M AT T E L ISSUE 002 - OCTOBER 2020
Bet on the world’s #1 fashion doll
Exciting new
additions for Fisher-Price electronic toys with Jazwares
Mattel and Mondo reinforce their partnership
Thomas Anniversary with Royal Friend
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Contents 08
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05 Barbie The world’s #1 fashion doll 26
Fisher-Price 90 years of playfulness 37
Fireman Sam is on fire!
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Hot Wheels Revs up 30
Thomas & Friends Celebrating an icon 46
Masters of the Universe The all-star cast of Master of the Universe: Revelation
Lisa Weger Head of Licensing EMEA | Mattel Consumer Products Virtual BLE: a moment to reset This year there won’t be any drinks at Bar Boulud, no Sunday pints at The Nag’s Head and no late-night news downloads at the Ham Yard. I won’t be able to hug my industry friends and colleagues in the hallways of Excel. Some of them I’ve known for more than 20 years. BLE is a time to get back in touch, to do new business, to see people we work with but who live elsewhere, or people we have worked with at another time, in another city. It’s a time to connect, and to check in. It’s a time to re-establish our contacts in this industry that we love. But not this year. BLE is virtual. And as much as some of us are loving the new freedom of flexible working, all of us will miss this special time of year. As they say, humans are social, and BLE is one of the social highlights of our industry. It brings us together and reminds us, that even in challenging times, we wouldn’t do anything else. It’s also a lot of work. Back when I was based in Los Angeles and New York, it took weeks to prep all of my meetings for BLE. But the show took on a whole new meaning when I moved to London to head up CP for Mattel EMEA. It became an event. Our first year we kicked off with a runway show at the Saatchi Gallery presenting a new fashion vision for Barbie. And the next year, another packed event at Studio Spaces in East London. And while we won’t be able to connect in person this year, somehow it seems like we have more to do than ever before. At Mattel EMEA we are hard at work re-focusing our efforts on our core brands and our products. We are receiving more cold calls than we’ve had in 5 years. We are laser focused on our product development, working hand in hand with our creative team to put each product through multiple filters. We are constantly pushing ourselves and our partners to offer our brand-fans the franchise experience they expect. Over the past years, I can’t count the chats, or passing comments I’ve heard about our industry; “Licensing isn’t the same as it was” “Licensing is down” “Licensing is dying.” And my response was the same: “We have done this to ourselves”, “We are not taking care.” “We are pushing too much of the risk onto our partners.” All of us in the industry know that licensing is a threelegged stool, a partnership between licensor, licencee and retailer. If all of us don’t win, none of us win. We need to make sure we keep that formula top of mind, that we take risks collectively, support our partners in their new ventures and carry the industry forward leaning into our consumer 4
insights and vast common experience. When I worked in media, I attended hundreds of content pitches. The producers were always passionate about their shows and dreamt about a breakout global success. But often the endgame was the merchandise revenue. So with all that interest and passion, why have the last few years been so hard? Why is everyone predicting the demise of licensing? I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do know that some in our industry have raced for the revenue and forgotten our fans, our ultimate consumers. We have handed control to those who don’t know our brands like we do but who tell us “This is what sells.” “This is safe.” And all of that has put our consumer a little bit further from our reach. It has left our buyers with too much stock. Licensors and licencees have taken losses. So as we find ourselves with a little more time this year, let’s all take a harder look at the heart of our business: our products, whether they be physical, digital, services, or entertainment. Let’s make sure we bring the magic back to licensing. Let’s get back to basics and back to elevating our brands like only we know how. Let’s ask ourselves if everything we’re doing will inspire joy in our consumers. Will it increase the consumer’s passion for our brands? Will it complement? Will it elevate? Will it add value? It requires more focus. Sometimes it even means missing an opportunity. It means saying no when something isn’t right, even if we give up some revenue. But it pays back in spades. It’s long term vs. short term thinking. We owe that to our partners, our brands and to our industry, but mostly we owe that to our consumers. All of us in licensing know how lucky we are to work across multiple categories, to dip in and out of different industries, to constantly learn new skills, to flex our entrepreneurial muscles, and to meet the best people in the world and call them our friends. Let’s take the extra time to re-focus, and reset on what makes this the best industry ever. And we will meet again.
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Freya Brown Senior Buyer, Menswear, Character Licence Kids and Adult What do you typically look for in a brand licencing partnership? The first consideration is always the customer. Does the licence resonate with them? Are the licence’s values aligned with ours as a retailer, as well as those of our customers? If the answer is yes, it’s a clear choice to go out and actively try to deliver it to them. What do you think are the essential ingredients to make a successful collection? Product, timing, communication and visibility. Product rules supreme. The design, the colour, the quality of fabric, the application of details, the fit of the garment and the way it feels. These ingredients all feed into every style and an oversight in one will impact the customer’s experience of the product. Price is important too. It’s not about being the cheapest or the most expensive. For our customers, it’s about value for money. The timing of any collection is always key. Not only does the subject need to be culturally relevant at the time of launch, but it should also be aligned with seasonality in the fashion calendar and important moments in the customer’s life, such as holiday season or Christmas.
