FremantleMedia Kids & Family’s Rick Glankler

In the run-up to Licensing Expo, Rick Glankler, the president and general manager of FremantleMedia Kids & Family, talks to TV Kids about how the company is engaging with children wherever they are.

Since its launch in 2009, FremantleMedia Kids & Family (FMK) has amassed a stable of animated and live-action properties targeting the preschool set all the way up to tweens. Under the leadership of Rick Glankler as president and general manager, FMK has focused on rolling out properties that not only deliver for broadcasters and on-demand platforms, but for retailers as well.

TV KIDS: What are your key properties from an L&M perspective?
GLANKLER: Our major focus properties for Licensing Expo are Kate & Mim-MimDanger Mouse and Tree Fu Tom. All have secured a strong global footprint, with each distributed to over 100 territories. We now have second ***Image***seasons for both Kate & Mim-Mim and Danger Mouse and are in our third season for Tree Fu Tom.

TV KIDS: What makes these properties merchandisable?
GLANKLER: Kate & Mim-Mim celebrates the special friendship between a young girl and her toy bunny. Living in the real world, Kate is an inspirational role model with a boundless imagination. In the fantastical world of Mimiloo, she can be anyone she wants to be, whether it’s a princess, a train driver or an astronaut—these themes resonate strongly with girls today.

The combination of action and comedy make Danger Mouse stand out from other properties for the target age group of boys 5-plus. The gadgets and vehicles, villains and multiple locations provide many layers for play patterns and subsequent consumer-product opportunities. The first toys launched at retail in the U.K. in spring this year and have been really well received. With the classic original series also airing internationally on Netflix, alongside the new series, we are in the fortunate position of being able to run parallel L&M campaigns, with the classic range aimed at adults and the new aimed at children.

Tree Fu Tom is an action personality created to appeal to the under 5s. The interactive spells, inspired by Kung Fu, are hugely popular and allow children to believe that they can be just like Tom. In season three the added element of Red Magic has taken the show to the next level. Just like gaining a new belt in a martial art, Tom’s spells now give him the powers of certain animals. This is a really compelling combination for kids that provides great L&M opportunities, especially in areas like role play.

TV KIDS: What are the main categories of licensing opportunities for these brands?
GLANKLER: Kate & Mim-Mim has all the major categories signed in the U.S.—toy, publishing, digital, apparel—and we are looking at signing additional secondary categories, including bedding/bath, seasonal, activity and party goods.

Our focus markets in 2016 are Spain, Italy, France, the Middle East and Russia and we’re looking to sign licensees in all key categories—publishing, apparel, back to school, ancillary toy, etc.

For Danger Mouse, the U.K. is our launch market and all key categories are signed following the spring toy launch. A number of other key categories will be launching this autumn, and we will also launch toys in Australia. In terms of additional licensees, we are actively seeking our second tier: wheeled, role play, confectionery, stationery and back to school for the U.K. and starting to roll out in other markets early in 2017, once the first series has broadcast.

Tree Fu Tom toys have launched in Australia and are [rolling out] in the U.K. and the rest of the world this year.

TV KIDS: What are the main challenges in the L&M market today?
GLANKLER: Consumers still demand great stories and when they find one they like they will consume it ferociously; the rise in binge-watching is a testament to this. But with so much platform fragmentation and content saturation, the stories have to be really good and highly original if they are going to stand out and drive deeper brand engagement, which is what drives successful consumer-product programs. In addition, the plethora of blockbuster theatrical releases becoming sustainable franchises has further saturated an already congested market. With their massive investment, [feature films have] eaten into an area that was traditionally dominated by broadcast—even in preschool. This broad choice is great for consumers but continues to pose massive challenges for IP owners and licensors competing to reach kid audiences.

TV KIDS: What are retailers looking for? What trends are you seeing in the market?
GLANKLER: Increased competition has created a need for even faster results, and there is even more pressure for brands to gain immediate traction. Movies with extensive marketing spend continue to drive a lot of the L&M market for kids, and we are also seeing franchises that offer up different experiences for kids of all ages under the same brand umbrella.

While still critically important, ratings are no longer the single most important driver for securing shelf space. Retailers are looking to see how brands engage with kids off- as well as on-screen and are relying more and more on IP owners and licensors to invest heavily in marketing their brands.

TV KIDS: What opportunities do you see outside of the big-box retailers?
GLANKLER: Our ability to engage consumers in active conversations via social media allows us to talk to them in a more meaningful way and drive them to the most appropriate retail opportunities, whether they are online or at brick-and-mortar retailers.

For FremantleMedia Kids & Family in the U.K., the independent toy chains continue to grow year on year and are becoming an essential part of the retail mix. Retailers are also becoming savvier about the need to drive footfall by offering more immersive in-store retail experiences, which provide great opportunities for us with character costume tours and similar initiatives that help expand brand engagement.

TV KIDS: What are your key digital L&M categories?
GLANKLER: For us digital is a great way of creating and extending consumer engagement with our brands through websites, social and online games. Online is the single most important destination for moms to find out more about the content their kids love, and kids are the first to adopt new technology. Once we have that digital engagement in place, and it’s still early days for some of our brands, we can then look at ways to drive commercial revenue.

In terms of commercial revenue, apps are a key focus area for us, but platforms like YouTube also provide us with an opportunity to seed our own content and to generate revenue. This works particularly well for some of the brands in our classic portfolio, which have a big nostalgia factor.