook: 81,000 Twitter: 17,200 Instagram: 1,300 Pinterest: 630

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WEBSITE ACTION customers even more choice. Rob says: “We know our customers like to collect at a time and place that is convenient to them. So our plan is to maximise the amount of choice we offer to make it even easier to shop with us.”

And when it comes to product range and knowledge, The Entertainer can’t be beaten.

“We’ll stock the full range of a particular line – sometimes other online outlets will only stock selected items,” says Rob. “We get new ranges to market fast, often first, and offer a pre-order service. That’s really important to our customers. We really understand what our customers want.”

An example of this understanding is the breaking down of assortment boxes. Collectable figures often come in mixed boxes with other retailers offering all characters as one SKU. So the customer buying online doesn’t know what character they’ll get. The Entertainer breaks up the assortment box and gives each character its own SKU. “It’s a lot more work to break up a box and make new SKUs, but customers want to know what specific character they are buying. It’s a big USP for us,” says Rob.

Left: Now and then The Entertainer’s website in 2016 and 1999.

The Entertainer has also been getting smarter with its ecomms, with revenue from email tripling last year.

“Email has got to work so hard to get noticed among all the other emails in our customers’ inbox,” says Rob. “We look at recommendations, the latest sales figures and trends, and by using personalisation based on previous purchases try to anticipate what will make the customer open and click through on our email.”

By teaming up with SmartFocus – a CRM and email

provider – and utilising its personalisation technology, The Entertainer has been able to get very clever with targeted emails, as Rob explains: “We’ve set up a number of brand clubs and send out emails to customers with product recommendations, new product ranges, characters, upcoming promotions and even news from licensors. These brand club emails convert 100% more than our normal email campaigns. It’s all about knowing what our customers want and when they want it.”

The Entertainer is about to launch on-site personalisation with SmartFocus. Using information gathered through past purchases, logins and cookie tracking, The Entertainer can now personalise the homepage for every customer, whether they’re a Star Wars or My Little Pony fan.

“This is the next step for our online business and it’s what the customer expects now from an online shopping experience,” says Rob. “It’s very exciting for us and there is great potential in what we can do with on-site personalisation. The digital world is changing all the time and you’ve got to keep up or customers will go elsewhere.”

Super Saturday support During March, The Entertainer launched its in-store campaign for Disney Princess Super Saturdays. The Super Saturday event encourages children to come and take part in demos with toys on four consecutive Saturdays, collecting stamps each week and then claiming a free gift during the final week. This is supported further by other competitions and TVCs. During this period, The Entertainer shared content on its social channels that delivered around 120,000 impressions, reached over 66,000 people and saw over 12,000 individual engagements.

Left: Facebook post in support of Disney Princess Super Saturday. Right: Customers are encouraged to come in-store on Super Saturday on Instagram.

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TRADE FEEDBACK

o rd On Th W e e Th

op Floo r h S

The Entertainer is committed to bringing brands to life for its customers and is always looking to do something a little bit different. Here some of the licensors and licensees speak about what it’s like to work with the team at The Entertainer.

Charlotte Higgins Senior Commercial Manager, The Walt Disney Company “Working with The Entertainer is like being in one awesome Avenger-like team: collaborative, creative – and a ton of fun! Every story has a best bit. For this partnership, it’s got to be our Super Saturday store events. We’ve built fantastic experiences around some of our biggest franchises, kicking off with Marvel’s Avengers and four weeks of superhero activities. It was a huge hit with The Entertainer, achieving 50% share on many TV lines in the process. We’ve created a full calendar year of funfilled activity in store, to communicate the breadth of fantastic franchises to customers.”

Left: Dressing up as favourite superheros for Super Saturday.

Liesa Dornan Retail Director, Universal Brand Development “The Entertainer has a reputation for finding the next big thing, be it a new character or must-have item, and Universal’s partnership began in 2013 after the release of Despicable Me 2. Stuart and his team were early adopters of Minions, and The Entertainer quickly became one of our biggest brand champions. In 2016 The Secret Life of Pets was a calendar highlight at The Entertainer. The campaign delivered at every level for all partners. 2017 will The Secret Life of be another strong year Inset: Pets window display. for Universal and we look forward to creating even more fun and memorable activities for The Entertainer’s customers with Despicable Me 3, Fast 8, and more.”