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What made you select Barbie for next year’s collaboration? The ‘You Can be Anything’ campaign was powerful and inspiring, celebrating the significance for young girls to have positive, strong role models that inspire them to believe that they can be anything. Barbie is relevant for the next generation, while remaining nostalgic for adults. Barbie’s new diverse representation and focus on being anything you want to be speaks to our diverse customer base. The modernization has increased the brand’s credibility and it’s a partnership I’m proud to be involved in. It was ultimately a brand that we knew would resonate with our customer. What excited you most about the potential of the collection? Working directly with the Mattel design team on initial concepts and designs to tailor-make the range for our customer has really paid off. I think if you are excited by a project, it will show in design and execution. Hopefully the customer will be as excited about it as we are. By the way, I wish I was Astronaut Barbie!
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Bet on Barbie: the world’s #1 fashion doll 2020 has been a remarkable year for Barbie just a year after the hugely successful 60th anniversary of Barbie, the brand continues to be the most popular fashion doll ever produced. Since 1959, Barbie has been dedicated to inspiring the limitless potential in every girl and that message has never been more relevant than now. Barbie the brand invented the fashion doll category, has stood the test of time. Spanning three generations of girls, taking on over 200 careers and selling more than a billion Barbies over the past six decades Barbie engages fans both young and old. The brands evolution over the past decade has seen a journey to realign with Barbie’s original purpose; to empower girls. A reflection of pop culture, Barbie can generate global conversations like no other toy brand, and the past five years alone have seen multiple brand campaigns that surpass 1billion PR impressions, such as the award-winning ‘Imagine the Possibilities’ TV spot, the introduction of three new body types, and Shero campaigns – where dolls are made in the likeness of real-life role models. As the #1 girls’ brand on YouTube, Barbie has a powerful platform to showcase teachable moments through her popular vlogger character. Barbie serves younger girls an imaginative world through Barbie Dreamtopia and entertains older girls with Barbie DreamHouse Adventures; a new series that has had 2million minutes viewed in 2019 alone!
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Barbie is a powerhouse! Barbie has enjoyed a spot in the top 5 global toy properties for an amazing decade, and this year successes include being the #1 fashion doll in the UK, the #2 property in the total toy market, and the #3 favourite overall brand for girls, across all categories. The UK saw a significant increase in distribution in Spring 2020 due to the success of the 2019 programmes and the brand is seeing retail flourish with the Barbie brand securing incredible POS numbers week on week. So much more than a toy, Barbie is a power franchise spanning content, apparel, homewares, luggage, food and beverage and more. Barbie is one of the most diverse and influential brands in the world and can live into the worlds of art and fashion right through to high street, partnering with some of the world’s most respected designers, artists such as Keith Haring and has seen recent mass partnerships with Primark, Crayola and National Geographic. Barbie has also introduced a stellar range of apparel this year, launching new collections with Zara that referenced new and inclusive Fashionistas, and a retro themed Forever21 collection that tapped into fans nostalgia for the iconic logo and graphics of the 80’s and 90’s. The brand has also enjoyed continuous cross category support from Primark, debuted a MAC lipstick in SS20, and last year expanded into adult luggage with a luxury collection with Samsonite.
Barbie honours role models across Europe to inspire more girls Girl empowerment is at the core of everything the Barbie brand does, and Barbie has been inspiring girls and women since 1959. Barbie further establishes itself as the ultimate empowerment brand for the next generation through spotlighting relevant female role models who are breaking boundaries. In March 2020 the brand announced an incredible line-up of European professional sportswomen as official role models to honour International Women’s Day and continue efforts to close the Dream Gap; the time when young girls start doubting their self-value and potential*. A Shero doll is the highest honour the Barbie brand bestows, and Barbie honoured the role models by creating one-of-a-kind “Shero” Barbie dolls in their likeness to celebrate their dual mission to inspire the limitless potential in every girl. The Shero initiative furthers the Barbie “You Can Be Anything” campaign message echoing that when a girl plays with Barbie, she imagines anything she can become. The European activity furthered the brands commitment to closing the “Dream Gap.” Research has found that starting at age five many girls are less likely than boys to view their own gender as smart and begin to lose confidence in their own competence. Cultural stereotypes, implicit biases and representation in media work together to further this issue. The Barbie Dream Gap Project is a multiyear global initiative to raise awareness around limiting factors that prevent girls from reaching their full potential. The women who were honoured across Europe, several high-profile sports role models were announced including fastest British female runner Dina Asher-Smith (UK), Amandine Henry (France) National French Football Captain, Teenage Para Swimmer, Sümeyye Boyacı (Turkey) and World Champion Sabre Fencer Olga Kharlan (Ukraine) among many more. Many of the role model athletes, who are representing their countries this summer at big sporting events later this year, were awarded a one of a kind doll. 10
Barbie scooped three awards at this year’s Bologna Licensing Awards Barbie scooped an amazing three accolades at this year’s Bologna Licensing Awards: Property of the Year, Best Kids Licensing Project for Girls and Best Adult Licensing Project. The Bologna Licensing Fair is now in its fourth year and winners were selected from several categories across preschool, kids, teen and adult.
commented that this was the perfect combination of elegance, high quality and brand synergy creating a modern contemporary collection. The apparel collection was created by the promising young designer of Italian Haute Couture, Filippo Laterza. This was the first designer collaboration for girls, in partnership with the leading retailer Original Marines.
Barbie picked up its first award for Property of The Year, for developing innovative, original and transversal licensing projects, enhancing the value of the brand in its 60th anniversary year.
