Company Profile - Libertas

A little bit naughty… or so ugly they’re cute

In September, it was announced that licensing stalwart Mark Kingston had joined the newly formed Libertas Brands as CEO. The agency, co-founded by Stuart Grant, owns the exclusive rights to the Fuggler brand, and Mark’s sights are now firmly set on growing and expanding the Fuggler IP across a raft of new categories. Toy World publisher John Baulch and editor Rachael Simpson-Jones sat down with Mark and Stuart at BLE 2023 to find out more about the Fuggler brand and Libertas Brands’ longterm franchise & licensing plans for it.

Ordinarily, it would be a little disconcerting to interview someone in front of a host of unexpected guests, all grinning up at you, unblinking and immobile – but less so when those guests are Fugglers, which Mark has revealed to us, one by one, with pride.

As plush ranges go, Fuggler is far from traditional. Each character sports a mouthful of unnervingly human teeth, bared in a permanently frozen smile/grimace, eyes that swing wildly between suspiciously squinted and wide open, and fur in a dazzling array of textures and colours. And of course, each has a ‘BUTT-on’ hole, exactly, er, where you’d expect it to be. The BUTT-on hole feature links to the rarity of each Fuggler and is kept secret thanks to the recycled and recyclable cardboard box, until the Fuggler fan gets home and opens it.

There are currently 24 types of core Fuggler characters – such as Oogah Boogah, Screech, Munch Munch and Count Underoo McGoo - and within each of those, there can be up to 10 different variations as part of different themes. Once the 10th variation is released, the core character is retired. Fresh new character types will launch in 2024, and moving forward, the aim is for four different themed series to drop every year. For example, the Budgie Fuggler range comprises Fugglers wearing (you guessed it) very tight-fitting undergarments, and the Fart Face Fugglers range features motion activated fart sounds. “Fuggler humour is supposed to be a little bit naughty and mischievous, but it very much toes the family-friendly line too,” explains Mark. (It needs to: Fuggler is officially sub-licensed globally to Addo Play, which is owned by The Entertainer Group.) “The key will always be to have a minimum of four series a year, on top of which we will layer carefully selected licensing collaborations that align with the fan demographic and their interests. Take the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fugglers that launched in July this year. That collab saw four core characters disguise themselves as TMNT characters and fans absolutely loved it. Off the back of this success, we’ve got six more collaborations currently tied in for 2024/early 2025 across various major entertainment IPs.”

Till now, Fuggler has been purely a physical toy range, but Libertas Brands is going to change all that, turning it into a powerhouse property by leveraging its decidedly different qualities and loyal fanbase. Kicking things off will be original shortform content: it’s quicker to produce, spotlights the Fuggler demographic and lends itself well to platforms where fans are already engaged with the franchise, including TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. (Fans of Fuggler have been creating their own content for social media too, with the #Fuggler on TikTok now receiving over 46m views: in just the last few weeks, both Paddy McGuiness and Leigh Francis have posted about Fugglers to their millions of fans on their Instagram pages.) After that, expect to see deals announced in Hardlines, Softlines, Gaming and more, all based on the Fuggler world and its lovably weird and quirky inhabitants.

“We’ve seen trends like this come and go, so we’re being very careful with our timings and selective on categories to ensure Fuggler collaborations land at key times,” explains Mark. “We see potential within the fashion space, in particular: it’s core to the brand and lends itself naturally to the target demographic. Stationery and Homewares too, before we expand out into FMCG, Health & Beauty and beyond. Due to its Kidult appeal, our approach to publishing will be predominantly through Fuggler comics and graphic novels.”

Indeed, Fuggler lies firmly within the kidult and collector segments, with grown up fans taking to social media to share videos of them unboxing their latest character and hopefully, exposing its rare BUTT-on hole. Kidults are also fuelling a healthy secondary sale market, with some of the rarer characters going on eBay for hundreds of pounds – a first-gen Oogah Boogah reportedly ended up selling for £800 recently on eBay. And regardless of their BUTT-on hole or the texture and colour of their fur, almost every Fuggler is a little bit unique. Tie dye, stripey or ombre fur might mean a different colour across the eyes, and that, though unintentional, is driving rarity and collectability in a big way.

“Once our fans get the bug – or should that be the Fugg –they can’t help but want to get them all,” says Stuart. “It’s interesting to see the Marmite effect Fugglers inspire in people. They’re kind of cute, kind of scary, people sometimes don’t know exactly what to make of them. But those that love them really, really love them, in all their funny, ugly, toothy glory. We’re excited to bring that love to life through new partnerships as we head into 2024.”