Graham Canning Sales Director, VTech

Christine Thomas Licensing Manager, Entertainment One UK “At Entertainment One (eOne) we are proud of our long-standing, collaborative relationship with The Entertainer team.

We have worked with them for over 10 years across our key brands. The Entertainer has always been keen supporters of new brand initiatives. One of the most successful was their support for Peppa’s 10 year anniversary which included an augmented reality photo experience for customers, allowing them to pose for a picture jumping in muddy puddles with Peppa. The team continue to impress us with their ability to deliver high standards of retail execution across all activities.”

Left: Peppa Pig end of bay in store.

Right: Window display for VTech.

“My experience with trading with The Entertainer goes back to their first shop in Amersham in the early 80s and my first position in the toy industry. I always remember Gary’s desk in that store, it was two filing cabinets with a piece of kitchen worktop in between. It was cluttered with catalogues and papers. As his business grew, he got a real desk but his method did not change! For over 25 years, VTech has had a great relationship with The Entertainer, helping us create brand awareness in the high street.”

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Putting the into The Entertainer! ©Viacom Overseas Holdings C.V. © 2016 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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TRADE FEEDBACK

Richard Hollis UK Head of Consumer Products, DreamWorks Animation “We are great admirers of the impressive growth of The Entertainer and their business model of broad ranges, strong marketing and community spirit. They have been great supporters of DreamWorks as our CP business has built up over the last three years, backing a range of our projects. They made a big visual impact with How To Train Your Dragon in 2014, helped launch our family comedy Home last year, and had an exclusive toy range and

social media partnership on Kung Fu Panda 3. But this year for Trolls the relationship is really building, with impressive promotional toy space, a family holiday competition, character visits and digital marketing all making a major statement.”

Below: The Trolls movie comes out on 21 October and will have a huge presence in-store.

Inset: Moshi Land World in the Bullring store.

Kerry Tarrant

Craig Wilkins Marketing Director, UK and Ireland, Hasbro

“We have worked together on many successful campaigns over the past few years. Most recently we have partnered with The Entertainer on a campaign where the My Little Pony bus visited flagship stores and customers had a chance to win a My Little Pony bus visit to their school. The Kingston store has been fitted out with permanent branding including a Nerf shooting range, Play-Doh demo tables and a My Little Pony castle. Coming up we have exciting Monopoly plans with stores branded like the Monopoly board and a competition to win vouchers. Moving into 2017 we are currently working on plans for the huge new release of Transformers: The Last Knight in July.”

Above: The Play-Doh demo table in the Kingston store.

Ben Harper UK Director, Magic Box “We have been working with The Entertainer since 2008, when we launched Gogo’s Crazy Bones in the UK. One of the first phone calls I received was from Stuart. He had identified

the huge growth in demand and wanted to ensure that The Entertainer was doing everything it could to support the product. It’s great to work with a partner who understands the dynamics of these

Marketing Manager, Vivid “The Entertainer’s account was set up with Vivid in 2000 and the first order placed was for Thunderbirds toys. Some 15 years later The Entertainer supported the new Thunderbirds Are Go with branded windows, end cap and online activity.

In-store we worked together on a launch event, which included a character treasure hunt, character standees and a fantastic tannoy message from Brains himself. Thunderbirds Are Go is just one example of great collaborations between Vivid and The Entertainer over the years.

Another huge success was Moshi Monsters with in-store swap days, character appearances from Poppet and Furry as well as a Moshi Land World in the Bullring store, Birmingham.” products and the value and benefits that they can bring. Most recently, we have collaborated very closely on the launch of Star Monsters.

This included specific TV adverts, in-store product demonstration, giveaways and swap days too.

The Entertainer is prepared to go the extra mile to establish a collectable toy that they believe in.”