Barbie’s third award was for Best Adult Licensing Project, for the successful partnership with Milan based confectionery company, Cioccolato Zaini. Judges loved the beauty and quality of this celebratory product in the food category, commenting on the synthesis of craftsmanship, high quality, branding, communication and integrated marketing.
Barbie’s second award was for Best Kids Licensing Project for Girls, for the Barbie by Filippo Laterza for Original Marines. Judges
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Skinnydip London launches new limited-edition collection with world’s #1 fashion doll
Stop everything you’re doing because Skinnydip London has launched their pinkest collection yet with everybody’s favourite doll, Barbie – and boy is it sure to turn some heads. The ‘Not Your Doll’ collection celebrates the evolution of Barbie, with design cues inspired by the brands retro feel, through to the modern diverse brand we know and love.
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If there is one thing that’s clear, it’s that Barbie in 2020 is designed for a girl who can be anything she wants to be. Playing on the brands fun, nostalgic history, the showstopping collection includes the usual Skinnydip suspects like shockproof phone cases, makeup bags, jewellery and so much more with sassy slogans and playful touches.
All new sing-along movie Barbie Princess Adventure aired September 26th on Pop
Following the success of the first full length Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures special which launched on POP in October 2019, Barbie will launch an all new sing-along movie, Barbie Princess Adventure. The new adventure follows Barbie and her friends as they are chosen by their school to travel the country of Floravia to meet Princess Amelia, who, nervous about becoming queen, is looking for an escape and devises plans to trade places with Barbie. When a rival prince finds out what has taken place, Barbie and her friends must team up to stop him and rescue the princess in time for her coronation. This exciting musical celebration shows the best thing you can be is yourself! The movie premiered on POP on Saturday 26th September at 11am. Kids can sing-along to the songs in the movie anytime they want with The Barbie Princess Adventure album available to listen to now on Spotify. 14
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Barbie Princess Adventure is a keyway for kids to connect with the character of Barbie, her friends and family through real-life adventure and relatable stories. The movie is filled with sing-along songs we know kids will love and we have a great complimentary toy line as well.
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Kelly Philp, Marketing Director, Mattel UK.
Barbie partners with award-winning skincare brand GlamGlow
Having recently collaborated with MAC to create a lipstick, Barbie’s latest beauty collaboration with GlamGlow, the award-winning skincare brand to release a limited-edition collection. The new collection has been developed to celebrates self-confidence through selfcare health, helping to deliver “Your dream glow”. The collection features Barbie themed spin on popular lines in the GlamGlow range, including the Supermud: Charcoal Clearing Treatment Mask, and the Glowstarter Mega Illuminating Moisturiser. 16
The Supermud is the ultimate supertasker for those with blemish-prone skin and helps instantly address common skin problems including clogged pores, excess oiliness, skin imperfections and dull skin tone. GlamGlow’s Glowstarter Mega Illuminating Moisturiser, floods skin with lasting hydration while universally flattering Illuminating Pearls instantly blur, reflect and enhance the look of bare skin or makeup for an instant Hollywood glow.
Barbie x Zara
Barbie teamed up with Zara earlier this year to launch a worldwide adult collection. The collection marks Barbie and high street apparel company Zara continued collaboration. The stylish fashion collection is part of Zara’s TRF range which is targeted towards their younger customers. The collection includes Barbie t-shirts, featuring a Barbie print plus a Barbie pink bodysuit with a round neckline featuring an iconic Barbie car print.
Exciting new partnership with Very Group for Barbie Kids collection Barbie is partnering with the Very Group to create an exciting new DTR Barbie Kids collection. Available later this year the range will include daywear, nightwear and accessories and will feature the exciting new photographic creative direction. Freya Brown, Senior Buyer, Character Licence Kids and Adult at Very Group explained: “We are really excited to be partnering with Mattel on this collection, working directly with the Mattel design team on initial concepts and designs to tailor-make the range for our customer has really paid off. We hope our customer will be as excited about it as we are.”
Barbie celebrates another iconic year with Vogue partnership Barbie invented the fashion doll category and is still the #1 fashion doll in the world, inspiring and inspired by fashion and creative communities. This year marks a rollout of milestone partnerships and accolades that celebrate the dolls enduring relationship with the fashion industry. Further cementing her place in fashion, Barbie is collaborating with Vogue for the second year in the prestigious September edition of British Vogue. The partnership sees an all-female team of incredible creatives re-imagine life in a contemporary Barbie Dreamhouse, spotlighting a diverse line up of Barbie Fashionista dolls, as a host of talent created iconic new looks for Barbie and her Dreamhouse across a stunning eight-page spread and accompanying video.
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Biedronka stores launched an exciting summer collection of Barbie apparel The Biedronka chain, in collaboration with Mattel, created a unique Barbie x Biedronka collection. It was the first time that such an extensive collection had been introduced and featured casual, original clothing and accessories to highlight the iconic Barbie doll photography and logo. “You can be anything, you can experiment with your style, but it’s important you remain true to yourself” – this was the message that accompanied the summer launch. Introducing this special collection into its stores, the retailer encouraged teens and young women to create their own style, to play with fashion and to express their own individuality. “The collection is very important for us, our stores in the whole country will be selling this unique collection of apparel and accessories featuring the Barbie brand. As Poland’s biggest retail chain, we work with brands, that represent and promote values that we identify with, such as courage, diversity and individuality.” – says Kinga Papiernik, Category Director at Biedronka.
