The Bugg Report - Halloween Magazine - Edition 3

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HALLOWEEN MAGAZINE

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From the Editor Welcome to our annual Bugg Toys & Licensing Halloween and Party magazine. I think it is safe to say that Halloween has become a major event here in Australia and more and more retailers are really taking advantage of the annual Halloween and Party season.

I think from an Australian perspective, and especially now that Halloween is falling on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the coming years, we will be able to take even more advantage of marketing the Halloween and Party season to consumers.

If you look at the United States, and more recently the UK, Halloween is an absolutely massive event. This annual event attracts so many people who love the dress-up and party vibe that Halloween brings each year. Whether it’s trick-or-treating, scary movies or Halloween events, the media coverage surrounding Halloween is growing every year and the Australian market is in prime position to take advantage of the hype that Halloween brings with it.

Whether you’re a distributor selling products, a licensee creating products or a retailer selling products, Halloween presents a great marketing opportunity to your customers.

I recently came across a very interesting article from last year in the International Business Times, which listed the top ten scary places to visit for Halloween in Australia. Take a look at the list below and it is evident that there is certainly a buzz around this event with people loving the scary and spooky nature of Halloween: Rookwood Cemetery Monte Cristo Mansion in Junee Fremantle Arts Centre Ararat Lunatic Asylum Dreamworld in Coomera Princess Theatre National Film and Sound Archive Gawler House in Gawler Seppeitsfield Winery in Barossa Valley Beechworth Lunatic Asylum in Beechworth

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We hope you enjoy our third edition of this annual magazine and use it as your annual guide to all things Halloween and Party leading up to 2015 when Halloween will fall on Saturday night!

Bugg Toys & Licensing has been compiled as a guide to Toys and Licensing. The views and opinions provided are based upon the views and opinions of it’s writers. In no way is Bugg Toys & Licensing a factual guide to Toys and Licensing and does not take responisbility for how the information provided is used by it’s consumers.

Bugg Toys & Licensing PO BOX 491 Berwick, VIC 3806 Australia P: +61 3 9769 3963 E: info@buggtoysandlicensing.com

Web Link References: http://goo.gl/U3zoqe http://goo.gl/Q2uKBZ http://goo.gl/n1IWyl http://goo.gl/V4r1iO http://goo.gl/1MCsgw http://goo.gl/0QsQHw

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CONTENTS

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monster high continues to grow

RUBIEs UK PERSPECTIVE

08 What's on for halloween

10 15

BANTER TOYS FLICK-TO-STICK BUNGEES

RUBIEs Us PERSPECTIVE

16 COSTUMEBOX INTERVIEW

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Monster HIGH CONTINUES TO GROW TO NEW HEIGHTS Monster High continues to be a scarily huge success as it monsterfies across product, content and digital engagement!

Monster High’s core target – Girls 7-9 – is highly engaged with the brand with more than 55,000 Australian fans visiting monsterhigh.com each month. As the brand grows, Mattel has plans for it to become an evergreen brand in its portfolio.

Monster High is already established in several categories such as toys, role play, sporting goods, publishing, DVD, apparel, accessories, footwear & stationery and will expand into fashion jewelry and lunchware in the coming months.

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Rich storytelling is a cornerstone of the brand that fans have come to expect. In addition to bi-weekly webisodes, Monster High has two new DVDs in 2014.

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Monster High’s core target – Girls 7-9 – is highly engaged with the brand with more than 55,000 Australian fans visiting monsterhigh.com each month."

New product ranges and introduction of new Ghouls will also drive ongoing success of the brand in the coming months! Alongside the new Ghouls, exciting new product has recently launched for Monster High across consumer products and toys with the new entertainment release Freaky Fusion.

2015 will be another Monster year for the brand with exciting new entertainment releases, new characters and expansion into more product categories.