Left: Star Monsters are the latest collectable from Magic Box.

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TRADE FEEDBACK

Graham Saltmarsh Director of Licensing, UK & Nordic, Cartoon Network Enterprises “I have worked with The Entertainer for many years and across many properties. We’ve had shelving units designed like elements of our shows, thousands of children dressed as their favourite alien from Ben 10 and in-store promotions which to the untrained eye looked like a riot. We work closely with the in-store staff too and take part in their training days to ensure they have a strong knowledge of our characters and product. Needless to say we look forward to more of all this with the 2017 launch of The Powerpuff Girls and Ben 10.”

Left: A visit from Four Arms from Ben 10.

Alan McKellar Account Manager, MGA Entertainment “We have been working with The Entertainer for 10 years and throughout this time, we have partnered on many successful customerfacing events, campaigns and activities. Last year, the Bratz Photobooth toured The Entertainer stores across the country. Shoppers were invited to step inside the Bratz branded Photobooth, dress up in fun props and take away a cool picture. There’s even more exciting collaborations planned for AW16 and SS17 including the appearance of our Num Noms facespaces in five of their biggest stores.”

Left: Bratz photobooth promotion.

Trudi Hayward SVP, Global Head of Merchandise, ITV “We’ve been working with The Entertainer since we first launched Thunderbirds Are Go in 2015.

The Entertainer was very quick to spot the commercial potential of the brand.

Between July and August 2015, The Entertainer ran pre-orders for Vivid’s

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Marianne James VP Consumer Products, UK and Ireland and European Retail Sales and Marketing, Viacom International Media Networks “The Entertainer has been a great partner to Nickelodeon throughout the years. It has continued to support our properties, from the evergreens of Turtles, Spongebob and Dora, to the incredible preschool slate of Paw Patrol, Blaze and Half Shell Heroes. We have

also worked with them to develop cross property activities in-store, like May Mayhem and Summer of Fun. The relationship we have with the team at The Entertainer has strengthened over the years, and we’re now delighted to have taken our relationship to the next level with the new Discover Awesome and Ready Steady Dough ranges.”

Right: The exclusive Discover Awesome range from Nickelodeon

Jonny Taylor UK Managing Director, Jazwares

“Our Animal Jam launch activity with The Entertainer was a result of months in the planning between both teams to make sure the launch was high impact and fun for consumers in-store and online. Sampling was a large part of the campaign, getting the product into children’s hands for them to discover the world of Animal Jam. The response has been great from consumers so far and we’re excited to build on our close relationship with the team at The Entertainer into 2017 with more Animal Jam and a whole host of other brands.”

Above right: Animal Jam branded email from The Entertainer.

new toy range on their website prior to the launch and at the time it was their biggest pre-order brand ever. We’re now looking forward to building upon the successful relationship we’ve had with The Entertainer so far. Later this year we’ll be working with them to celebrate the launch of the second series of Thunderbirds Are Go.” Right: Thunderbirds Are Go branded page on TheToyShop.com

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Karaoke Microphone and Stand

TV advertised For more details please contact 01235 555545 trade_sales@vtech.com

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TRADE FEEDBACK

James Clarke

Mark Ashurst

Key Account Manager, LEGO

Business Development Manager, Flair “As a partner, working with The Entertainer gives suppliers like ourselves a unique opportunity to showcase a brand from the moment it launches, paving the way to be inventive with our marketing. Most recently we experienced the delight and enthusiasm of the staff as thousands of children turned up in one town store just to meet Shopkins’ Strawberry Kiss and to be snapped with the Shopkins Treat Truck. The Entertainer is always easy to work with. What’s more, each individual store manager embraces the campaign and brings the personal touch of an independent store.”

“LEGO has been part of The Entertainer since the early 1980’s and The Entertainer has always been a strong supporter of LEGO. One of most recent partnerships has been on Ninjago. We had in-store

call out in windows and supported with costume characters.

These costume characters also featured at The Entertainer’s 100th store opening in Aylesbury.