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The items, available in the summer collection Barbie x Biedronka featured T-shirts, legging or shorts, swimsuits, pyjamas and underwear, plus beach blankets and bedding sets, as well as small and large planners, ideal for holiday trips. “Biedronka, being Poland’s biggest retailer, is constantly trying to enrich it’s product offer. This year we have, for the first time, started such broad cooperation with Mattel, and as a result we have introduced into our shops the Barbie x Biedronka collection. Thanks to the cooperation with respected brands we are constantly enlarging our product assortment, trying also to ensure that it hits the taste of a wide consumer group.” – says Olga Limanowska, Biedronka buyer responsible for the Barbie collection. The launch of the collection was supported with an extensive marketing campaign across key social media platforms and featured a dedicated 45” video. It included working with key influencers, who challenged their fans to express their individual style and experiment with fashion together with Barbie.
Revs up History of Hot Wheels
Global powerhouse
Hot Wheels started as a “challenge” over 50 years ago when an inventor, a car designer and a rocket scientist dared to create a toy car that would roll and look better than anything on the highway – and Hot Wheels, the first ever trackable toy car was born! Mattel founder Elliot Handler was so impressed by the cars performance and design that when he saw the first Hot Wheels car rolling along the floor he said, “those are some hot wheels!” The creators shared a belief in the power of design, innovation and play. This belief and their relentless pursuit to defy category conventions inspired them to create a cool and exciting new way for kids to experience the thrill of custom hot rod culture and vehicle play.
More than just a toy, the brand has evolved into a franchise and multi-channel play experience with segments in gaming, digital, automobile parts to licenced apparel, merchandise and live events. An epic 30 million active users play a Hot Wheels game each month, through gaming giants Forza and Rocket League. Consumers can experience the thrill of Hot Wheels in Brazil at the world’s first Hot Wheels theme park, whilst Hot Wheels YouTube content has been seen over half a billion views in 2018. Licensing partners include Puma, H&M, Pull & Bear, Mondo, Bladez, Period Correct Motorsports, Pilot, Momo. Hot Wheels cars has partnered with every world class auto manufacturer and created licenced designs with the world’s top entertainment franchises.
Power of toy
What now?
Hot Wheels diecast car is the #1 selling toy in the world, having sold 7 billion cars since 1968, with 10 million cars made per week – and 10 Hot Wheels cars are sold every second! 2019 was the brands biggest year of toy sales ever, with fans that span kids right up to adults! For over three generations, Hot Wheels has provided exhilarating vehicle play that challenges kids to develop new skills, while having fun with the most outrageous and innovative cars and track systems.
For over three generations, Hot Wheels has provided exhilarating vehicle play that challenges kids to develop new skills, while having fun with the most outrageous and innovative cars and track systems. Hot Wheels ethos ‘Challenge Accepted’ ignites and nurtures the challenger spirit that lives within every kid.
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The product line continues to evolve, as 2019 saw Hot Wheels launched a new segment, Monster Trucks, which exploded in popularity and launched a UK live tour in spring 2020. An evergreen brand, even at the top of its game Hot Wheels continues to evolve and offer something new. Remember, it’s not the same without the flame!
Hot Wheels partners with football YouTube sensation F2 freestylers Hot Wheels have once again teamed up with YouTube superstars F2 Freestylers who have the biggest football YouTube platform in the world, creating more epic head to head challenges that merge the worlds of football freestyling and fast cars. Following the successful partnership last year, the jaw-dropping content has been taken up a notch, with three epic challenges that dial up the excitement and challenger spirit in both Hot Wheels and football. The F2 built the ultimate Hot Wheels Rube Goldberg Machine, showing a Hot Wheel diecast travel through multiple obstacles before finishing in a mini goal! The second challenge sees Billy take on the challenge ‘Man Vs Hot Wheels diecast’ in a 50m race to see which is the fastest, with Jezza demonstrates his incredible football skills whilst going head to head with a Hot Wheels diecast on a 50m obstacle course race.
The F2 have taken the world by storm over the past 6 years, building a global following of over 12 million YouTube subscribers with over 1.5 billion views – the largest football channel on YouTube. Their epic videos showcase their amazing football skills, viral tricks, and creative genius. Kelly Philp, UK Marketing Lead, Mattel commented: “As the #1 toy in the world, Hot Wheels is so much more than just a car – it’s a lifestyle! Our partnership with the F2 merges the worlds of football and Hot Wheels, putting Hot Wheels directly where boys are – viewing amazing content online. The partnership continues to challenge kids to ignite their challenger spirit, unleashing their creativity, expands their imagination and challenges them to look for new ways to approach obstacles and solve problems.” Billy Wingrove, The F2, “Hot Wheels is an incredible brand and their ethos ‘Challenge Accepted’ is something we live by, so continuing that message through our partnership and bringing the two worlds together to help kids take on challenges with everything they do is really exciting.” Jeremy Lynch, The F2, adds: “This year we have gone bigger, better and more epic, and we are excited to see some of our audience create their own F2 X Hot Wheels challenges”
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Bladez Toyz powers up its Maker Kitz range with four new kits based on Hot Wheels awesome Monster Trucks Just pop-out the plastic panels and assemble the snap-fit parts. Add two pull-back motors & giant wheels with rubber tyres and you’re set to take on the toughest terrain. They even come with a double sided cardboard stunt ramp with space to line up 1:64 Hot Wheels cars for super stunts & car crushin’ action! Talking of 1:64, the Hot Wheels Cars YOU build are back! Mini Maker Kitz bring the Make It / Race It play pattern in collectable format with 20 awesome designs to collect and trade. Check the stats, pop out the parts, add a super-fast pull-back motor & you’re ready to race! There are also rare super-shiny metallic gold cars to find and at classic 1:64 scale they even work on Hot Wheels track so you can create the ultimate stunt! Delivering a robust playable car with collectable appeal plus TV campaign launching in Q4, Mini Maker Kitz tick all the boxes for a pocket money purchase.
