Company also promotes Alison Taylor to director of distribution and business development.
Aardman has made a brace of new promotions, including Rob Goodchild being made commercial director.
The two newly created roles in the sales and marketing arm of the business form part of a departmental restructuring to consolidate all the studio’s sales, marketing and brand management expertise.
Rob joined Aardman as UK licensing manager in 2008 before progressing to head of licensing. During that time he secured major partnerships for all of Aardman’s key brands supporting global business growth – particularly in Japan and China – as well as working to deliver innovation-led projects such as The Big Fix Up, a new Wallace & Gromit immersive story told through AR (augmented reality) in collaboration with Fictioneers.
In his new position as commercial director, Rob will assume strategic responsibility for the selling and marketing of the studio’s services including third party commercials and short films, the rights exploitation for all Aardman brands, as well as defining new business opportunities such as the development of IP and animated content for third party brands, theme parks and attractions.
He will be tasked with delivering revenue across different categories and markets, influencing growth in key territories across Europe and Asia. Rob also directs the development of Aardman’s branded interactive business, working to increase its presence in the gaming space and with pioneering companies to grow Aardman’s output in new technologies including AR and Blockchain.
In addition, Alison Taylor – currently head of sales and acquisitions – has been promoted to director of distribution and business development. She will be responsible for driving the financing, distribution and long-term content exploitation strategy for each brand.
Both Rob and Alison will report to Sean Clarke, md of Aardman.
“Behind each of our beloved brands is a wealth of knowledge across rights, distribution, sales and marketing that, over recent years, has allowed us to start very successfully representing third party brands in addition to our own IP,” commented Sean. “The restructuring of our sales and marketing arm is the natural next step in maximising this industry-leading expertise, to continue to realise the full potential of Aardmans IP alongside developing our studio service work for third party brands.
“Alison and Rob will make a formidable partnership, working alongside Lucy Wendover who will continue to lead the marketing and brand team.”
Upcoming Aardman projects include Robin Hood, a half-hour festive musical tale coming to Netflix in 2021, plus a Shaun the Sheep half hour special also for Christmas 2021.
Wallace & Gromit: The Big Fix Up will launch this autumn. The new AR immersive experience has been created in collaboration with Fictioneers backed by funding from UK Research & Innovation. Fans of the duo will be able to interact with them in a host of new ways.
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