Coming up we’re looking forward to the LEGO Batman Movie in H1 2017, which has an excellent cast and looks very funny.

And of course the LEGO Ninjago Movie will be a big draw in H2 2017.”

Left: LEGO Ninjago costume character at store opening.

Left: Shopkins Spilt Milk came to visit The Entertainer

Vickie O’Malley Managing Director, Rockpool Licensing “Growing up in Amersham, The Entertainer has been part of my life since I was a child. It wasn’t until I was working at Hasbro in the late nineties that I fully realised the scale of the business, speed of its growth and ambition outside of Sycamore Road!

Over more recent years, I’ve worked with The Entertainer on many exciting licences.

I’ve been working closely with the team on plans for Animal Jam’s consumer products programme including character tours, pre-order mechanics, in-game added value and content hook ups on thetoyshop.com.”

Right: Animal Jam is an exciting new collectable.

Nick Mowbray Director, Zuru Group “Zuru started working with The Entertainer in October of 2013.

The best example of our collaboration with The Entertainer was on the launch of our Tsum Tsum squishies collectable range, where The Entertainer had an exclusive first to

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market programme in Q4 of 2015.

The launch was an overwhelming success with the line quickly outselling the leading collectables at the time. The Entertainer played an integral role in building the brand by promoting the line on TV, developing great in-store displays, and even running their own collector and swap days in store.”

Left: Staff get right behind the Tsum Tsum swap days.

Inset: The Power Rangers photobooth..

Tim Juckes Commercial Director, Saban Brands “It’s an absolute pleasure working with The Entertainer and feels like a real partnership. Stuart, Rebecca and their teams really go the extra mile. The Entertainer has always championed Power Rangers and even has its own Red Ranger costume. Over Easter we installed a photo booth at the Kingston store so fans could get a photo taken with their favourite Power Ranger. There will be marketing support throughout the year to support our core TV range and to celebrate the launch of the Power Rangers movie in March.”

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TRADE FEEDBACK

Eileen Thornton Head of Marketing, K’NEX “We are excited to be working with the team at the Entertainer to deliver a fun K’NEX two week event in store this autumn. We are creating a joint TV spot and encouraging children to come in store and build with K’NEX, as well as other promotions.

It’s great to work with a team who have the energy and enthusiasm to really bring some magic into a toy shop. The team at The Entertainer has a really strong 360 degree view of all the consumer touch points and how to get synergy and great sales from them.”

Right: K’Nex in the window at The Entertainer.

David Carscadden

“Jakks Pacific has been supplying The Entertainer on a direct basis for seven years now and our business has grown from strength to strength.

We value our relationship with the committed management and staff at The Entertainer very highly. Working with The Entertainer gives Jakks

Below: Jakks Pacific took part in Star Wars Super Saturday.

Amy Davolls Head of Sales, Bandai UK “I’ve been working with The Entertainer since I joined Bandai 16 years ago. The Entertainer is a partner that works with you in a true collaboration. The Entertainer has been one of the biggest retail supporters of Power Rangers over the years. We’re working on an amazing promotion for the launch of the new film in March. We’re bringing people from Saban to the manager’s conference SAVE * so they can give an 25% insight into the film to the staff. It’s these little things that really set The Entertainer apart from any other toy retailer.” *Save 25% on all Bandai Power Rangers Dino Super Charge toys

TM & © 2016 SCG Power Rangers LLC

Helena MansellStopher Retail Director, Bulldog Licensing

Pacific an engaging and important presence on the high street in so many key towns and cities. The opportunity to participate in meet and greet events and in-store theatre is critical in capturing the imagination of our consumers.”

Senior Vice President and General Manager, UK and Ireland, Jakks Pacific

Inset: Costume character visit to promote The Angry Birds Movie.

“The Entertainer has supported Rob and the business from the very beginning starting with Go Go Crazy Bones, Dreamworks Dragons and more recently Shopkins and The Angry Birds Movie. We partnered with The Entertainer as a lead retailer to launch The Angry Birds Movie in May of this year. Its in-store theatre and placement on the high street is key to driving awareness for brands. Coming up we have increased activity with Shopkins, Grossery Gang and TwoZies - we have some great plans in place for 2017.