All new in Q1 2021 Bladez introduces Barbie activity kits to the growing Maker Kitz range. Delivering the same rewarding ‘make’ process whilst combining elements of arts & crafts with Barbie’s unique style, Bladez Toyz is switching up creative play with kits that are no mess, easy to make and on-trend.
Mattel and Mondo reinforce their partnership Mattel and Mondo are delighted to be reinforcing their partnership this year with an expanded product range on both Hot Wheels and Barbie. MondoMotors are launching an exciting R/C Hot Wheels Monster Truck range led by the best selling 11’’ Monster Truck Bone Shaker which will be supported with TV advertising. The R/C is an exciting new extension to their wider Hot Wheels range. The range will continue to be developed with new launches coming in Spring 2021 which will include R/C Hot Wheels Monster Truck items in smaller scale and lower price points. otors also continues to evolve its current Hot Wheels R/C range with the development of lights and sound vehicles in both the motorized and pull-back ranges which offer a great variety and price points. Continuing the Barbie Dream Car success in 2019 and 2020, there will be exciting new launches to the R/C range with new vehicles available for AW2021 along with exciting new developments, that will expand the Barbie vehicles range in new and exciting directions.
90 years of playfulness For 90 years, Fisher-Price has been supporting new and existing parents as they embark on their most important journey, parenthood. With innovative product launches across the BabyGear, Newborn and Infant segments, Fisher-Price provides the tools for parents and children at every age and stage. With fun at its heart, Fisher-Price understands that playtime is essential for learning and development, with each funfilled milestone a steppingstone to new discoveries and new skills as children begin to explore the world around them. Fisher-Price recently launched, “Let’s Be Kids” a multi-year, 360-degree campaign coming to life across TV, digital and retail. The campaign launched with a 60-second brand anthem video featuring John Goodman and a treasure trove of nostalgic toys, welcoming adults back into the world of play. Additional creatives also focus on specific products and portray the magic of what a child is seeing and feeling while they’re engaged with a toy.
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The campaign is Fisher-Price’s invitation to grown-ups to look at the world with openness, optimism, humour and enthusiasm – the way kids do. As a category leader, Fisher-Price wanted to remind everyone that toys are a universal language that allows adults and children to just have fun. For almost nine decades, Fisher-Price’s job has been to give a voice to the unique culture of childhood. Now, the iconic brand is inviting parents back into that forgotten world. Fisher-Price is the #1 brand in the world with over $1 billion sales annually. Sold in over 150 countries with over 99% brand awareness and over 7 million fans on social platforms the Fisher-Price brand continues to see incredible performance YTD in the UK market as well, with double-digit POS growth, overperforming in a very challenged category.
Exciting new additions for Fisher-Price electronic toys with Jazwares Jazwares is the UK distributor for the exciting new Fisher-Price range of electronic pre-school toys from Eldohm. The range includes crocodile xylophone, shaking maracas and mini pianos. The crocodile xylophone has different sound effects and songs plus 6 colourful light up bars that can be tapped with the mallet to create sound effects. Children can create a variety of melodies and beats with the mini pianos and the shaking maracas have crazy sound effects when rattled, offering endless musical fun.
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“We believe in the Fisher-Price vision that play is the way children learn best” Bianca van den Bosch Founder and Marketing Director of Eldohm comments. “Understanding the importance of play in building a child’s skills is the fundamental principle and with Eldohm’s addition of role play and musical toys to the Fisher-Price range we hope to enrich the lives of families with young children.” Exciting new developments to the range including role play and expansion to the musical toy collection that will be announced in spring, with the range being available in the autumn at Tesco, Asda, Argos, Very and Amazon.
Celebrating an icon: 75 years of friendship For 75 years, Thomas & Friends has introduced children to the bigger world around them through the wonder and awe of trains, providing a trusted friend for adventure and discovery. A purposeful brand with friendship and teamwork at its heart, since 1945 the famous little blue engine has made hundreds of new friends, embarked on global adventures and visited new countries.
in the UK on Channel 5 Milkshake in May and in the US on Netflix, before it was then aired in over 180 countries throughout this year. The special includes an on-screen introduction by Harry, The Duke of Sussex, which generated a huge buzz around the new series and Thomas’ 75th anniversary.
Over the past 3 years the brand has struggled to remain relevant with pre-schoolers and millennial parents ahead of the competition. After extensive market research, the brand and content saw a ground-breaking refresh in 2018 to encourage children to discover the world around them. Introducing new locations, characters, a gender balanced Steam Team with a 4:3 boy to girl ratio from the previously 6:1, new theme tune and humour through the format and narrator. At the beginning of the year, we celebrated the magic of storytelling with “Reading with Friends”, working with Peter Andre, Spencer Matthews and Harry Judd. Each dad read aloud a story from the very first book to the current day stories to celebrate Thomas’ journey so far all published by Egmont. Each of them was captured on camera and the videos of the celebrities are hosted on the official Thomas & Friends UK YouTube channel.
