Company Profile - Hornby

Hornby - creating a new generation of hobbyists

In September, Hornby Hobbies published the results of a new study that sheds light on just how crucial hobbies are to the mental health and wellbeing of Brits. With hobbyists being treated to a raft of new products year-round, Rachael Simpson Jones caught up with group Sales director Shaun Dubberley to find out how else Hornby Hobbies is supporting its consumers and retail partners alike.

To those of us who enjoy hobbies, data showing their power to positively impact wellbeing and mental health probably won’t be surprising. What might be surprising, however, is the fact 61% of Brits engage in hobbies specifically to boost their mental health. That’s according to a recent study commissioned by Hornby Hobbies – the company behind Airfix, Corgi, Scalextric, Pocher, Hornby trains and more – which also revealed that as many as one in four are Brits interested in indulging in some model making in the coming year.

The latest study isn’t the first time the company has set out to join the dots between hobbies and mental health. In 2021, its live YouTube Mind the Gap event showed viewers how modelling and hobbies can help those struggling with their mental health, while collectors of the high-end Pocher brand can invest in the ‘Pocher Pitstop’; a 6-day holiday/retreat in France, a stone’s throw from the Le Mans circuit, where they can build a Porsche 917 – Gulf Edition 1:8 scale model of the iconic 70s race car.

For Shaun Dubberley, who joined the company in August 2023, working with Hornby’s brands is both exciting and something of a responsibility. While his career has seen him sell everything from Barbies (during his time with Mattel) to Sharpies (not during his time with Mattel), he’s always been a fan of the company’s heritage; as a child he had his own train set, and nowadays he races remote control cars against his son.

Shaun highlights that during the pandemic, Hornby Hobbies saw first-hand how consumers were benefitting from its brands in the home, adding that the ‘Return of the Hobby’ study has emphasised Hornby Hobbies’ position as a leading voice within the mental health and wellbeing sector. Its current mantra – ‘Creating a new generation of Hobbyists’ – not only seeks to welcome consumers into the Hornby Hobbies fold at a much younger age, but also factors in how important it is that today’s kids have screenfree downtime and enjoyable hobbies. Sitting down of an afternoon as a family to build an Airfix model or create a new railway scene can benefit all generations, Shaun says.

“Our job as a sales team is to inject this messaging into all our sales materials, as well as work with retailers on how they can tap into the results of the study and share that data with their customers,” he adds.

Interestingly, Shaun is also keen to work with the Government to see how Hornby can support children’s mental health within schools and in after-school clubs and activity groups, having what he calls a ‘snowball effect’ on the next generation. After all, if kids can be introduced to hobbies such as model making at a young age, they’re more likely to carry that love with them throughout adulthood – and pass it onto their own kids. Although such collaborations are still in the idea phase, possibilities include Hornby providing schools with model kits for kids to enjoy and partnerships with children’s mental health advocates. In fact, since last year Airfix has partnered with Cubs, part of the Scout Association, on a new Cubs Hobbies Activity Badge that offers promotes teamwork, fine motor skills and a love of hands-on learning.

“Schoolchildren and young people involved in clubs and groups are a wonderful captive audience for hobby products,” enthuses Shaun. “If you can seed them early enough, you could help prevent mental health challenges from arising by directing their attentions onto therapeutic hobbies such as painting and building models. Our latest research has really galvanised us to set off down the path to creating meaningful, curriculumadjacent programmes that deliver tangible benefits for participating kids. Rome wasn’t built in a day and working with governments takes time and effort. But even if it doesn’t come off nationally at first, we can look at working with the devolved governments in Scotland or Wales, for example, or even on a county level. It’s a big challenge, but we’re laying the foundations now.”

While Shaun was (and is) obviously passionate about the myriad ways Hornby can improve the mental health of the next generation, coming into the company he could also see there was work to do behind the scenes.

“When I joined Hornby 18 months ago, there was a lack of awareness of our brands and our footprint wasn’t quite where it should have been in the retail environment,” he explains. “Some relationships had broken down, for various reasons, and needed to be rekindled. People buy into people, so on this front it’s been a case of getting out there, listening to the gripes and challenges our partners have been facing, and working with them to sort them out. Our traditional retail heartland has always been those hobby and model shops we all know and love, but it’s been quite tough out there for the past few years, so our job is to support and uplift our partners in the months and years to come.”

One way the company has set out to do this is via its new Model Shop of the Year awards, a nationwide initiative designed to recognise and celebrate independent model shops. The idea for the award came from Louisa Evans, PhD, Hornby’s head of Customer Loyalty and Retention, who was keen to demonstrate the company’s gratitude to its retail partners. Five finalists, selected based on customer nominations and evaluated by a panel from Hornby, will receive a comprehensive marketing package designed to help promote their shop, including a professional photo and video shoot and social media promotion across all Hornby Hobbies’ channels.

