Publisher John Baulch visits the headquarters of Clementoni as the company celebrates its 60th anniversary to see what makes it such an enduring success story.
The company was originally founded by Mario Clementoni back in 1963, and the third generation of the Clementoni family is already working in the business. John visited Clementoni’s base in the Recatini and spent time with the leadership team to speak about the milestone anniversary.
The company started out as a games supplier; its very first product was a board game produced to coincide with the San Remo Music Festival, after which the company moved on to developing a range of games based on TV shows. One of the company’s earliest success stories was Sapiento, the game based on ‘two pins’ which was launched in 1967 and is still in the range today.
A move into licensed products was another early milestone; in 1971, Clementoni signed its first licence with Walt Disney for board games, followed two years later by a deal for puzzles. To this day, Clementoni maintains one of the longest partnerships with Disney in the European toy arena.
Since those early days, the company has branched out considerably and is now a leading player in a variety of categories. Throughout its distinguished history, there have been a series of fundamental elements to the company’s DNA, including the ‘learning through play’ philosophy which underpins everything it does. After initially focusing on the domestic market, Clementoni has also developed a strong international focus for the past two decades, with a particular emphasis on Europe.
John describes the decades of changes within the Clementoni business as well as different production it has explored. He speaks about Clementoni’s strong performance last year securing a top spot in Circana’s EU8 chart, its branching out into various sectors, its relationships with licensors, and how the UK office has been doing since its launch in 2010.
To read John’s full article and comments from the Clementoni’s senior leadership team, click here.