This Thomas & Friends animated special, features Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales as a child, as part of its 75th anniversary celebrations this year. The Royal Engine will see Thomas the Tank Engine travel to London for the first time and introduced a new character, The Duchess, who is voiced by actress Rosamund Pike.
In April, we announced a new 22’ special, Thomas & Friends: The Royal Engine, the special was screened
In October, Marvellous Machinery debuts with two 22’ specials introducing an exciting inventions theme.
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Power of publishing As a well-loved British brand with strong heritage, the timeless life lessons of teamwork and friendship have continued to remain at the heart of Thomas & Friends since 1945. Originated by “The Railway Series” stories, created by the Reverend W. Awdry, Thomas was inspired by the puffing of nearby steam engines at Box Railway Station in Wiltshire. The stories of conversations between these engines were imagined up to entertain his son Christopher when he was sick with the measles. His companion illustrations included pictures of the engines with little faces on them to bring the characters to life. Each engine was given a distinctive look - one smiling, one stern, one cross, one sad. In 1950, the location of Sodor was decided as the home of the stories, lying between the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and Barrow-in-Furness on the British Mainland. More books followed at yearly intervals, and after writing and publishing 26 ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ books, Reverend. W. Awdry retired with ‘Tramway Engines’.
Soon after, Christopher continued in his father’s tracks and began creating railway stories for his own young son, Richard, publishing his first book ‘Really Useful Engines’ in 1983. Today, the Steam Team continue to excite today’s little engineers and railway enthusiasts with new stories published by Egmont. Since the first book was published 75 years ago, countless books have been released to continue to tell the adventures of everyone’s favourite #1 blue engine, with over 2 million sold annually across the world. The power of storytelling and imagination remains key to the Thomas & Friends brand; from the pages of a storybook to its live action UK TV debut on ITV in 1984, the adventures of Thomas have inspired and excited generations of children. In 2010, the traditional stop motion content saw a relaunch to CGI, taking Thomas on new adventures, before a further refresh in 2018 with the Big World! Big Adventures! series.
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Over 45 great licensing partnerships Thomas & Friends has grown into one of the world’s top preschool brands by continuously evolving creative content and delivering innovative products and experiences for consumers around the globe. There are now over 45 Thomas & Friends licencees working closely with Mattel to ensure that Thomas & Friends remains relevant to today’s children, yet still protecting Thomas’ heritage and timeless values. 32
Today, Thomas is a unique UK preschool entertainment property that provides licensing and retail partners annual programmes, tied to content tentpoles, to keep programmes fresh and relevant. Thomas is continuously introducing new characters, destinations and storylines allowing for a full breadth of new and innovative products and promotions across hard and soft lines, and retail partners.
Network Rail: stay safe with Thomas and celebrity Joe Swash This year Thomas & Friends has partnered again with Network Rail to support the Stay Safe with Thomas book helping to give parents the tools to educate their children about how to keep safe when travelling on the railway. In the story, a mischievous Thomas learns that being safe is more important than being silly and learns valuable lessons on the dangers of misusing the railway. As part of the campaign, Dancing on Ice Champion and Celebrity Gogglebox star, Joe Swash, who is featured in a short film reading the Stay Safe with Thomas story, which parents may find an engaging way of approaching the subject with their children.
New Thomas Signature style with Harrods The world’s most famous department store, Harrods, has created a Signature Thomas & Friends range, “Thomas & Friends 75”, covering homeware, stationery, plush toys, kids clothing and more. Harrods will be celebrating the anniversary in store along with a special window takeover at Christmas.
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Mark Hunt Marketing Manager, Character Options Your Fireman Sam range is on fire at the moment (pardon the pun!), what do you put that down to? Fireman Sam has made a tremendous start to the year, helped by a combination of increased retail distribution and a raft of new content. The strongest performance has come from Figures, Vehicles and Role Play. Recent toy sales data has shown how well the brand is performing, with with Unit and Value sales up 45% and 64%, respectively YTD (August). As sales have risen, our distribution channels have grown. In addition, a new YouTube animated series from Mattel launched in SS20 and with Fireman Sam maintaining a strong presence across multiple channels such as Cartoonito, Netflix and Amazon Prime, content has enjoyed high visibility during lockdown. This encouraging start to the year is set to continue, as a brand-new series and 60-minute special will be launching in October 2020. A wealth of content, coupled with a strong product line-up, has ensured that Fireman Sam continues to appeal to existing fans, as well as new set of pre-school children. What is it about the Fireman Sam episodes that makes them such an iconic, enduring programme with consumers? The team in Fireman Sam are certainly icons, bringing real life action, rescue, bravery, safety and community storylines to pre-schoolers for over 30 years. The property is also one of our longest developed brands and has continued to evolve; with products that stay true to our core play pattern which are focused on the much-loved characters, vehicles and iconic show locations. At retail, Fireman Sam has also continued to go from strength to strength in a hugely competitive market.
