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Inset: Exploration is one of the areas funded by the National Geographic Society. Centre: The National Geographic Science range from Bresser was nominated for Best Brand Licensed Consumer Hard Goods Products or Range at the B&LLAS 2018.
in Asia with IP2; we’ve launched ‘Symphony for the World’ coming to the UK on September 29; we’ve added a global collaboration with the North Face and Swell in line with our latest initiative ‘Planet or Plastic’ and many more fantastic partnerships which are due to launch in spring/summer 19.” Helena is responsible for the UK market activation and reveals that the team has laid some fantastic foundations for growth driving the brand through retail, working closely with existing partners such as Bandai for its ‘digging kids’ products which are selling extremely well, right through to working direct with retail for some exciting partnerships due to launch in spring next year. “The focus has been to craft a kids business plan following the fantastic results we have online and through our publishing (it’s the UK’s number one kids subscription magazine) building our creative assets to launch product for spring/summer 19,” she adds. “Secondly we had to build our adult strategy aligning to our phenomenal history, 130 years of driving exploration, conservation and innovation within the scientific community and also lead a conversation on sustainability across our product line.” Helena continues: “We have crafted a robust kids and adult strategy which launches to market in February next year across multiple partners. We are focusing on retailers that already have a
IN CONVERSATION WITH....NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
National Geographic at a glance
l National Geographic has been going for 130 years l National Geographic touches millions of consumers of every age in 172 countries every single month l It is the top 10 brand on Facebook and YouTube and the number one brand on Instagram l National Geographic is the largest TV network on Facebook and one of the 50 most followed pages l 27% of National Geographic proceeds go to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education.
consumer base for the brand and layering on product to drive the market.” Helena admits that her first few months driving the brand have been “a steep learning curve”, but she has good reason to be passionate about it. She explains: “Being a mother of two girls, I feel extremely passionate about educating children through fun and innovative ways and doing my bit to secure the future for them. Being part of the moment here at National Geographic and learning something interesting on a daily basis is a real privilege, as over a third of proceeds made by our ‘for profit’ media assets are reinvested back into the ‘non-profit’ National Geographic Society to help fund exploration, conservation and scientific research. I really do feel what I am doing counts.”
Inset: National Geographic has been established for 130 years.
LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2018
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