As Spin Master gets ready to celebrate its 30th anniversary, Toy World caught up with Richard Dickson, general manager UK & Ireland, to find out what the year ahead has in store.
Richard describes 2024 as a ‘good year’ for Spin Master – and rightly so. Despite tough conditions across the whole industry, the company pulled off a particularly strong Q4 performance that saw its revenue surge +7.9% to $502.6m, thanks to a whopping +76.9% increase in Entertainment and smaller (but no less important) increases in Toys (+2.5%) and Digital Games (+7.1%).
When assessing how Q1 has been, Richard says there are two ways to look at any business: from the outside looking in, leaning on data from the likes of Circana, for example, and from the inside looking out. While consumer spending is still squeezed, the company has a raft of new launches banked for the second half of the year which he feels will drive things forward.
Spin Master has long been focused on innovation and the past few years have witnessed the company scale up its efforts in this regard. As is so often the case at this time of year, many of Spin Master’s second half launches are still under embargo, though retailers who saw the company’s stand at London Toy Fair or Spielwarenmesse 2024 will be aware of most of them. Happily, we are allowed to talk about the brand Richard is most excited about – Unicorn Academy.
Richard is also very pleased with the early reads on Rubble & Crew, a spin-off Paw Patrol series. Viewership shows the property is currently overachieving in Europe, especially in France, and the toy range is tipped to bring even more innovation to the Paw universe.
In early January, Spin Master completed its acquisition of the US-based Melissa & Doug. A recognised and trusted brand specialising in early childhood play, Richard says the ‘incredible’ acquisition marks a turning point that could very well change the course of the company.
To find out more about what Spin Master will be focusing on in 2024, click here to access the full article, which appeared in Toy World’s April issue.