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How have you extended your range this year and what has the reaction been to the new introductions? We have introduced a new style guide across the product range to rejuvenate the look and feel of the brand. We have just launched our band new Fire Rescue Centre, a feature-packed playset with carry handle and working zip wire. We have put extensive marketing support behind this playset, including dedicated TV, a stop-motion animation, consumer print ads and social media activity - we have made sure that this line will have great exposure during the peak selling period. Sales are very encouraging and consumer feedback is awesome – and it’s great to have a hero TV line back in the range. What plans do you have to expand the line for 2021? We will continue to keep the core line fresh with the introduction of new characters within the figure range, as well as launching new vehicles. We will also be developing a new role play outfit, which is bound to prove popular, judging on past success in this area. The big news for spring is that Character will be launching a new category of Wooden Fireman Sam Toys. The new Fireman Sam’s World of Wooden Toys will be made with excellent quality, durable and FSC sustainable wood, with eye catching and colourful designs. Creating an earlier entry level into the category, the whole collection is crafted for younger Fireman Sam fans, while staying true to the classic Fireman Sam styling. Packed with features, the well-known rescue vehicles, an HQ and all the main characters are included in a range which aims to stimulate a child’s imagination during play. We received excellent feedback when we previewed the range over the summer, and we are excited to see it come to market.
Fireman Sam is on fire! Fireman Sam, a true evergreen in the preschool category, is seeing phenomenal year to date growth. With Unit and Value sales up 45% and 64%, respectively, in a category that is seeing 8% YTD unit decline, the core values of Fireman Sam still resonate with our new audiences all over the country. The strongest performance has come from Role Play and Figures & Playsets. These items have stayed true to the core play pattern and focused on the much-loved characters, vehicles and iconic show locations. The brand continues to go from strength to strength in a hugely competitive market.
We are continuing to invest in extensive marketing support for Q4 this year including child and parent focused digital advertising to raise awareness of the new series launch, a BRAND NEW TV commercial showcasing the New Fire Station Rescue Centre for AW20, as well as consumer print ads and social media activity. The brand has been a staple of British television for over 30 years and brings real life action, rescue, bravery, safety and community storylines to life through the Pontypandy Fire Fighting Team. With the launch of Season 12 and Special on Caroonito in October this year, the storylines showcase our core values of community, teamwork, diversity, bravery and fun. We will meet some brand new emergency services team members as well as engaging, humourous and action packed storylines.
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The core marketing objectives for the brand are to drive awareness and love with preschool children and build relevancy with the parents. This achieved by communicating the brand USPs of safety, action and rescue delivered in a fun and engaging way. In October 2019 we partnered with the Children’s Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) to raise awareness of safety with preschool children around Halloween and Bonfire Night. The campaign championed ‘Be a Safety Hero’ and was amplified through PR and social channels. A fun and engaging workbook with a series of activities and challenges was created for preschool children to complete to become a Safety Hero with Fireman Sam. Working in partnership with Billie Faiers as the ambassador for the campaign, an influencer campaign encouraged parents to help their little cadets become Safety Heroes. Social media paid activity on the run up to Halloween raised awareness of the campaign along with press outreach support. Through our social media conversion campaigns supporting key retailer promotions we saw an additional uplift of 54% compared to same period the previous year. Our YouTube channel is seeing phenomenal growth with 1.85M subscribers and UK views are already 25% AHEAD of 2019 year to date views. In 2020 we have been supporting the brand with an always on paid media campaign to drive channel viewership, with a projected additional 1M views of Fireman Sam content. In March this year brand new content was launched on the channel. The toy play videos feature our UK master toy licencee, Character Option’s toy range. In their first two weeks of their launch, the videos already had 150K organic views and with paid media support behind these, more people will be seeing Fireman Sam than ever before. *Source: NPD UK Value + Unit Sales YTD 2020
New content continues to excite Fireman Sam fans Fireman Sam, a true preschool evergreen, is standing the test of time with more relevance than ever before. The brand-new Season 12 broadcast series and 60-minute special will air on Cartoonito in October and November, respectively, this year. The core values of the show, team + community, safety, education, action, diversity + fun, are rooted in the new series. We will see the Pontypandy firefighting team in action along with support from two brand new police characters; PC Malcolm Williams and Sergeant Rose Ravani. Working together, they show the true meaning of teamwork and
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community delivered in a fun, modern and engaging way to our preschool audience. The 60-minute special sees two unscrupulous scientists come to Pontypandy but we learn that you don’t need elaborate rescues to be an every day Hero. More UK children are watching Fireman Sam than ever before, YouTube UK views are already at 38M, up 23%. With new YouTube content and media campaign planned for later this year the brand continues to go from strength to strength.
Uno the #1 card game in the world! The #1 card game in the world, Uno is the classic card game that’s easy to pick up and impossible to put down! Race to get rid of all your cards by taking turns matching cards by colour or number. Play special action cards for game-changing twists – and don’t forget to yell “Uno” when you are down to one card! Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2021, Uno was invented by an Ohio barber as a parlour game and has become a universally loved game with friendly competition and adaptable gameplay. In recent years it has become part of pop culture with fans from Premier League football players to celebrities.
Uno is for everyone with 99% brand awareness and played by all ages, it is sold in 80+ countries in 20 + languages. It’s the #1 card game and is one of the Top 10 best-selling toys overall with 10 MM + decks sold per year. It also has a huge social media following with 10.5 MM+ followers on Facebook and 92K+ on Instagram, while the Uno app has over 750K daily active users. Uno has continued its partnership with Games for Motion on their chocolate Uno, and partners with Cartamundi for Personalised My Uno. Uno also generated a lot of organic social media coverage with footballers. Jesse Lingard, Ashley Cole are all fans of the game. We reacted to organic posts by sending Jesse Lingard his own personalised deck of Uno which created amazing organic reach on his Instagram account. Tottenham Hotspurs, also play a lot of Uno and created an Uno League, broadcasting the final on their screen in the ground.
