Rachel Wakley, general manager, Warner Bros, spoke to Toy World about the enduring Scooby Doo franchise and new developments for the property in 2020.
“Scooby Doo is an enduring, iconic brand because it creates a world of spooky, mysterious fun where playful fans of all ages find the courage to seek adventure, solve problems and do good,” explains Rachel. “It’s a combination of these strong values and the brand’s unique positioning within the entertainment space, especially for kids, that has made Scooby-doo such an iconic brand for 50 years. No matter what the next adventure may be, Scooby-Doo will always deliver.
The target audience broadly falls into three groups: children aged 3-5 who inspire curiosity; children aged 6-8 that lean into mystery and adults who love to celebrate the nostalgia and pass on the fandom.
Exposure is so important to the brand and it has been tremendously lucky to have content that, even after 50 years, everyone still loves. Scooby Doo continues to be a top performer on both pay and free tv channels, highlighting how much fans love engaging in new Scooby content. It has a brand new all animated TV series Scooby Doo and Guess Who, in which Scooby and The Mystery Inc. Gang team up with new friends such as Batman, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Nye and Ricky Gervais to name a few. This will be launching in October 2019, with a further rollout of new episodes to come through 2020 in line with the movie.
The new Scooby movie is going to be an adventure. Slated for May 2020, SCOOB! is the first fully CG animated Scooby-Doo theatrical release. Featuring an iconic cast including Frank Welker, Will Forte, Gina Rodriguez, Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Tracy Morgan, Mark Wahlberg, SCOOB! tells the origin story of one of the most famous friendships of all time, and reveals how Mystery Inc. was formed. The film takes audiences to the four corners of the globe on an epic adventure that taps into the core DNA of the Scooby-Doo franchise, while leveraging a whole new environment and cast of characters.”
Click here to view read the full interview from the October issue of Toy World.
