Q&A - NBC Universal

Universally Speaking…

Toy World Publisher John Baulch caught up with Paul Bufton, NBC Universal Brand Development vice president EMEA, to reflect on the events of the past 18 months and look ahead to a huge year for the studio, with two major movie launches next summer – Jurassic World and Minions.

How are you feeling about ’22 – is it set to be a big year for Universal and its partners?

2022 is going to be a really significant year for us, because we have two absolute juggernauts in Jurassic World and Minions. The James Bond movie has proved that there is huge pent-up demand for movie-going audiences, so that augurs well for our business. Also, we’re moving into new territory with Gabby’s Dollshouse, which has been airing on Netflix, and we’ve had good exposure on YouTube as well. We’ve started to introduce product into a few markets already – it’s done phenomenally well in the US and Mexico.

The other aspect of our business which continues to perform well is our back catalogue - our U Vault business. A lot of that success has been in the fashion and home space, but we are doing a lot more in the kidult area now too. Our back catalogue lends itself really well to that space. For example, with Back to the Future, Playmobil has seen great success with the DeLorean model, and we have high hopes for ET, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year.

What are the key attributes you look for in a licensee partner?

I am sure all licensors would say this, but we are definitely looking for ‘best in class’ licensees. There’s definitely a view that less is more, and we want to strike a healthy balance between having a good portfolio of partners, but not over-extending ourselves. I’m a firm believer that if you work with best in class partners, you can build a genuine partnership where you are working off each other’s strengths and focusing on innovation and creativity.

We want our partners to offer a point of difference and unique product offerings, and maximise that combination of entrepreneurialism and creativity, particularly in the toy and kidult space.

It’s also important to make sure we are working with partners who have an eye on the future, the ones who are thinking about the evolving and emerging channels of distribution, as well as how they connect with their consumers and, increasingly, how they can support the sustainability agenda.

From an EMEA perspective, what can locally-based licensees bring to the licensing programmes? Which EMEA licensees have really stood out in the way they have contributed?

When you are working with global partners, you get scale and reach, but for me it’s all about the blend. The global partners have huge strengths, they are working with massive product development budgets and very strong design capabilities. You have the scale there to really drive the business forward. However, it is critical to blend that with regional and local partners to achieve a balance. Of course, you don’t want partners stepping on each other’s toes from a product and distribution point of view, but local partners give you many advantages: they often support categories that are more relevant in specific regions. Europe is a very nuanced region: the number of countries, the variety of cultures, the different retailers - it certainly isn’t a territory where a ‘one size fits all’ approach tends to work.

We’ve had some great success stories with dedicated EMEA licensees: I mentioned Playmobil before, we have an incredibly strong relationship with them. It’s been great to see them branch out beyond the European region: they are starting to get some real traction now in North America.

How has the Universal business adapted over the past 18 months, both in terms of short and medium term changes?

I would also call out Richard and the team at Wow! Stuff. Through diligence, innovation, and sheer gumption, they have managed to build a really successful business, not just in Europe, but also now in the US and across the globe.

We’ve ridden the same insane rollercoaster as everyone else. It’s been a huge learning curve, but in truth, Covid has been an incredible accelerator for our business. We’ve definitely become more agile within the European market. The team has done an amazing job, particularly the retail team, who shifted a lot of in-store campaigns over to social, digital and eCommerce platforms. We approached the whole situation with a mindset of supporting retailers and licensees through the difficult time.

We’re also a lot more data-driven now, which is terrific. We brought in new team members, specifically around eCommerce, which sets us up nicely for the future.

It’s been hard work, but ultimately, I’m massively reassured by the fact that if you make great product based on great franchises, it can still succeed. The toy business, in particular, has been strong. During the darkest times of lockdown, so many people were reminiscing about the good times, and longstanding franchises like Jurassic, Minions and our back catalogue have undoubtedly benefitted from that.

Having a Plan B is now very much part of our DNA – it was always there in the background, but now it’s absolutely vital to know where you can go if things don’t quite go according to plan.

That leads us very nicely on to Jurassic World – with the movie being delayed by a year, you had to have a Plan B. How did that work out?