Jacqueline Taylor-Foo UK Sales Director, Spin Master “I’ve worked with the Entertainer for over 15 years and have enjoyed the challenges they openly present. They are a great partner, happy working together to find mutually workable solutions and

as a result are one of the most creative retailers on the high street. Most recently we have had great success together with Paw Patrol and the Secret Life of Pets movie.

The Entertainer has also led the way in supporting our latest company acquisition Cardinal Games and sales out have been great.”

Left: Paw Patrol window display.

Left: End of bay poster for Power Rangers.

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Congratulations to all the team at The Entertainer on

35 amazing years

With thanks for all your support!

- the team at Bulldog Licensing

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© 2015 ZAG

© PAWS. All Rights Reserved.

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8325 5455

© Rovio 2016

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CHARITY MATTERS

Helping others by giving back It’s not all about profit and sales. The Entertainer prides itself on charitable giving across the whole business, from a company level, to staff donations through payroll - and even customers get involved with giving at POS.

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he Entertainer tithes 10% of its profits via its charitable wing, The Grant Foundation, which makes donations to organisations that promote the healthy development of children and their families. In addition to this, The Entertainer supports numerous charities; Christian Aid, Pennies, Shelter Box, The Light Fund and the Toy Trust, to name a few.

“The spirit of generosity and charitable giving are key values to The Entertainer and are integral to who we are as a business,” says Anna Warner-McLoughlin, The Grant Foundation Trustee

and Foundation Administrator.

“The trustees of The Grant Foundation are first and second generation Grant family members. Our collective aim is

Above: The Entertainer’s customers have raised over £200,000 over the past five years through Pennies for the Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity by rounding up their transactions to the nearest pound.

Right: Staff take part in a wide range of charitable activities. Below: Loretta Minghella, Chief Executive of Christiand Aid.

Christian Aid - Loretta Minghella, Chief Executive: “Christian Aid is proud to have received The Entertainer’s support over the past six years. The company’s strong values, engaged employees and conviction to give back to communities has meant that thousands of vulnerable people across the globe have been supported through generous donations to our disaster appeals. We look forward to many more opportunities to work together and continuing to build a relationship with the company and employees so that together we can support the poorest communities in the world.”

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CHARITY MATTERS Below: Alison Hutchinson CBE, Chief Executive of Pennies.

to be able to offer support to the very group of people that have offered us such success in business - children. We are greatly privileged to be able to give back financially to the charities supporting children in the communities around our stores and to be able to

Above: Supporting Sport Relief with a baking sale.

Below: Chris Warham, Chief Executive at ShelterBox

offer encouragement to those who are often working hard for causes that are largely hidden, yet utterly deserving.”

Staff at The Entertainer are also encouraged to give to charity through the Payroll Giving Scheme. They can donate to a charity of their choice directly from their pay through their monthly payroll and the chosen charity will receive the donation tax free.

The Entertainer matches employee donations as well. Over 48% of staff make donations in this way, raising over £369,000 for 180 different charities since the scheme came into play in 2011.

Another way staff can give to charity is through the Big Charity Whip Round. This allows staff to round down their monthly pay check and donate the spare pennies to Cancer Research UK. But it’s not just the company that gives to charity; customers too are encouraged to donate through Pennies, the digital charity box. Every year, The Entertainer’s customers raise a significant amount by choosing to round up their transaction to the nearest pound. All those pennies add up –

Pennies - Alison Hutchinson CBE, Chief Executive: “When Pennies first introduced the digital charity box to Gary, he immediately ‘got it’ and was keen to be our first retailer to demonstrate that consumers like the chance to give a little back.

The accumulative impact of The Entertainer’s customers’ digital clicks of generosity is that they have raised over £1.3 million for local children’s hospitals and charities.

