Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Bonus Episode: A Fireside Chat with Funko's VP of POP! Yourself and Retail, Dave Beré
548 Plays2 years ago
Hey you... yeah, we're talking to you. Listen buddy, go POP! Yourself. And while you're at it, POP! your friend, your partner, and your parent! No... seriously... turn yourself and your loved ones into Funko POP! vinyl figures! Listen to this fireside chat led by Funko's VP of the POP! Yourself program and Retail as he discusses the newly launched product and talks about what's to come!
Visit funko.com today to POP! Yourself and be sure to follow @originalfunko on Instagram for the latest updates.
Ready to shop better hydration, use our special link https://zen.ai/aicpod20 to save 20% off anything you order.
Save 12% at BlendJet - use our special link and the discount will be applied at checkout! zen.ai/aicpod12
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
Recommended
Transcript
Summer Activities and Liquid IV Promo
00:00:01
Speaker
The summer is here. That means outdoor festivals, comic-cons, and the perfect weather for toy hunts. As the weather heats up and you're out there enjoying yourself, stay hydrated with our show's sponsor, Liquid IV. Liquid IV hydrates two times faster than water alone and three times the electrolytes of traditional sports drinks, and it's easy to use. Just rip open a pouch, pour one of their delicious flavors into a water bottle, and shake it up.
00:00:30
Speaker
With sea berry, strawberry lemonade, concord grape, lemon lime, pina colada, tropical punch, watermelon, guava, and more to choose from, there is a flavor for everyone. So whether you're on that long toy hunt, spending 10 hours on your feet walking your favorite comic-con, or getting your sweat on, stay hydrated and healthy with Liquid IV. Get 20% off when you go to liquidiv.com
00:00:56
Speaker
and use code AICPOD at checkout. That's 20% off anything you order when you shop better hydration today using promo code AICPOD at liquidiv.com.
Introduction to Hosts and Episode with Funko
00:01:17
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors.
00:01:41
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Adventures in Collecting podcast. Today, what you're about to hear is a special fireside chat and a roundtable with Funko, Vice President of Pop Yourself and Retail Dave Beret.
00:01:56
Speaker
Dave sat down with our Dave, along with some other members of the toy community to discuss the new Pop Yourself program, what's in the pipeline, what's to come, as well as to answer a bunch of questions. So sit back, grab yourself a pop, and take a listen to this awesome roundtable discussion. Take it away, Dave.
Pop Yourself's Uniqueness and E-commerce Integration
00:02:20
Speaker
How I kind of have this broken out today is I want to spend some time and talking about what this brand is and why it's extremely unique for our portfolio and how it's going to be positioned in our portfolio going forward, which will probably prompt some questions.
00:02:36
Speaker
I wanna talk about the highlights that we've done thus far. This has been a product that has existed in our store. We've had our two stores, we've had success. We brought it on to e-commerce on August 22nd. And I wanna fill you in on kind of what we're seeing out of the gates.
00:02:52
Speaker
And then i want to go a little bit into where we're going and how we're thinking about the brand as we head into the holiday season but also as we head into next year is really. For us the august twenty second date was really day one about this it was a milestone in time but there's so much more in front of us they were really excited to talk to you about today.
00:03:14
Speaker
You know, ultimately this brand is about people and that opens up a whole host of opportunities for us at Funko and it makes the opportunity, the business opportunity massive, but it makes how we can engage with our fans in new ways really game changing for us.
00:03:35
Speaker
everyone i'm sure on the calls familiar with our pop brand what what makes it unique is the style station i'll bring up my a special assistant michael jordan here you can see that the head to body ratio is a certain size obviously the black eyes are
00:03:54
Speaker
a part of it and every single item that we release has within the power and has that form factor and that is really resonated with fans to the fact that we don't know what is in a product line it's a platform and here are some examples of the different product lines that have.
