Brand Profile
Flair
Behind the mask Flair Just Play is celebrating a year of partnership with Entertainment One as the master toy licensee for PJ Masks. Toy World spoke to eOne’s SVP UK licensing Katie Rollings and Flair Just Play’s head of marketing Emmanuelle Cadet to find out what lies in-store for the brand in 2018 What have been the highlights of the past year? Emmanuelle - The launch year for PJ Masks has been tremendous, which has been echoed in the NPD data: PJ Masks was the number 2 new property in total market for 2017, and YTD 2018, PJ Masks is a top 20 property total market. Individual products have also performed extremely well; the PJ Masks Vehicle and Figure sets have consistently maintained their position in the top 20 items in the total market by value. We finished the year on a high with the Headquarters Playset achieving 2017 Dream Toys status. The range was also a big hit with retailers and made it into many of the retailers’ top toys for Christmas lists.
What have been the key benefits of the partnership? Katie - A key benefit of the partnership has been the incredibly close collaboration with Flair to deliver multiple retail marketing initiatives throughout the year, resulting in strong sell through and fan engagement. Some examples include launch campaigns with Argos and The Entertainer, through to Q3/Q4 2017 activations with Smyths, where we hosted a trolley dash promotion. In addition, Tesco featured interactive front-of-store promotional displays in over 400 stores which invited fans to take a photo and share it on social media, as well as in-store and online activity for kids.
Emmanuelle - Working with eOne has allowed us to partner with a team that truly knows how to build a property with real longevity and drive consumer engagement at every level of the brand experience, from content to retail.
Season 2 of PJ Masks is about to launch – what can you tell us about the new series and how the toy collection will reflect this? Katie - We are hugely excited about Season 2 - a further 52 x 11’ episodes – which launched exclusively on Disney Junior at the end of March. The new series offers our audience the opportunity to get to know our three heroes in more detail and introduces new locations, new vehicles and new characters, including a new member of the PJ Masks team – PJ Robot – who acts as the ‘Q’ of the HQ, unlocking new super powers and skills for the heroes and the HQ itself. We will also meet two new sets of villains. Luna Girl, Night Ninja and Romeo remain core to the adventures and we will start to see them work more closely together in their efforts to cause havoc. Series two also brings our first two-part episode special - ‘Moon Struck’ – a Super Moon adventure which takes our heroes out of the city and on a mission to the moon. Catboy, Owlette & Gekko open a world of new discoveries to engage preschoolers in thrilling space adventures. Emmanuelle - In addition to new and refreshed SKUs within the core toy line, there will be a capsule Super Moon- themed toy range, which will be available from October (available to pre-order from 1st September). The new range will feature our heroes in their moon outfits and introduce their new Rover vehicles and the HQ Rocket playset. A full-featured PJ Robot will also join the line-up in July. In addition to the Super Moon theme, we
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will continue to refresh our core collection for autumn, including the introduction of a brandnew Headquarters Playset.
Which new product introductions are you excited about for the first half of 2018? Emmanuelle - Vehicles are always important for the fans and we have new Turbo Blast Racers which come with an exclusive PJ Masks character figure, dressed in his or her Turbo Blast outfit and matching racing helmet. We are also excited about the late spring arrival of Romeo’s Lab Playset, the first set to be focused exclusively on villain Romeo from the show.
How do you see the long-term prospects for the brand? Emmanuelle - With the strong pipeline of content and eOne’s development strategy, we see PJ Masks being a cornerstone brand in the Flair Just Play’s portfolio. The launch year has been fantastic, but with what is coming up, we fully expect to grow the brand even further this year and beyond. Katie - We recognise that we’re operating in a tough market, which is experiencing challenging times at retail. However, we’re confident that by carefully managing the brand with a steady category and product roll out plan, continuing to invest in new engaging content, delivering fresh creative assets for product inspiration and working closely with our licensing partners to develop innovative ranges, we can drive further success and sustainable growth.