TOTAL LICENSING
Cover Story: Studio 100 Catching up with Joachim Knoedler, Head of Licensing at Studio 100 Tell us how you have found the last 12 months? It has been a strange and challenging year for all of us! Since last March, most people found retail to be very different and a challenge. As a licensor we knew we had to have flexibility in our contracts and shift our approach slightly as did our licensees and retailers with companies quickly looking at how to streamline their businesses. Licensed facemasks of course came out very quickly – this certainly showed innovation and flexibility in the industry. After months of lockdown where everything was closed, consumers certainly made up for it in the following months after as they wanted to be out and buying – and the toy industry especially flourished in the lockdown with games, puzzles, activities, and family games being very resilient. But of course, for all parties, the difficulties came in the restriction of production capacities and capabilities. In terms of this year, I read a recent statistic that said many people across Europe had saved a lot of money during the lockdown and were waiting for when they can freely consume again such as buying products, going on holiday, etc. We have had to be very flexible and show our partners and the retailers that we are loyal. How has Studio 100 fared during the pandemic? There are different components to Studio 100 – the consumer, licensing, merchandising, production, and entertainment – and certainly on the theme park side of things, consumers have
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not been able to live and breathe the excitement of their favourite properties. Movies as well have been a challenge – we have three big movies ready to be released and we have seen a huge demand to bring these back into theatres. There is a huge responsibility to our licensees and all the platforms that we operate on. We have been helpful
and supportive to the licensing side of our business. In terms of alternative ways of releasing movies, we still have contracts of course with theatres and we believe in the experience of being at the movies. However, even when they start to re-open, initially some families will not take their children to the cinemas as they do not feel safe.