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Uno launches #unowhoyouare celebrating every type of player! This year, the world’s #1 card game Uno launched an innovative new digital campaign that celebrates all the different types of player, highlighting four different fun Uno player personalities! #unowhoyouare has identified four types of players; Victory Dancers, Dodgy Dealers, Sore Losers, and Make Your Own Rules, creating content to show all of the different gameplay reactions. The campaign was an ambitious social-first piece, using millennial and Gen Z influencers, and real people across Tik Tok and Instagram to celebrate this much-loved game. The campaign ran across Tik Tok, harnessing the power of the platforms popularity that has skyrocketed in 2020. #unowhoyouare is a tribute to the genuine reactions, crazy rules and fun forfeits that make Uno so much fun to play and customise! The campaign tapped into the rise of games popularity in lockdown, as a way to bring people together. The campaign launched with a hero video and digital plan featuring real people and influencers who have filmed reaction shots for a ‘Kids Know Best’ created campaign video, featuring Tik Tok talents OTB, Fleur, Kyran and Lily Rose. The campaign also includes bespoke content from social media comedian Arron Crascall who has 8 million followers across Instagram and Tik Tok. Lockdown has seen a renewed interest in gameplay, rivalling Christmas – traditionally the categories strongest time of year. Uno is enjoying a phenomenal 2020, with POS up 116% and is #5 property in the games supercategory YTD*. *NPD August 2020.
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The all-star cast of Masters of the Universe: Revelation Netflix and Mattel Television announced the all-star cast of the upcoming Netflix anime series, Masters of the Universe: Revelation, a series based on He-Man, Skeletor, Teela and the other classic characters of the Masters of the Universe franchise. The series is being produced by Mattel Television with Adam Bonnett (Descendants), Christopher Keenan (Justice League, Batman Beyond) and Rob David (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) as executive producers. Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy) will serve as showrunner and executive producer. In addition, Susan Corbin (Voltron) will produce.
THE CAST INCLUDES: • Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Batman: The Animated Series) as Skeletor •
Lena Headey
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Chris Wood
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(Supergirl, The Vampire Diaries) as Prince Adam / He-Man •
Sarah Michelle Gellar
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Liam Cunningham Stephen Root
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Henry Rollins
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Susan Eisenberg Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, Batman & Robin) as Queen Marlena
Diedrich Bader (Office Space, Napoleon Dynamite) as King Randor / Trap Jaw
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(Wonder Woman, Justice League) as Sorceress
(Office Space, Barry) as Cringer •
(Behind Enemy Lines, Supernatural) as Andra
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Justin Long (Galaxy Quest, Live Free or Die Hard) as Roboto
Masters of the Universe: Revelation will focus on the unresolved storylines of the iconic characters, picking up where they left off decades ago. Marc Bernardin (Castle Rock, Alphas), Eric Carrasco (Supergirl), Diya Mishra (Magic the Gathering) and Tim Sheridan (Reign of the Supermen) are writers on the series. Animation for the series is being done by Powerhouse Animation (Castlevania). “Masters of the Universe: Revelation is for the fans. Kevin Smith, as well as the rest of the all-star cast, share our love and passion for the iconic franchise and the deeper meaning of the property. At its core, Masters of the Universe is all about wanting the power to be the best version of yourself, and the series will bring this message to life in an entirely new way.” – Rob David, Executive Producer, Masters of the Universe: Revelation 42
Phil LaMarr (Mad TV, Justice League) as He-Ro
Tony Todd (Candyman, Star Trek: The Next Generation) as Scare Glow
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(original Skeletor) (Westworld, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe) as Moss Man
(Game of Thrones, Clash of the Titans) as Man At Arms •
Tiffany Smith
Alan Oppenheimer
Jason Mewes (Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) as Stinkor
(Johnny Mnemonic, Lost Highway) as Tri Klops
(Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cruel Intentions) as Teela •
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(The Tick, Vinyl) as Orko
(Game of Thrones, 300) as Evil Lyn •
Griffin Newman
Cree Summer (DC Super Hero Girls, Vampirina) as Priestess
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Kevin Michael Richardson (The Batman, ThunderCats) as Beast Man
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Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series, Crisis on Infinite Earths) as Mer-Man
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Harley Quinn Smith (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot) as Ileena
“I cannot believe the line-up of talent I get to play with! The incredible, star-studded cast that Mattel’s Rob David and Netflix’s Ted Biaselli assembled for our Masters of the Universe series will let any lifelong HeMan fan know we’re treating this cartoon seriously and honouring the legendary world of Eternia with A-list talent! Chris, Sarah, Mark, Lena and the other amazing actors and actresses have given performances so powerful and real in a show that features a talking giant green tiger! With these fantastic performers behind our characters, it’ll be crazy easy to immerse yourself in the swords and sorcery of our epic sci-fi soap opera!” – Kevin Smith Mattel’s reboot of the classic Masters of the Universe franchise also includes a comic book series by DC Comics (available now), re-imagined versions of the 80’s toys, a CG-animated series with Netflix (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe).
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