00:04:14
Speaker
come out from pop, it could be on t-shirts, it could be on ornaments, it could be pins, it could be different scales. It could be not a physical product like our digital collectibles which continue to do really well. Earlier this, or late last year we announced the
00:04:30
Speaker
the Funko Fusion video game. That's a huge step forward for our brand and this stylization mixed with licenses and how fans engage with it. And this is an important place to start because as we think about pop yourself going forward, this is the platform that there's out there today. So this gives us a blueprint
00:04:54
Speaker
as we can think about pop yourself going forward. The other thing to note with this is this is millions and millions and millions of dollars for Funko and it is obviously the biggest piece of our business. But at the same time, it is 98% licensed. So in a way, when you think about ways that pop can participate in different aspects of life,
00:05:21
Speaker
that as big as it is, that seems limiting, which is why we're so excited that the pop yourself brings pop to everyone.
Empowering Fans with Pop Yourself
00:05:33
Speaker
And we think it's really our time to cement the pop form factor
00:05:38
Speaker
as an icon and it's not just about expansion it's about participation think about our fan who loves said license loves the sewer superhero it's their hero they display it on their their desk that's a part of their life it's a part of how fans identify but there's so much more.
00:06:00
Speaker
in that fan's life were either they themselves can become the hero, loved ones can become the hero, and now in pop form we think is extremely game-changing for our brand that fans get to step into that moment first and foremost. It's about participation.
00:06:21
Speaker
It's also the ultimate narrative changer for our brand, and I'll walk through a personal example of mine. Today, Funko, we are in the business of connecting fans to fandoms. That's what we do, and then we connect them to other fans, and it creates an incredible community.
00:06:43
Speaker
uh connecting fans to fandoms is is pretty linear when you think about it and these are exam these are my examples and i i do think i'm not going to get into it today but i do think the psychology behind why we like what we like is super interesting and these are four of my fandoms ninda turtle elvis michael jordan and mike and ice and just to walk through like
00:07:03
Speaker
Just a little bit behind those ninja turtles is the first piece of content i ever saw the reason pizza is my favorite food my grandma love to help us that's all she listen to that when i think my grandma i think about albus i'm born and raised in chicago a kid in the nineties of course michael jordan's a hero,
00:07:20
Speaker
I'm mine and my brother never let me have his mic and I can always have in the house and i just never was able to have a like that that's how i connect to these fandoms and that's why which i think is interesting itself but again like that's only a part of who i am. I got three kids i'm married i got a dog my best friend in the world.
00:07:42
Speaker
And now Pop gets to participate in all that. And what a personal space that, you know, it's not that connecting fans to fans isn't personal because it is and it's important, but moving into some of these other aspects of life. What a personal space to be in and what a privilege for a brand like Funko to be able to participate
00:08:05
Speaker
in different aspects of fans' lives. And obviously with that, we think comes a huge opportunity as we go forward.
Engaging Gen Z and Seasonal Opportunities
00:08:18
Speaker
And through this, because we are going to participate in different aspects of different people's lives, bringing in different interests,
00:08:26
Speaker
we think from a consumer standpoint this is a huge opportunity for us today we are our core fan base really lives within the millennial although we are it continues to expand and that will always be our core.
00:08:42
Speaker
But looking at these three different groups, each one serves a really important purpose for us. First, with Gen Z, you think about how pop yourself can participate in cultural conversation going forward that really pop can't. Imagine something goes trending on TikTok.
00:09:01
Speaker
the red boots from a few months ago. That's very hard for like pop to react to make a pop like what is that in pop form. But because pop yourself is people and how people experience life something like that can come into
00:09:16
Speaker
this brand as we go forward. We're excited about that and we're excited about how we can use that to engage Gen Z as we go forward. Another one that has been growing for us is families. We've seen this with our core business and I can't tell you how many families I've talked to over my time at Funko.
00:09:38
Speaker
uh, sons collecting with their moms or complete families, you know, showing up at events. It's something that they, they all have their own individual fandoms, but it's something they participate in together. Um, which is great. This, uh, for pop yourself allows us to engage with families different.
