Big interview
“On air, when you are scheduling pre-school programming, kids tend to watch whatever they want to. They don’t choose ‘I am a boy so I should be watching this,’ or ‘I am a girl, I should be watching princesses…’ they watch because they enjoy the content.” Marianne James, Nickelodeon’s vice president of commercial partnerships
12 | toy news | Novenber 2018
products programmes.” Bring the gender neutrality aspect into play once again, and the differentiation points are stacking up in Nickelodeon’s favour. Was it a conscious decision on the part of Nickelodeon and the series’ production studio, 9 Story Media, therefore to push the gender agenda? It would be a prescient move to do so, given the shifting cultural clime. James continues: “On air, when you are scheduling pre-school programming, kids tend to watch whatever they want to. They don’t choose ‘I am a boy so I should be watching this,’ or ‘I am a girl, I should be watching princesses…’ they watch because they enjoy the content.” However, in physical retail, admits James, there will be a skew towards one side or the other, and that will in turn in-
form its wider marketing as Nickelodeon builds the consumer programme out around it. “While on air, it is gender neutral, from a toy perspective it does lend itself to the boys’ market in the play pattern. But when we look at building out other categories like apparel and food accessories, we can bring in a gender neutral approach. Exactly like we do with PAW Patrol.” It’s yet another parallel to draw with the series that since its launch has fast become the flagship pre-school property for the company. On the topic of differentiation, it’s also important to note that Nickelodeon’s gaze is reaching beyond the offerings of linear TV and into the realms of YouTube stardom. In fact, it, as James tells us: “would be