We meet founder Monique Scott to find out the licensee’s secret to success.
Monique Scott says that investing in licences can be a bit like following a boy band and knowing when to get in and out. “Timing is often everything,” she states.
In fact, Monique seems to have got her Groovy UK timing pretty well perfect. That doesn’t mean that she’s got it right all the time – no-one in business does, of course – but she was so successful with Rocky, the company’s first licence, that 25 years on, it’s still in Groovy’s top five.
“Guys love it,” she states. Another mega hit for the company has been the Playboy licence.
“It was our biggest by far,” Monique recalls. “It had little to do with its original concept and more to do with its great logo and its cultural history,” she explains.
Groovy’s niche in the world of official licensed product, is creating original products across bathrobes, jumpsuits, loungers, slippers and lighting. “I started out with two gift shops – purely because I love gifts – and when I couldn’t find the products I wanted to buy I looked into designing and manufacturing in China,” highlights Monique.
“Initially I brought in products for the Groovy shops and then started to sell the surplus. However, I soon realised that I was making more money wholesaling than retailing, so I closed the stores and went to work as a buyer for my biggest customer The Gadget Shop, and then The Discovery Store, before becoming the creative director of Groovy UK.
“Having been in the industry both from a retail and wholesale perspective means that I can see things from both sides, and know the challenges retailers have, and also that pricing has become even more of an issue on some lines.”
Initially, the company did both licensed and unlicensed products, but when their unlicensed ranges were copied by the big retailers, Monique switched to 100% licensed.
Today, Groovy’s core strength is that it originates and innovates products that are everyday lines but with a twist.
“Bathrobes and slippers are commonplace, but with glow in the dark Superman logos they become different,” points out Monique. “A bathrobe that looks like a Jedi robe is not ‘everyday’. Rocky wore an Italian Stallion robe in the movie and we have a bathrobe that replicates it. We also have an Only Fools and Horse bathrobe. When Sports Relief 2014 did a Beckham in Peckham sketch, the fleece robe that looks like Del Boy’s sheep skin coat went down a storm!”
She makes the point that the company’s licensed products are unique and that you can’t get them anywhere else. An example is the Look-ALite lamp which is designed and moulded to Groovy’s own spec.
“It creates a fat little light that’s funny,” Monique explains. “We have a chubby Betty Boop and Wonder Woman. Village People is my own personal favourite and I’m looking forward to creating a Village People collection of mini Look-ALites too. For my team, this was the driving force behind us getting the licence. Although some of our buyers aren’t old enough to know the band, every one of them has heard YMCA. We’re also looking to do a Look-ALite of the Queen, which I feel sure will become iconic.”
Naturally, the company is always on the look-out for new lines and licenses. with media attention making it much easier for buyers to recognise what the company does.
“We were thrilled when our Stormtrooper mood light was used in the Argos adverts last year. It was amazing to see our products on TV, especially over Christmas. And Suicide Squad has opened doors on product, so we hope the movie is successful because the characters look really dark and interesting!”
One skill that Monique has had to learn over the years is to be patient.
“We have new licences we want, but we have to wait until they are available and it’s like waiting for Christmas on some of them,” she laughs. “New products, like bags, are very exciting, especially with some of the designs we are developing. For example, we’ve developed two new product lines this year and its exciting waiting to see if they are going to be as good as we expect. One is the Batman projection light. It projects clearly at 8 metres and we’ve had it sculpted to look like the one from the movies. The others are two mini Look-ALites in Batman and Superman. The initial reaction has been fantastic.”
Looking back on a career lifetime that’s mostly been in licensing, Monique thinks that licenses in 2016 are far stronger due to social media, as people have so much more access through marketing,” she comments. “Also, branding seems much bigger now. Plus, the celebrity culture is far wider for people who have actually achieved very little other than being on a reality TV show.”
She believes the secret of Groovy’s success is that it’s niche and that the company’s products are unique, aimed mainly at adults – the eternal child. “Having a product with a USP is often what makes the difference, and we supply that with all our products,” she states.
As Monique concludes, “licences can be expensive but also very lucrative when you get it right. Groovy has won and lost on both but that’s the gamble.”
This feature originally appeared in the March/April 2016 edition of Progressive Gifts & Home.