00:09:56
Speaker
Retail is this this brand has been launched in a retail stores for the past few years it's been the number one item it's it we know it's it gives us it gave us the reason to believe all the things one of the things we noticed in stores was.
00:10:12
Speaker
Family and friends and groups were going through this process together laughing building out each other taking turns you know seeing building each other and what that being having special reveals that something like retail is going to be a part of this strategy going forward.
00:10:30
Speaker
In fact, a big part, how we think about the experience is going to be really important in engaging families. I'm not sitting here and saying we're build a bear, but I think there is a blueprint there as we think about experience in person that could be interesting to emulate as we go forward.
00:10:52
Speaker
And then the last and most important, we'll get into this in more, not most important, but the last and most relevant given the time of year we're heading into is gift giving. We think Funko as a business is seasonal. We're seasonal. We will see the spikes. We're also seasonal around content. We'll see some of our biggest months in the summer based on
00:11:16
Speaker
you know temple releases or evergreen items tied to temple releases but this is a real opportunity to bring gift giving and because it's it's it's personal and it just lends itself to that it's not just hey we're heading into the holiday season which we think will be great it's valentine's day it's mother's day it's father's day it's graduations it's birthdays it's anniversaries
00:11:39
Speaker
All of that now comes into play for pop yourself we think we can add spikes to our business that weren't necessarily there before. Before i get into the highlights i didn't know those are some fundamental things about the brand i just want to pause and just see if there was any questions on any of that before we move into what we're seeing since launch.
Licensing and Personalized Options
00:12:04
Speaker
I have a question for bodies on the pop yourself. How come there aren't any license brands such as your head on a Spider-Man body, things like that? Yeah, that's a great question. First of all, you'll see that in a slide coming up. Licensing is coming. We strategically launched without it because we thought that this room had the air to breathe as an introduction point, an opportunity for the pop IP to step forward and be front of the line.
00:12:34
Speaker
and establish that. But certainly as we go forward, we know the importance of connecting fans to fandoms to our business. That's going to be a key part of this. So while it's not here at launch, I'm not going to say any specific licenses today, but I'm going to go into how we're thinking about it. Because I think there's some really interesting and authentic ways to engage different fan bases. But that was a strategic decision we made. But with that said, it's definitely coming in 2024.
00:13:03
Speaker
Hi, can I ask you a question? This is Nadia with The Talkers and Geeks. Will people be able to kind of ask for anything specific, like let's say, like a sports team, like if you know someone that plays for like a team, maybe not necessarily like professional, but like high school or basketball or something like that?
00:13:22
Speaker
Yes. I'm going to get into this a little bit, but Liz, to the day one comment, this is day one from an assortment standpoint and this is people and we are going to constantly and have the pipeline to listen to fans on what's missing from our assortment and what we can add that represents fans and that they can participate in.
00:13:48
Speaker
Over the summer, a top five thing I heard to your question was popping my team through youth sports, through high school sports. I mean, with the NIL, there's obviously a lot of attention around young non-professional sports, I should say. So that's absolutely something that we're exploring, whether that's looking at multiple
00:14:16
Speaker
uh figures in a single pack like literally building like a team pack versus making sure we have all the sports the top youth sports represented from an accessory standpoint from a jersey standpoint and making sure that um from a number standpoint that we're facilitating that either through print on uh the actual item or stickers there's a lot that we're working through with that but to answer your question that is also something popping your team that's going to be uh uh that is on our calendar for next year
00:14:46
Speaker
Let's talk about what we're seeing thus far from our brand.
Achievements and Top-selling Status
00:14:51
Speaker
The first is, yes, we are selling items, but we are enabling that it's not just about purchasing an avatar that you create.