It’s been absolutely incredible. Jurassic World has enjoyed an outstanding performance in both ’20 and ’21 - from a consumer perspective, we have the definitive dinosaur brand. It’s not just onedimensional, it reaches across multiple categories and touchpoints, providing different experiences and products. Video games and digital content have been central to that strategy and, of course, it helped us tremendously that Camp Cretaceous came onto Netflix. The sales curve when the programme launched was phenomenal, which is incredibly reassuring for us and the licensing industry as a whole. Platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime are here to stay, and we want to continue to support them. Streaming has definitely now arrived as a viable driver of consumer engagement and interest. Clearly Covid has been a contributing factor in that, with people stuck at home.

Now you finally have the movie to kick things up a whole other gear…

It’s going to be amazing – the movie genuinely offers something new, because it brings back the original cast, so it will have cross-generational appeal. Movie-going audiences and fans are looking for those big event movies to get back into cinemas. A lot of that work has already been done by Bond, and there are other big releases coming this year. Then when we get into ’22, there are a lot of really big movies coming.

Indeed, you have another major movie launching next summer, which was also delayed from 2020 – Minions. What are your expectations for that franchise?

We’re in a very strong position in the European markets; the characters are firmly ingrained in popular culture here, and there is great anticipation for the movie. It’s cross-generational, has a big family audience, it’s comedy – it’s going to be exactly the tonic we need next summer.

Which categories and retail channels have seen particular success with Minions merchandise?

Historically, Minions has always performed extremely well in fashion and food, and I am sure that will continue next year. We’ve also established terrific partnerships with Mattel and Lego over the past few years, and they will be back for the movie. Mobile gaming is also huge; Minions Rush has just gone over the 1b download mark, which is incredible.

It’s ET’s 40th anniversary in ’22 – what plans do you have to support the brand next year?

ET has been a real labour of love. Everybody can think back to when they saw the movie for the first time, it was Spielberg at the height of his powers. We’ve really tapped into that 80s nostalgia vibe, which happens to be beautifully on trend at the moment.

We have a balanced portfolio of partners who are going to tap into that heritage nostalgia, but who are going to bring a modern, technological twist to it as well. It’s going to be a good spread across toys and kidult hardlines partners, along with strong kidult fashion partners.

What can you tell us about Gabby’s Dollshouse? This is a different property within the NBC Universal portfolio, in that it’s brand new and TV driven…

It is the brainchild of Tracy Page-Johnson – her track record of Blue’s Clues and Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood is incredible. I think of it as pre-school programming for a modern era – it’s very mixed media, it brings together a love of unboxing videos, cats, miniatures and dolls house play. The show is a combination of live action and animation. You have a live action Gabby and as she unboxes a surprise, she gets transformed, Alice in Wonderland style, into a fantastical animated world populated by cat characters.

It is beautifully written and produced, and there is a lot of positive messaging and encouragement around a growth mindset, celebrating mistakes and creative problem solving. There is interactivity and exploration, and above all, it’s a lot of fun. Everyone who has seen it adores it, and it has performed incredibly well on Netflix. We have adopted a deliberate strategy of not going to market too quickly with product; we’ve worked very closely with Spin Master on the project, they’re an incredible partner, with a lot of experience and expertise in this area. In Europe, we’ll see some early launches at the back end of next year, and then we’ll come through with an all-region rollout in ’23.

Overall, how do you see ’22 shaping up for Universal and its partners?

I’m super confident about ’22. We have some amazing content and great retail plans – the team has done a fantastic job pulling them all together. ’22 is almost locked in, we just need to finesse some of the plans that are in place. So, now we’re starting to plan for ’23 and looking forward to seeing partners at BLE to begin that process. It will genuinely be a pleasure to see people again. A lot of emotion comes out in these events, there are many people who are really good friends who haven’t seen each other for a long time. We are in a very social business, so I’m very excited to see people and have face to face meetings again.

What can you tell us about Gabby’s Dollshouse? This is a different property within the NBC Universal portfolio, in that it’s brand new and TV driven…

It is the brainchild of Tracy Page-Johnson – her track record of Blue’s Clues and Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood is incredible. I think of it as pre-school programming for a modern era – it’s very mixed media, it brings together a love of unboxing videos, cats, miniatures and dolls house play. The show is a combination of live action and animation. You have a live action Gabby and as she unboxes a surprise, she gets transformed, Alice in Wonderland style, into a fantastical animated world populated by cat characters.