The overall winner, meanwhile, will benefit from a one-on-one meeting with Hornby Hobbies CEO Olly Raeburn, as well as Shaun and a head of Brand of their choice, at a restaurant in London, £2,500 worth of Hornby Hobbies products for their shop, a trophy, a professional photoshoot and press release to further promote their win. At the time of writing, there have been nearly150 unique nominations and over 1000 votes, exceeding the company’s expectations, and Holly Barnett, the company’s head of PR, is running a media campaign to secure additional coverage for the nominees and winners in trade and regional press. Based on the reception to the inaugural awards, Shaun would like this to become an annual event.

Shaun also praises the initiative of its retail partners for the ways in which they engage with the hobbyist community. Recently, for example, Jadlam Toys and Models in Glastonbury held a group build competition. All customers had to do was buy an Airfix Supermarine Spitfire MK.XII 1:48 kit, build and paint it, and share their finished creation to be in with a chance of winning one of five £100 prizes. The contest ended up receiving an impressive number of votes, while also raising awareness of the brand and the joy of model making. There’s much more retailers can do along these lines and Hornby will be right behind them, supporting with judging, prizes, marketing assets and much more.

So far this year, Hornby Hobbies has released a raft of new products, from highly-anticipated Airfix ‘secret’ releases (there are entire threads on online forums dedicated to people’s predictions of what each year’s secret releases could be) to refreshed and re-released sets, the new Playtrains High Speed Train Set for younger train fans, and new die cast released as part of a Corgi partnership with Richard Hammond’s The Smallest Cog. Shaun tells me that while newness is always key in the world of toys, it’s magnified within the hobby sector; collectors and hobbyists will go out and hunt down the latest releases the moment they arrive on-shelf, so the company cannot rest on its laurels.

“We want to go bigger on some SKUs by creating toyetic volume drivers, rather than driving demand through scarcity,” he explains. “2025 is also the 200th anniversary of train travel, which presents us with some great opportunities on Hornby train ranges. If you’re lucky enough to travel by train regularly, you’ll know it’s a fantastic way to travel, especially as a family. Since 1825 the nature of train travel has evolved – it’s certainly a far more efficient mode of transport than it used to be – and our Hornby train and railway product range continues to evolve right along with it.”

Speaking of trains, Hornby Hobbies undertook its first ever tube advertising campaign this year. As they’re so different from one another, each of the company’s brands is managed by a dedicated team and run as an individual business unit, with their own Brand heads, Marketing teams and social media managers too, where applicable (Shaun says that if it didn’t have a presence on social media, the company would risk missing a whole generation of consumers). Licensed ranges, such as much of the Corgi and Scalextric range, lend themselves to slightly bolder, more modern campaigns, while more traditional ranges, such as Airfix and Hornby trains, resonate in the more traditional channels favoured by the brand’s ‘diehard’ fans. That tube campaign, for example, is for Scalextric. The 2-phase campaign saw impactful ads appear at 30 locations throughout the London Underground between 4th-17th November; the second phase kicked off on 25th November and will run until 8th December. The campaign has had an immediate impact on brand awareness, Shaun says, making the company’s investment well worth it.

“We’re also more than happy to look at tailored marketing campaigns for individual retailers, tapping into each of our brand’s strengths, as well as roadshows and experiential activations later down the line,” details Shaun.

“If you carry on doing everything the way it’s always been done, then the reality is you’re always going to stay where you are,” he adds, talking about the company’s recent efforts to engage more with retailers and consumers alike. “This industry is pretty ruthless and we’re up against some very big players, if you focus on the Toy side of things (though we are a leader within the Hobby channel, of course). You always have to reinvent yourself and try new things.”

Coming into 2025, Hornby Hobbies appears to be set up for a good year and Shaun is optimistic for the months ahead. While the market (and the world at large) remains an ever-evolving and unpredictable place, the company is laser focused on building on its existing retail relationships and creating new ones, through hard work and an innate understanding of what retailers, especially hobby retailers, need from their suppliers. If you’ll forgive the pun, you could say Hornby Hobbies is on track for a very strong year.

“All that’s left to say is thank you,” finishes Shaun. “Thank you to our consumers, who continue to spend their money on our products despite facing their own economic challenges this year, and thanks to our retail partners for their loyalty and support thus far. And if you’re not yet a partner, then we look forward to welcoming you on board as we continue on this journey.”