5 minute read
Industry Moves
Stephanie Bailey joins Moonbug as head of Global Toys
It has been announced that senior toy and licensing industry executive Stephanie Bailey has joined Moonbug Entertainment as the head of Global Toys.
Stephanie joins from Paramount, where she served as the head of Global Toys and was responsible for building a global team that maximised commercialisation and fan engagement across Paramount properties including Paw Patrol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and SpongeBob SquarePants.
She started her career at FAO Schwarz, where she played an integral role in the Toys R Us acquisition of FAO Schwarz, and went on to grow her career in Toys R Us merchandising across several categories, ultimately as a divisional business manager for Babies R Us. Stephanie has helped dozens of toy companies successfully launch their products and brands. She also serves on the boards of the Toy Foundation and Women in Toys, Licensing and Entertainment (WiT).
“I am inspired by Moonbug’s mission to create entertaining and educational content for kids,” said Stephanie. “The team at Moonbug is redefining what a collaborative relationship can look like through consumer products and experiences, content production and innovative brand partnerships. I look forward to forming these strategic partnerships with toy companies around the world.”
Kerry Tarrant wows Wow! Stuff
With over 18 years of marketing experience within the consumer goods industry, the very well-respected Kerry Tarrant has become the first head of Marketing and Brands in Wow! Stuff’s history.
“We’ve actually never had a marketing department or a marketing lead,” explained Wow! Stuff’s managing director, Dawn Lavalette. “We’ve always wanted one and with our products gaining really good traction organically, it was time to professionalise that part of our business.”
Kerry’s previous roles include positions held at top UK and global toy companies including Vivid, Flair and more recently IMC Toys. At these companies, she helped bring to market some of the world’s most popular brands and products including Cry Babies, AniMagic and Thunderbirds.
Kerry said she is ‘super excited’ to become a Wow! Stuff-er, not least because her son Aidan is a huge Marvel and Sonic Nano Pods fan.
“Wow – I’ve become a Wow! Stuff-er!” she commented. “During my 15 years in the Toy industry, working with some of the most inspiring leaders and exciting brands, I’ve kept an admiring eye on Wow! Stuff and watched as it has grown to become one of the most innovative and visionary toy companies out there. And now I’m a part of this amazing team! I do feel a bit like it’s my first day at school and the nerves are starting to creep in, but I’m ready for this next adventure.”
“I can’t wait to get my teeth into marketing some of the most awesome products and seeing the reactions of kids – and big kids. I’ve already seen some of what’s to come for 2025 and it’s staggering – I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The Entertainer introduces new leadership structure
The Entertainer (the retail arm of Teal Group Holdings which is also the parent company of Early Learning Centre and Addo Play) has announced a renewed strategic focus on international expansion and a corresponding change of responsibilities amongst its top team.
The Group, as a whole, is in a period of significant growth as all three brands benefit from the enlarged reach across the UK and Europe, enabled by their long-term partnership with Tesco and the continued success of collaborations with M&S and Matalan. While further UK growth remains a focus, the senior team at The Entertainer is turning its attention to growing the company’s international presence beyond the current 200 franchise stores across 21 countries.
Alongside the continuation of franchise-based growth across both existing and new international territories, the company has significant plans to scale by replicating the concession model successfully deployed in the UK through Tesco, Matalan and M&S. A partnership with Moonpig has also recently been announced and you can read more about that on p.39-40. This focus on growth of the retail business will further enable and enhance the continued expansion of wholesale distribution for Early Learning Centre and Addo, already selling through 24,000 outlets worldwide.
To lead this phase in Teal Group Holdings growth, a Group Executive Committee is being established to lead and manage the group as a single, integrated entity. As part of these changes, Geoff Sheffield is becoming Commercial director, International to lead all commercial aspects of the international retail strategy and its execution. Geoff’s knowledge of both The Entertainer business and the toy trade, as well as his many years of international commercial experience, will be invaluable in this critical role, helping drive rapid growth in the scale of the international franchise and concession business.
The new Group Executive role of Chief Product officer has been introduced, bringing together the functions of Buying, Merchandising and Marketing to enable these teams to maximise the speed and effectiveness with which product ranges are deployed across formats and markets. This role has been taken up by Brian Proctor, who brings a wealth of retail buying and trading experience, most notably through various directorships of TJX Europe (TK Maxx).
Andrew Murphy OBE, Group CEO, Teal Group Holdings, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Brian to the team and looking forward to working closely with him and with Geoff to drive our strategy forward. This is an exciting new era for our business and our loved and trusted brands.
“While we will always proudly be ‘the local toy shop’ at heart, the Teal Group is now a multi-faceted, international toy business, offering a wide range of business-to-business services as well as direct-to-consumer propositions; as a designer, sourcer, developer, wholesaler, concessionaire and retailer of toys across multiple international markets.”
