Farshore’s John Packard on the continuing success of the children’s book category, double-digit growth in gaming and making the most of every opportunity.
Now that we’re at the half time mark in 2022, LicensingSource.net asks a selection of licensees if the year is panning out as they anticipated in terms of opportunities and challenges, and what is the one thing they would like to achieve by the time we reach the all-important Q4 period.
Today: John Packard, publishing director, Farshore.
“Children’s books as a category continues to perform really well both for ourselves and market wide. We saw growth in licensed characters and annuals last year which showed a return to tried and tested properties and formats.
I fully expect this trend to continue into late 2022, and our initial conversations with retail partners have been positive, especially in the annuals category where we have over a third of the market. Some standout opportunities for us include our Disney and gaming titles in this format.
We’ve been especially pleased with our performance on PAW Patrol on the preschool side. Another area where we’ve seen strong double-digit growth is gaming books. We’re launching innovative new gaming titles for all ages, and we’ve substantially increased our Pokémon rights.
Last year was plagued by logistical issues in getting stock into stores, but we weathered it better than most thanks to our fantastic production team. This year I’m confident we’ve got really robust plans in place to make the most of every opportunity.”
This feature originally appeared in the summer 2022 edition of Licensing Source Book. To read the full publication, click on this link.
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