Rachel Wakley, general manager, Warner Bros., gave Toy World the lowdown on how the company is developing its DC Batman franchise for 2020 following a major landmark anniversary.
“The 80th anniversary ‘Year of the Bat’ was a testament to all the teams within Warner Bros. UK which came together to deliver incremental increases in brand engagement, awareness, partnerships and sales. There was such a vast and varied amount of activations, from new social channels launching, fan events such as the Bat-signal, new charity partnerships, new products, and partner support online, in-store and across media platforms, all of which super-served the UK Batman fan.
For 2020 we’re really excited to have a new toy partnership with Spin Master launching this month, which we are sure our DC fans will love. As well as new products, we’re going to have new content on our DC Kids YouTube channels every Saturday, which will help deepen the affinity and engagement with kids. These Caped Crusaturdays will help drive engagement every week, ensuring that we have an always-on content plan throughout the year.
We have a plethora of new product coming through this year, most notably with our new partner Spin Master across action figures, vehicles and role-play. There’s also newness from our existing key partners; the likes of Funko, MV Sports and Mattel, through Imaginext, continue to bring innovation to our young DC fans. We also have another new partner, Hunter Price, which will be launching its great range of arts & crafts, pocket money and outdoor toys for DC early next year. Each of our partners has done a fantastic job of delivering innovative product at a great price for all of our DC consumers.
We know newness is what drives the toy market, so to have an entirely new Batman action range coming to market gives the franchise an incredible boost. Spin Master has long been known to deliver amazing marketing campaigns and, as you can see from what they’ve pulled together for the DC café at Toy Fair, it’s going to be such an exciting year.”