Mark Scott Director, Licensing/Consumer Products Mattel Australia/New Zealand mark.scott@mattel.com

Monster High continues to grow to new heights thanks to its key licensees…

Apparel & Accessories • Caprice, Hot Springs, Studio Kids & Designworks, Engelite Sporting Goods • Hunter Leisure & Hunter Products Publishing • Parragon, Hachette & Otter Press Stationery & Social Expressions • Hunter Leisure, Amscan & Hallmark FMCG • Park Avenue, Bakery Sugarcraft & Aussie-O Fruit Juice Home Furnishing • Caprice, Childsmart, Hunter Leisure and ZAK Adjacent Toy • Bensons Trading, Just Play, Global Discovery, Hunter Leisure & Tree Toys

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RUBIE'S UK PERSPECTIVE ON THIS GREAT SEASONAL EVENT Behind Christmas, Halloween is probably now the second biggest seasonal event in the UK calendar, with multiple opportunities for a number of categories.

Our biggest advantage here in the UK, is no one needs an excuse to dress up, and we have a sustainable and robust everyday business. Halloween allows retailers to capitalize on this desire to dress up and create events and destinations to sell our costumes, accessories, confectionery and a affluence of additional themed items for Halloween.

For Rubie’s UK, it is our biggest single selling event of the year and continues to significantly grow year on year across all retail sectors, from national accounts to online retailers and our independent specialists.

In the United States, Halloween is an incredible phenomenon and sees peaks when the actual event falls on the weekend. Here, in the UK, we tend to have Halloween themed parties on the weekends, so the actual day is less of an issue.

If I had to value the opportunity, I’d say this year will be worth over £450 million at retail on consumers buying Halloween themed products in the UK.

In addition, more and more families are taking part in Halloween on the 31st of October, and we see sales increase

SPENDING ON HALLOWEEN GOODS IN THE UK

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across traditional Halloween themed costumes, both across key licenses such as; Friday 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween the movie, as well as great innovative designs on non-licensed costumes based on horror, and zombie themes. Funny novelty and fun themes also work well for Halloween, as well as key licensed characters, such as Harry Potter, Spider-man and Batman.

It helps when the licensed character is dressed in a dark costume or is a dark character in the entertainment, such as Warner Bros’s Batman; The Dark Knight.

We also have the advantage that Autumn half term (a week long holiday) for most British schools falls around Halloween, this year for many schools it’s actually the week before Halloween, which is a Friday for 2014, so kids and families will be able to prepare (and spend) more on Halloween.

Our best-selling costume for last year’s Halloween was Miss Scissorhands, which is a great example of the best costume you could ask for; a great design with strong entertainment led inspiration and exceptional adult awareness, a dark character who can be fun and sexy. In addition, easily recognisable, looks great and it’s reasonably easy to eat and drink during a party (okay without one of the scissor-hands!)

Who are Rubie’s ?

In summary, Rubie’s is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of dress up. Founded over 60 years ago in Queens, New York by Rubin (Rubie) Beige and his wife Tille, the company is still owned and managed to this day by the Beige family. Rubie’s came to Europe in 1996 and opened up its own subsidiaries in 7 of the largest markets, the UK being currently the largest of its European markets. We now operate across the globe with the most comprehensive distribution base in the industry.

David Wootliff Head of Marketing Rubie's Masquerade Co. (UK) Ltd. david.wootliff@rubiesuk.com www.rubiesuk.com

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What's on for halloween this year?

HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR SCAREFEST MELBOURNE Visit Wonderland Fun Park in October and enjoy spooky entertainment, face painting, trick or treating, ghoulish goodies, crazy dancers and photo opportunities with scary and wacky characters. It’s a wonderland of scary fun for the whole family.

For more information call: 03 9602 1311

MANLY HARBOUR VILLAGE STREET PARTY QUEENSLAND Brought to you by The Manly Hotel, come in costume and join the spooky street parade at dusk! There will be creative markets, kids rides rides and amusements, fireworks, live family entertainment and movies in the park!

For more information call: 07 3348 3524

MAGIQUE HALLOWEEN CIRCUS SYDNEY Magique is all about being unique and providing not just amazing magicians but also hosting parties that bring people together, and lead the way in unique entertainment. With magicians, hypnotists, burlesque, fire dancers, jugglers and much more on our standard bill of performers.

