Source finds out how the toy company is building its presence in the brands space.
“It’s been an action packed time,” begins Alison Downie, global licensing and brand director at HTI, when LSB asks how business has been in the past 12 months at the company. “We are proud to be one of the few toy companies last year to show growth. The whole team has been working hard to ensure we keep seeing this growth with increased investment in marketing and product innovation.”
HTI’s growth has been driven by vehicles with its new collectables line Micro Motorz as well as its pocket money business, which contains all the changing trend-led lines. Indeed, when Source headed up to HTI’s HQ in Fleetwood, the company’s showroom perfectly highlighted the sheer breadth of the current ranges within both categories.
From a licensing point of view, meanwhile, the company has been busy building up the brands side of the business – with new signings including Joie in its prams and pushchair range (another category which is seeing significant growth) – while it has continued to invest in its Peppa Pig role-play range, which Alison says goes from strength to strength.
However, the past year hasn’t been without its challenges. “We believe these are consistent industry wide, bricks and mortar retail is tough and right now it seems not a month goes by without hearing of a retailer in turbulent times,” Alison adds. “The economy has an air of uncertainty right now, resulting in cautious buyers meaning we all need to work harder to secure listings.”
One way that HTI is finding extra space at retail is through the brands side of its business and partnerships with Joie (see below) and Mamas & Papas.
Alison explains: “These both sit within our nursery ranges, with Joie being one of our newest partnerships, stemming from a desire to build on the nursery area of our doll’s prams and pushchairs. It’s a brand we have watched grow rapidly over the past couple of years so it’s great to be working with such a focused fast-growing brand. Mamas and Papas is a long-term partnership that we continue to nurture working with a select few key retailers.”
Alison also believes that further growth is to come from Peppa Pig. She tells Source: “Peppa Pig is absolutely a strong performing brand, with some significant sales growth planned for 2019 and even more exciting new product development in the pipeline for 2020. All testament to a strong working relationship with eOne, ensuring we evolve and develop the ranges in line with their consistent support on the brand and content. For HTI, working with a licensor that is aware of market challenges is really helping to drive growth.”
While licensing remains a staple of HTI’s business, Alison admits there is more to come in the pipeline and that the focus currently, and into 2020 is around its evergreen brands. “Our strategy and keyword when reviewing new opportunities is clear – innovation. This is always at the forefront of our mind in relation to the brands, products and partnerships we work on, ensuring we deliver compelling unique ranges to market,” she says.
As for longer term plans, Alison teases on big things to come: “We are proud to be a global diverse business, and all we can ask for is that the positive news we have seen in the last 12 month continues for the rest of 2019.
“The investment in marketing and online for our business is now key as we start to finalise our 2020 product ranges. We will continue to evolve with the changing marketplace and there is even more exciting news coming soon from us, so watch this space.”
Jump for Joie
HTI confirmed its partnership with fast growing nursery brand Joie back in March, securing a three-year global deal.
The range includes a number of replica prams, which look just like the real thing including the Joie Jr Litetrax pushchair, Joie JR Chrome 3-in-1 Pram and the Junior Pact (the range reached the finals of the B&LLAs 2019). They have been designed to be matching replicas of the real thing for the child’s favourite doll.
David Welsh, md of Joie, comments: “It’s great to see our award winning products recreated in a small, friendly format for children across the world to play with. HTI was a natural partner for us, with their industry experience and ability to create quality products, it made the whole process very easy.
“We’re excited to see how things grow over the next three years and can’t wait to see little boys and girls across the country interacting with the products.”
Alison adds: “We are thrilled to be partnering with a leading nursery brand such as Joie – this is a brand we have watched grow rapidly over the past couple of years so it’s an honour to be able to bring a range of replica dolls prams and pushchairs to the toy market.”
This feature originally appeared in the summer 2019 edition of Licensing Source Book. To read the full publication, click on this link.