And now Pennies is delighted to help The Entertainer uphold its strong community presence through the ‘Jack Gives Back’ project, which has enabled the support of over 100 new local charities with one-off grants - selected by its staff.

The Entertainer is a pioneer for the retail sector, and we are thrilled that it has just introduced another ‘first’ for Pennies by becoming our first in-store partner in Northern Ireland.”

in November 2015 the total amount of pennies donations since 2011 passed the £1million mark.

ShelterBox - Chris Warham, Chief Executive: “At ShelterBox our mission is to provide shelter and vital supplies to families around the world who have been devastated by disaster and conflict.

The need for emergency shelter and equipment in the world is growing.

2015 saw more people displaced world-wide than at any time since WW2.

And in major disasters like the 2015 Nepal earthquake, as many as 80% of people affected won’t get the help they need. Partners like The Entertainer make it possible for us to do something about it by providing the shelter and equipment families need to start rebuilding their devastated lives.”

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The UK home of Power Rangers, Finding Dory, Monnchhichi, Miraculous Ladybug, Pinypon, Nancy and Nenuco.

Bandai UK would like to congratulate Gary and all the team at The Entertainer on their 35th anniversary.

It’s a pleasure to be associated with The Entertainer and we look forward to working together for the next 35 years!

Follow us to get latest updates:

Bandai UK Ltd, 37-39 Kew Foot Road, Richmond TW9 2SS. www.bandai.co.uk Tel: 0208 324 6160

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INTERNATIONAL

In the last two years The Entertainer has opened six stores in Pakistan and Azerbaijan and has plans to increase this to 30 over the next two years, bringing the joy of toys to more children in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and forging a global retail brand.

From London To Lahore T

he international business model is still fairly new for The Entertainer, with its first store opening in Pakistan in July 2014 and the most recent in Azerbaijan in May this year. It operates the overseas stores through a franchise model, working with partners who can operate at the required standard, but also share the values of The Entertainer.

It’s a different way of working for The Entertainer, but already it is paying off. “We don’t provide individual store sales data but I can say that our international stores are on a par with the sort of levels we see in the UK, and one is in our top 20 stores, which is amazing when you consider the difference in market size and income levels,” reveals Duncan Grant, Strategy Director.

The Entertainer started looking at opportunities to expand overseas back in 2013 after being approached by a number of businesses who had spotted the

potential of taking the concept overseas. The franchise model has worked brilliantly, using local partners who know their markets to look after all of the stores within a particular region.

“We targeted the growing economies of the Middle East and Asia first as they don’t have anything like The Entertainer,” says Duncan. “Of course they have toy shops, but these tend to be large hypermarkets, not

Top left: Costume characters visit the new Ganjlik Mall store in Baku, Azerbaijan. Above: The MM Alam Road store in Lahore, Pakistan was opened at the end of 2015.

the smaller, customer-focused stores like ours. I have been at many of The Entertainer store openings in the UK, but nothing prepared me for the number of people that turned up at the opening of our first store in Baku, Azerbaijan. Previously they would have had to travel to London or

Right: Outdoor toys feature heavily in the international stores.

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INTERNATIONAL Dubai to get a world-class toy shop experience and now there was one in their home town – the feedback was so positive, especially from the children.”

The fact that the stores themselves are not in the UK doesn’t change the way in which The Entertainer goes about planning and opening a new store or even running it. “We treat all of our international stores as if they were our own, which means we put a huge amount of effort into the planning and delivery of

each new opening,” says Duncan.

“We begin by visiting the shopping centres within the market to find the right location and then we support our partners right through Above: In-store events, competitions and promotions are all part of The Entertainer experience, whether in the UK or overseas.

Below, left and right: Visitors to the Pakistan stores have been taking part in modelling clay competition and a building block challenge.

Left:There’s a chance to try out the toys in the Port Baku store in Azerbaijan. Below:The product mix in the international stores is surprisingly similar to those in the UK.

the store opening process, from design plans through to stock merchandising. Even once a store is open we continue to offer advice and assistance in helping it to reach its potential.”