For more information call: 1300 747 644

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HALLOWEEN AT AUSTRALIA ZOO QUEENSLAND Keep the kids entertained with our spook-tacular games including the super spider egg snatch and zombie races!

There’s even FREE ‘spooky’ face painting for everyone.

For more information call: 07 5436 2000

DRAX 4 KIDS QUEENSLAND Drax 4 Kids transports little monsters into another dimension with all the fun of a gothic theme park. The ‘Spooky Coaster’ animatronic ghost train provides a scream around every corner and delivers the children into the main auditorium.

For more information call: 07 5575 1000

KIDS DAY OUT SYDNEY This Halloween Festival will showcase the hottest mix of live children’s performers for a day of non-stop entertainment with live stage shows, meet and greets, activity centers and much more. Get into the Halloween spirit and get the kids to come as their favorite character or in their spookiest gear!

For more information call: 02 8005 0891

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11 BUGGSTOYSANDLICENSING.COM

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37 Technology Circuit Hallam, Victoria 3803 www.tomfoolery.com.au HALLOWEEN MAGAZINE

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+61 9702 3477 +61 9702 4911 info@tomfoolery.com.au

Banter Toys igniting collectibles market with new Flick-To-Stick Bungees™!

Banter Toys introduces the new boys collectible Flick-To-Stick Bungees™ from Jazwares, the manufacturers of the popular Minecraft™ and Adventure Time™ toys!

Backed by a strong nationwide TV campaign, Flick-To-Stick Bungees™ is a new competitive collectible game based on brightly colored characters formed at the core of the earth, after an asteroid strikes millions of years ago. They have evolved with distinctive features, including an inner magnetism that allows them to stick to metal surfaces.

The new Bungees collectible toy line features the first series of 48 collectible figures. Players aim and flick their Bungees at metal scoring targets to compete, collect and win.

Flick to stick, stick to score! Gameplay is enhanced with the Bungees Battleground, playing cards and scoring disks. Banter Toys Bungees line will include blind foil packs, starter packs, deluxe packs and Bungees Battleground.

“Flick-To-Stick Bungees is much more than a collectible,” says Kris Thompson, National Sales Director at Banter Toys, “It moves kids away from the digital

platform to something that still provides entertainment that is action filled and draws kids together in friendly competitive play.”

“The ‘magnetic power’ of the Bungees figures adds a new layer of interaction for the young collector and it is important for players to engage in this as it is really the core essence of the Bungees brand. This is demonstrated in the TV commercial that will air from mid-October up until Christmas on both subscription and free-to-air programs nationwide.”

“We are very excited to bring the already successful Bungees in the US to households across Australia and look forward to providing Australian children a new form of dynamic collectible.”

“Bungees have been sticking with kids because of their collectability, chase factor and ultimately the exciting game play,” said Laura Zebersky, EVP of Global Sales & Licensing, Jazwares, LLC. “They’re easy to use and each Bungee brings to life its very own story. Based on the early success in the US and retailers increasing demand for product, we have increased production to try and keep up with holiday demand.”

Flick-To-Stick Bungees™ will be available at Toys R Us, Big W, newsagents, Toyworld, selected Coles Supermarkets and all good toy retailers in Australia starting in mid-October 2014.

Kris Thompson National Sales Director Banter Toys & Collectibles kris.thompson@bantertoys.com.au (03) 9799 3422 HALLOWEEN MAGAZINE

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2014 IS A GOOd YEAR FOR movies AND A GOOD YEAR FOR rubies!

Rubie’s Costume Company is honored to be the largest Halloween costume designer and manufacturer in the world!

With the October holiday falling on a Friday this year, US retailers anticipate an incredible increase in sales and consumer participation. Since Halloween falls on a Friday the overwhelming amount of consumers will celebrate on the Friday and Saturday of Halloween weekend and there will be a substantial increase in parties and celebrations. More parties, more decorating mean more spending so we predict this to be one of the largest Halloweens in recent years.

