Toy World catches up with CEO of Maxx Group Michael Kwan to hear about the company’s ongoing bid to raise its profile in the toys market.

Maxx Marketing has been around for 25 years now, establishing YuMe Toys in 2018 to develop its presence in the mainstream toy market, as well as its licensing agency, Licensing Matters Global (LMG), to leverage its licensing expertise.

Michael says that while not many people will know the company by name, if they’ve ever found a toy inside a box of Kellogg’s cereal, it was probably conceived and produced by Maxx, which has worked with other blue-chip brands such as Danone, KFC and Coca-Cola.

Maxx established YuMe Toys with a focus to acquire top licences and prove it can compete with established players in the toys market, and since this time has worked with some of the highest-grossing media franchises including Wizarding World and, more recently, Stranger Things.

Michael tells Toy World how the business has changed in the 25 years since it was started in a Hong Kong apartment to serving some of the world’s best-loved brands. He also speaks about the company’s key strengths and how they are enabling Maxx to get its products onto shelves within just 5-6 months after acquiring an IP.

“We went from never selling a product in retail five years ago to a global reach of over 200k distribution outlets, plus our direct-to-consumer capabilities via eCommerce and sCommerce,” he says.

Now, the company’s annual output as a group is over 100m items and among its strongest performers is its Among Us range, which has huge support across retail and amusement channel partners.

Netflix’s Stranger Things Upside Down Capsules has also exceeded expectations and Maxx also has an upcoming product launch under a new Disney licence to be revealed in due course.

To find out more about Maxx’s plans for the year ahead, read the full article here.