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In Profile: Half Moon Bay
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2020 is an extra special year for Half Moon Bay, with the company excited to be celebrating its milestone 25th anniversary. Having started out in 1995 distributing unusual giftware from America, the company now has an enviable roster of major global licences representing movies, TV and gaming. PG&H caught up with Iain Wakefield, the recently appointed head of licensing and business development, to discover more about the company’s vision to expand the business this year.
With Half Moon Bay enthusiastically looking to grow its gift presence and its gift-led Ice House Books publishing imprint - both in the UK and on a global stage the appointment of Iain Wakefield last May was a meeting of minds. Iain brought with him over 25 years of publishing and brand licensing experience, most recently managing the licensing division at Haynes Publishing, where he worked closely with Half Moon Bay on a range of giftware and ‘Haynes Explains’ gift books. He highlights that at the heart of Half Moon Bay is a very broad product range and a very broad customer base, with the
company seeing a dramatic expansion over the last five years. “Establishing Ice House Books was a significant step in 2018,” Iain states. “The aim is to produce high quality licensed books, as well as a combination book and gift package, offering something for both the gift trade as well as the book trade. We are therefore working closely with our in-house editorial team, and matching the book side with our long experience of the gift market, to enable us to produce great books in the right subject area, the right format and at the right price.” Although the company partners some of the biggest international licences - to include
Half Moon Bay: The Lowdown l Half Moon Bay is an independent, family-owned manufacturer and distributor of licensed
and non-licensed giftware. l Founded by husband and wife Peter and Sally Thompson in 1995, the business evolved
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from quirky gifts to the in house designing and sourcing of products, with a focus on retro classics and iconic licences. In 2008, the company acquired Robert Opie which features nostalgic images on different formats, launching the company into the heritage, museum and gift markets. Shruti Designs, which specialises in trend-led collections of home and fashion products, was acquired in 2018. Also in 2018, Half Moon Bay launched Ice House Books, its own gift publishing imprint. The same year, the company became the UK distributor of Huskup re-usable coffee cups. Half Moon Bay, based in Bath, employs 75 staff. It also has its own distribution centre in Warminster.
Top: Iain Wakefield, Half Moon Bay’s head of licensing and business development. Above left: Two Star Wars mugs. Above: William Morris soft furnishings.
Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Warner Bros, D C Comics, Harry Potter, Frozen 2 and Friends - Half Moon Bay is also home to a wide variety of other types of brands such as the RHS, William Morris and the RSPB. But that’s not all. “We are also constantly on the lookout for other great ideas, an example being the licence May The Thoughts Be With You. We Progressive Gifts & Home Worldwide
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