A Friday Halloween also lends itself to more adults participating so the adult costume market will see a significant growth as well. Overall in the United States, Halloween has grown into a nearly 7-billion dollar industry, making it the 2nd largest celebrated holiday next to Christmas.

The Rubie’s family of companies and each of our divisions including: Forum Novelties, Delicious of New York, Highest Heel, Princess Paradise, Imagine and Morbid are proud to be a contributing factor to that remarkable statistic.

In general, the biggest influence in US consumer costume selection derives from what is popular in movies, television, gaming and music. That said, some of Rubie’s 2014’s best sellers include: Leonardo, Raphael,

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Michelangelo, and Donatello, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Lord, Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as the lovable little Minions from Despicable Me. To no surprise, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman remain among the biggest selling superheroes of all time and classic favorites like Star Wars and Wizard of Oz still remain extremely popular among children and adults alike.

2014 is a good year for movies and a good year for Rubie’s!

More parties, more decorating mean more spending so we predict this to be one of the largest Halloweens in recent years."

We are delighted to offer costumes and accessories based on some of this year’s top grossing films including: Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Planet of the Apes, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Godzilla, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and How to Train Your Dragon 2.

With over 150 prestigious licenses in our repertoire, non-licensed costumes

also contribute a great deal to Rubie’s US business. This year’s trends included pirates, ninjas, witches, princesses and zombies. As for accessories, wigs, hats, make-up and weapons remain some of Halloweens most sought after items.

As the popularity of Halloween continues to rise with children, teens and adults, we’ve also witnessed a tremendous growth in the pet costume market.

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In 2014 alone, Americans will spend over $350 million on pet costumes.

With that in mind, Rubie’s expanded our pet costume collection by introducing hundreds of new products including pet costumes, wigs, hats, tutus, bandanas, wings and hair bows. Some of this year’s top selling licensed pet costumes included: Wonder Woman, Minion, Ewok, Yoda, Superman, Batman and Darth Vader. In regards to non-licensed costumes the Mexican Serape, Police Dog, Shark, Bumble Bee and Hot Dog were also in high demand.

We predict the growth in pet costumes to continue well into 2015 and beyond as pets remain an integral part of the family unit.

In addition to our pet line expansion, Rubie’s introduced a new line of licensed Marvel costumes for the United States and Canada. By incorporating one of the world’s most recognizable brands into our exclusive line of superheroes, Rubie’s became the #1 supplier of superhero costumes in the industry.

These new Marvel characters include Iron Man, Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Thor, Black Widow, and more.

Whether you’re into superheroes, turtles, aliens or minions, we’re confident Halloween will continue to be filled with new adventures for the entire family to enjoy. As everyone’s favorite fall holiday expands beyond the United States throughout the rest of the world, Rubie’s looks forward to 2015, and what a Saturday Halloween will have in store.

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Howard Beige Executive Vice President Rubie's Costume Co, Inc. howie@rubies.com

• special effects • body paint • blood • kits • 37 Technology Circuit Hallam, Victoria 3803 www.tomfoolery.com.au

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+61 9702 3477 +61 9702 4911 info@tomfoolery.com.au

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BUGG TOYS & LICENSING SPEAK TO COSTUMEBOX ABOUT HALLOWEEN We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Nikki Yeaman, one of the foundation owner’s along with Roma Burke of the leading online dress up business CostumeBox. Nikki and Roma began their journey some eight years ago to build a formidable dress up and Halloween business from an online platform.

Today CostumeBox is recognised as one of the most efficient and professional online retailers in the category.

We spoke to Nikki about the early years of development, the growth of Halloween over the past eight years and her take on the future of this unique event on the Australian calendar.

Nikki, who’s idea was it to start a costume business, and why?

Gee, it was so long ago now, I don’t remember if it was me or Roma who first thought of it, but we had young children and we had both noticed that it was really hard to find a good selection of costumes for kids in Australia. We could see a few big online costume-mega stores in the USA and we decided we were the right people to bring that idea to Australia!

What sort of planning did you have to undertake in the early days to give yourself a strong chance of succeeding?

