Industry Moves

New marketing manager joins Epoch

Epoch Making Toys has announced the appointment of new marketing manager, Matt Shaw. Matt officially took up his new position at the company on 20th July and brings with him a wealth of experience following 15 years in the industry, including roles at The Walt Disney Company, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., VTech Electronics and most recently Paramount, where he was head of marketing.

Matt’s role will see him take responsibility for leading the UK marketing function across Sylvanian Families, Aquabeads and Epoch Games, which features Super Mario Games. Matt will help to drive continued growth plans while supporting the wider and recently expanded marketing team.

Epoch Making Toys’ commercial director, John Briggs, commented: “As we have expanded our marketing team, we welcome Matt into the Epoch family. With his knowledge and diverse experience, we look forward to him taking the reins and future proofing our brands, bringing innovation to our planning and, importantly, enabling the whole marketing team to realize its and our ideas.”

Rainbow Designs strengthens sales team with new NAM

Rainbow Designs is investing in its successful sales team with the appointment of Jo Adger as national accounts manager. Jo joins the Rainbow Designs Team bringing with her a wealth of industry and specialist toy knowledge plus over a decade of sales experience.

Jo started in sales in 2011, working at DKB Household before spending the last four years at games company Winning Moves. Rainbow Designs, ‘The Home of Classic Characters’, has been inspiring kids for over 50 years, developing and creating high quality soft toys, wooden toys, baby, nursery and gift products for some of the most loved story book characters such as Peter Rabbit, Paddington Bear and Disney’s Winnie the Pooh.

Jo said: “I can’t wait to start working with retailers in this category. With such of range of beautifully made products, full of classic loveable characters, I believe there are plenty of opportunities to add to Rainbow’s success.”

Gary Hughes, national accounts controller for Rainbow Designs, added: “Having worked with Jo on the same team at Winning Moves, I am so excited to be working with her again. Her experience in the toy market, along with her personal touch, can only bolster our ambitious plans, and with so many exciting new products and licensing developments, I see nothing but opportunity for Rainbow Designs and its partners.”

Tandem Group appoints new director of Digital & Marketing

Tandem Group, the parent company of MV Sports & Leisure, has announced the appointment of Charlie Foulkes as director of Digital & Marketing to its leadership team as it looks to strengthen the business.

The group is one of the UK’s leading designers, developers, distributor and retailer of sports, leisure and mobility products in addition to holding licences for the manufacture and development of over 30 character branded children’s bikes, scooters and ride on toys via MV Sports & Leisure.

Charlie brings with him over 20 years’ experience within the retail sector, holding various marketing roles with Somerfield Stores, Halfords and Cycle Republic. Most recently, he was marketing director at Pure Electric where he was responsible for all marketing, e-comms and customers services.

Peter Kimberley, who was appointed Tandem Group CEO in May, said: “I am delighted to have Charlie join our leadership team. He brings a wealth of experience within the active leisure, sporting categories and more widely across multiple retail sectors having previously operated in both B2B and B2C roles. He is a customer centric, dynamic marketing and digital leader which will be an asset to the group supporting our dealers and retailers and inspiring our customers.”

Charlie commented: “Tandem Group is a fantastic business, with so many exciting, exclusive and heritage brands across multiple sectors. I am thrilled to be joining a talented and passionate team that is so focused on delivering first class products to our customers and across our dealers and retail network.”

Kidicraft bolsters team with two new appointments

Kidicraft has welcomed Keith Waite as sales agent for the South West and Mason Greaves as sales administrator.

Keith Waite brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience, having worked as a sales agent in the Gift and Toy sectors for the past 16 years. This has given him the opportunity to work with a wide variety of retailers and wholesalers. Keith said the key to his success is ‘offering great products that sell through quickly’, which is why he is so pleased to be joining Roy and the team at Kidicraft, offering the company’s extensive portfolio of licensed puzzles.

Mason Greaves started working with Roy and the team back in October 2021. This was an industrial placement, required as part of the Level 3 computing course he was attending at Craven College and has since passed with flying colours.

Mason has now been offered an apprenticeship role with Kidicraft which he has happily accepted. Mason said that he is ‘excited to gain valuable experience and learn all about the toy industry and the world of jigsaw puzzles’.

Roy Greenwood, Kidicraft director, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Keith and Mason to the team. The appointment of Keith will help to strengthen the sales team and Mason will provide valuable support in the office. They will both be a great asset to the business and support our continued growth.”

Toynamics UK & Ireland invests in Hape team

As part of Toynamics UK & Ireland continued growth strategy, Emma Damerell is promoted to European Campaign and Brand manager for Hape. In parallel with this growth strategy, Toynamics is expanding its Customer Service team, and has appointed Victoria Potter as Customer Service assistant. New to the toy industry, Victoria brings more than a decade of sales and customer relations experience, gained in the automotive industry, having previously worked with Amber Valley Developments LLP.

Emma Damerell’s promotion is part of a wider development from the Hape Group. It follows a restructuring of the marketing team across Europe, as the Hape Group invests in growing the Toynamics business and its brand portfolio, including Hape, Nebulous Stars, DinosArt, Timio, Beleduc, Nanoblock, Skip Hop and Korko.

As European Campaign and Brand manager for Hape, Emma will continue to oversee UK marketing, as well as taking on responsibility for Europe. She will focus on developing and delivering category-based consumer marketing campaigns, to support Hape sales and brand growth. In the UK she will be supported by Abi Gardner who joined the business in 2021.

Emma joined Toynamics UK & Ireland as head of Marketing at the end of 2020. Prior to that, she was at Hornby Hobbies and previously held marketing roles with Joules and DKL Marketing.

David Allan, MD at Toynamics UK & Ireland, commented: “This is a well-deserved promotion for Emma, and a thrilling challenge for her as we ramp up our level of activity for Hape during an exciting period of brand and business growth. We’re also delighted to welcome Victoria as we boost our customer service team”.

Sambro appoints new chief financial officer

Ben Armstrong has joined Sambro as its new chief financial officer, bringing with him over 20 years’ experience in finance, alongside a proven track record of success in implementing strategic developments within the FMCG and retail industries.

With a background in private equity and other investor backed businesses, Ben has extensive international experience, with strong technical and commercial skills across FMCG and retail brands, including EV Cargo and KidKraft Toys & Furniture.

A chartered accountant and an MBA holder, Ben will work alongside CEO Paul Blackaby to drive forward the firm’s growth plans which include a projected £70m turnover by 2023.

Ben said: “Sambro is an outstanding company with a strong portfolio and own brand products; I’m excited to join the organisation at this significant time in its ongoing growth. I look forward to working with Paul and the leadership team at Sambro to drive growth and ensure its continued success.”

Paul Blackaby, CEO at Sambro, added: “Ben is a world-class CFO with a proven track record of driving operational performance and growth across global consumer-facing organisations. His leadership and financial expertise will benefit Sambro as we continue to grow, and I look forward to working with him as we embark on the next stage of our journey.”