Cartoon Network Enterprises showcases products in road show

The event is like a trade show to announce the organisation's future plans and properties

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | September 20, 2016

Cartoon Network Enterprises, the merchandising wing of Turner International, organised a road show on September 20 to display the complete range of products available. The road show, which was last held in 2010, is a platform to announce the organisation's future plans and what has happened so far in the year.

Anand Singh

“The road show is like a trade show. We get all our partners from trade, retail, agencies, FMCG companies in one place and we take them through the property portfolio. What is to come and what is happening and what the future plans for us are for both Warner Brothers and Cartoon Network. So it essentially is a show and tale on our properties and our future plans,” said Anand Singh Director, Cartoon Network Enterprises.

The road show last happened in 2010. Asked about the gap, Singh said, “We used to have a limited number of properties which were doing pretty well. So we didn't need to announce much. Now that we have the entire WB portfolio that we represent in India, there is a lot of action there. Plus, we are launching Ben 10 again in October. We launched Powerpuff Girls, which was another big franchise for us. So there was reason to communicate and that is why we are doing the road show now.”

Speaking about how online is changing the licensing landscape and their distribution strategy in India for both online and offline markets, Singh said, “Online is changing the licensing landscape to a large extent because you are addressing the nth consumer directly. Earlier, you did not know which channel to go to and whom to speak to get your product registered, to get a vendor form. But it is easier now. Also, what is fuelling this is that the e-commerce companies are reaching to more and more people and they are giving the logistics in place. All that is evolving on a day-to-day basis and with cash-on-delivery and the deep discounting, the consumer is laughing all the way to the bank and they are happy because they are the king right now. So that is changing the licensing scenario in a big way.”

“On mass distribution, which is traditional retail mom and pop stores, we are doing the same thing. All our licensees have their own distributors across the states. In modern trade, we help the licensees get into various formats whether it is Future Group or Central or Aditya Birla Group. We communicate with those guys directly and try to see where products are missing from the portfolio, which products need to go on retail, etc. We also have certain direct to retail (DTR) deals, which means we directly tie up with the retailer, whether e-commerce or modern trade. One case in point is a deal we have with Future Group that has taken the entire WB portfolio. They will do products across apparels, young merchandise, back to school, home furnishing, etc. We have another deal with Myntra on Suicide Squad. We plan something on Powerpuff Girls for young adults,” Singh said.

The expansion plan for CNE is to get into more and more categories and entre the regional business.

“We have to deep dive into the regional business because there are regional players that are doing very well. When I say regional I mean regions in India whether it is North-East or a part of South India. We just signed a deal with a company called Dukes, which is a regional player in biscuits in South and is based in Hyderabad. We want to look at the skews in the category, which we can pull out and do more deals with. For example, there are going to be no more deals that just say back to school. Back to school now has multiple things. So, we will keep pulling out and wherever the category is under-served, we will bring a new licensee that has a background or a backend and manufacturing capability and then tie up with them to ensure the product is available everywhere.”

The regional market will be a key focus. The company that has a presence in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh is now expanding to Nepal and Maldives next year. It will also focus on Class B and C towns.

Elaborating on it and the role e-commerce is playing, Singh said, “We are pretty well distributed in Class A towns. So the focus market for us is how to increase distribution and have more touch points in Class B and C towns. That is getting fuelled and supported in a big way by e-commerce. E-commerce is able to reach where modern trade cannot because modern trade or distribution has its own cost of holding inventory, pilferage, etc., which are overheads. The e-commerce model coupled with cash-on-delivery is an amazing proposition for the end consumer.”

Speaking about the additions to their character portfolio Singh said, “We did not have movies earlier. But now Suicide Squad released earlier and Fantastic Beast is coming at the end of this year and then Wonder Woman is releasing. Then a movie called Justice League is coming next year. So, there is a lot of excitement in the movie space. We are launching something called Super Hero Girls. These are the new properties. Plus, we are re-launching Ben 10 and we are quite excited about this property too.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com