The first step was that we took the advice of someone we met in the toy industry here and took ourselves to the New York Toy Fair. That was a big

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“ah ha” moment when we saw the scale of the industry in the US. After that it was a full year in planning and building a website, and talking to suppliers in the USA before we launched.

Talking to people in the industry in the US was probably the best thing we did.

In the beginning, we were just thinking of doing kids costumes, but they convinced us that adult costumes were actually the lions share of the market, so we changed tack and launched with a broader offering than we had originally planned, and never looked back.

Was Halloween on your radar in the early days of CostumeBox? We knew it was central to the industry in the USA, but at first we didn’t think it would be such a big part of our market. But right from our first year, it has shown itself to be a significant event in Australia.

As your footprint has developed in our market, what percentage of your business is based around Halloween now?

It's probably still only about 20% of our annual revenue, as opposed to over 80% for similar companies in the USA. There is still massive room for growth there!

As the safety of our children is paramount, have you seen a significant trend to Halloween parties held in the home as opposed to the traditional “Trick or Treat” normally associated with the event?

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We see both, and certainly anecdotally in my neighbourhood there are more and more trick-or-treaters every year, but you usually see adults or older kids walking around with the younger kids, so I don’t think there really is a safety issue. Parties seem very popular too, they are a great idea to get back together at the end of trick-or-treating and enjoy your costumes and your treats together, with a BBQ and maybe a wine or two for mum and dad. I see that as our uniquely Australian way of celebrating Halloween as a family.

Halloween is a 9 billion dollar business in North America, how have you seen the development of the event in Australia over the past 5 years?

Anecdotally I see more and more trick or treaters on the street each year, and our own Halloween turnover has tripled over the past 3 years, but we still have a long way to go I believe.

As Halloween has become more popular and more commercial we have seen the mass retailers enter the market. Has this affected your business and has this widened the awareness of consumers?

I see it as a good thing, and I encourage them! I think it will definitely help drive consumer awareness, and those retailers certainly have their place for supplying certain cheap and cheerful mass products, where as we will always have the huge range and specialty products that they could never stock.

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Whenever there are a new fads or opportunities in the market the discounters including the $2 shops enter the race with cheap and usually low quality merchandise. How do you see this segment playing out and does it affect your business?

It’s the same as for the mass retailers I think. They have their place, but they will never be able to stock the range or the quality in store that we can online, so I think we can have a symbiotic co-existence!

We have noticed that many online retailers who were part of the industry 5 years ago have fallen away. This has led to a narrowing of the players in the business. In your mind why has this happened?

I don’t have any direct knowledge of them, but if I had to guess and say they probably weren’t run efficiently enough to operate at scale. Anyone can whack up a website or an ebay store and get some sales, but once you try to do anything like this on a large scale, it’s a completely different proposition. It requires a huge amount of investment in backend systems and logistics, and that’s not so easy to achieve.

Halloween falls on a Friday night this year and Saturday night next year. Can you foresee a significant increase in market activity for this year and next?

Well the American's tell us it can add up to 25% to normal demand…so fingers crossed! We are certainly going all out to educate the public that it’s a Friday Halloween this year, so get your party happening!

Where do you see Halloween as a significant calendar event in 3 years time?

After 2 years of weekend Halloweens, I think it will really be on the map as a mass event. It's fun, irreverent and great for young and old, so I think it’s a great family event that really suits our Aussie sensibilities.

What are the latest trends for Halloween 2014?

Zombies have been big for a few years now and are going to be huge again this year, I think they still have some legs (ha ha). I read the other day that the rage in the USA was the Ebola theme for this Halloween…but we are leaving that one alone.

Thank you Nikki for a most informative insight into Halloween. It looks as if this event is probably now the biggest happening on our calendar outside of Christmas.

Yes, we call it “Our Christmas!”

P: (02) 9905 0129 E: service1@costumebox.com.au

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2015 THE WORLD’S LEADING INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS REFERENCE DIRECTORY FOR THE BRAND LICENSING & MERCHANDING INDUSTRY Referencing over 28,000 property listings with their owners/representatives worldwide. Also contains licensees and specialist service information.

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