Nothing is quiet on the Eastern Front
Cooperation is the keyword for the 13 Eastern European countries in Kids Media as they gear themselves for growth over the next five years. The cooperation encompasses licences, economic growth and knowledge.
During this year’s Frankfurt book fair, Mattel’s licensing agent made the following observation: ‘I’ve noticed that Egmont has recently become very focused on internal collaboration.’ And Mattel and Disney are vital partners for Kids Media. The Kids Media strategy makes it a top priority to secure a position as Disney’s preferred licensee, and continue its close collaboration with the Disney group. Beyond maintaining a good relationship with licence holders, Kids Media also needs to focus on making new, better agreements.
Scouts secure licence agreements for the future
The new Licence Acquisition Project (LAP) is an initiative consisting of a team of regional scouts and a team of country scouts tasked with identifying, winning and retaining the best licence agreements on the market. The country scouts report to the regional scouts, who are responsible for coordinating feedback on the new licences. The teams exchange information about new and upcoming acquisitions, compare notes on results, and encourage the use of the LAP tools – sales presentations, brand evaluations and business plans.
The new Licence Acquisition Project (LAP) is an initiative consisting of a team of regional scouts and a team of country scouts tasked with identifying, winning and retaining the best licence agreements on the market. The country scouts report to the regional scouts, who are responsible for coordinating feedback on the new licences. The teams exchange information about new and upcoming acquisitions, compare notes on results, and encourage the use of the LAP tools – sales presentations, brand evaluations and business plans.
The country scouts will also brief their regional counterparts about interesting local possibilities, point up local interest in global brands, inform regional scouts about brand results, and respond to requests regional scouts’ receive for business propositions from local markets.
Cooperation means better products
However, the format itself must be streamlined further – for all Eastern European magazines.
However, the format itself must be streamlined further – for all Eastern European magazines.
Several economies of scale can be generated in future when the various Eastern and South-eastern European businesses start cooperating by forming networks and sharing experience in a strong, more cohesive Kids Media division. Standardising magazine formats, paper grades and agreements with printing works throughout Kids Media will enable the division to publish better products at significantly lower cost, and streamlined formats will be a possibility. A more diverse magazine portfolio will be possible, with opportunities for publishing oneoff magazine editions as well as special editions and a few expensive magazines. The concept of a strong Kids Media in Eastern and South-eastern Europe is crucial to this development.
Licence-based products
The core business area of Kids Media Eastern and South-eastern Europe is the publication of character based magazines and books for children. In 2009 the division as a whole generated revenue exceeding DKK 3 billion, the bulk of which is attributable to licensed-character publishing. Examples of licencebased products include Disney’s Princess magazines.