The Entertainer’s mission of being the best-loved toy shop carries through into its overseas operation too, as Duncan explains: “We begin by finding a partner who shares our values and then way before a store even opens we are planning how those values will be lived out in an appropriate way for that market.”

The only thing that may be a little different in the international stores is the product mix, but even this is amazingly similar to the UK, according to Duncan.

“With the internet and global brands such as Disney, children are now very international in their outlook and they know exactly which products they want, whether they live in London or Lahore. There are some differences, for instance we sell a lot more outdoor toys in markets where the weather is better, and

there will normally be one or two local TV characters that children will want to see in the store.”

Taking the business into new markets has meant challenges for everyone involved, but by working with partners who not only understand the local market, but also The Entertainer’s business model, the company has made significant steps to becoming a global retailer. “It has taken time to learn how to support an international franchise network but we now feel confident that we have the capabilities and so you’ll be seeing us step up our pace of new openings,” says Duncan. “We expect to launch in a handful of new countries in the next 12 months while continuing to expand in our existing markets.”

Fun in-store The Entertainer is well-known for its in-store customer experience, with events, competitions, demos and costume characters all part of the fun for kids (and parents) of coming into store. In the Lahore and Islamabad stores, children have recently taken part in a Lego building challenge, a modelling clay competition as well as special events to celebrate Eid and Pakistan Independence Day.

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LOOKING AHEAD

It’s an entertaining future T

op of the agenda for The Entertainer’s plans for business growth in the future is the expansion of retail space. By the end of 2016,The Entertainer will have opened 15 new stores. By the end of the year the company will have over 130 stores, including its first in Northern Ireland. “Our new store opening programme is continuing at pace, and our approach to 2017

More stores, innovative experiential events for customers, new options for delivery, growing online business and e-pay in stores – these are just some of the ambitious plans The Entertainer has for the next couple of years.

in new technology to ensure the customer continues to have a first rate experience.This year alone we’ve introduced on-site personalisation, new collection options, as well as integrating Amazon checkout.”

Still on the subject of online, Phil continues: “Looking ahead, I think Apple and Android Pay will become really important in ecommerce from next year. We’re also looking into expanding our social chat which is very popular in China and the USA - it lets customer’s connect with their favourite brands on whichever social media channel they’re using and delivers Above: Ambitious expansion plans will bring The Entertainer stores to more children around the UK. Left: The first store in Northern Ireland opened in Belfast in July.

will be the same,” says Phil Geary, Marketing and Ecommerce Director “We have a target number of stores in mind and our property team will continue to work tirelessly with landlords across the UK to find the right locations and the right deals.”

The online business is another area The Entertainer is targeting with smarter technology and increased delivery options. Phil comments: “I expect to see continued strong growth through our online channels over the next five years.To achieve this we’re investing heavily in marketing to drive traffic to TheToyShop.com as well as investing

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a really personal experience that’s currently only available in store.”

Improving the customer experience is always at the forefront of all The Entertainer’s plans and it has recently invested in a new CRM system and made big improvements to online customer experience.

“We’re also investigating a new loyalty programme to give customers lots of reasons to keep coming back,” says Phil. “We’re always looking at ways to better engage with the consumer in store. We already run a successful product demonstration and entertainment programme, which many of our partner licensees and licensors are involved with, but now we are also looking to create more theatre and more opportunities for consumer interaction.”

Exclusive toys for The Entertainer The Entertainer has partnered with global toy company,Addo Play, to bring a line of exclusive toys to market in 2016 and has plans to expand the line in 2016/17. Mary Price and David Martin, Joint Managing Directors of Addo Play comment:“Addo has already successfully launched four brands with The Entertainer; water blasters, plush, mechanical plush and dough, in store and online, which have been well received and sell through has been very positive.A further six brands are due to be launched later this year.We aim to inspire hundreds of ways to play, providing best-selling products across multiple play areas and pride ourselves on clear informative packaging, with easy to follow and child-friendly instructions.”

Left: The Ready Steady Dough Swirly Whirly Sweets Set is exclusive to The Entertainer.

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