00:15:03
Speaker
it's something you can download something you can share that can be something that will continue to invest in and continue to make that experience better there is a huge digital play here as we think about one of our marketing slogans is join the population we want to create a world of pops and since we've lost moved over to our three three d avatar builder which is earlier this year.
00:15:30
Speaker
We've had over one million digital avatars created in just seven or eight months since we launched that. We're really excited about what that means from how we can convert those to actual product sales, but also socially and sharing and getting back to the cementing as an icon. This is going to be very important to our strategy going forward, which I thought was
00:15:59
Speaker
super interesting and that's another version of me there with my dog and I love baseball and Halloween so more about me different versions you can purchase. The other thing that we're seeing it is the number one item by far
00:16:15
Speaker
on Funko.com since launch. So we're super excited about the results we've seen out of the gate. I think in the next, I'll just throw this out here too, I think in the next week or two will be the number one dollar item on the year. So we're definitely on track as we lead into the holiday season, which we have really big expectations. It's something that
00:16:39
Speaker
has read the accessibility has really resonated with fans. We are going to continue to work through to make sure that the unboxing experience and the experience of shipping and how quickly people get it and all of that is as good as it can be. If you haven't seen this will be small on the screen, but you haven't seen the box we send it in. We really focus on the year one of one thinking of bright, colorful packaging is the moment that
00:17:06
Speaker
you or a loved one becomes a pop figure is such a special moment and that's going to be something that we continue to invest in and it's going to be important for the longevity of the program and in addition to all the different things we can do with the assortment. But we are really excited about what this means. From what our fans choosing standpoint, I think this is super interesting because today,
00:17:34
Speaker
Funko.com is, through the growth of Funko.com, we've learned more about our fans than we ever have before. And that's extremely valuable for us to deliver better experiences and better products for them going forward. Up until the launch of Pop Yourself, the interest and affinities are very much license specific. That's the business we're in. But it's really interesting when you bring in a whole
00:18:02
Speaker
amount of new non license items and you think about what are resonating with people and i think it's just you know looking at the disease are the top ten accessories chosen it's just. It's the these are the things that are part of every people's every day's life you may not watch that superhero movie every day you may not read that comic book every day.
00:18:23
Speaker
But a lot of people are gaming every day. A lot of people have their morning coffee. A lot of people exercise every day. A lot of people are at work on laptops. These are the things that are just interesting that people identify with and that we can learn from as we go forward, which is, I think, going to be really great for our brand.
00:18:45
Speaker
On September 12th last week I think this is a great example of how we're going to participate in the seasons. We launched our Halloween assortment which allows fans to costume up in a skeleton outfit or a mummy outfit with a
00:19:03
Speaker
a whole bunch of accessories what's not pictured here and what's pictured on the body slide is probably the cutest little ghost you'll ever see but we're excited about this is this is obviously something that resonates with our halloween in general resonates with our fan base but it's also an example of how we can participate in
00:19:24
Speaker
seasonal moments that may not be necessarily gift giving moments, but they're an opportunity to re-engage our fan base like Halloween. And the results we've seen out of this are great. This is a limited time assortment and we are definitely on a path to sell out of this.
Seasonal Themes and Lifestyle Integration
00:19:50
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores. Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey or online at chubsywubsy.com.
00:20:18
Speaker
That's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y dot com. And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:20:30
Speaker
Rewind and press play on your VHS collection with CGC. CGC is excited to announce our newest collectible vertical, CGC Home Video. As a division dedicated to authenticating and grading your VHS collection, our experts are ready to help you encapsulate your favorite video cassettes. Don't settle for static on the screen. Submit today at CGCgrading.com. That's CGCgrading.com.
00:21:00
Speaker
Face it, shaker bottles suck. Your shakes always come out clumpy and they're a pain to clean. You're right, Dave. That's why I decided to ditch my shaker bottle for good and get myself a BlendJet 2 portable blender. It makes perfectly blended shakes in just 20 seconds.
00:21:18
Speaker
BlendJet 2 is portable, so you can blend up a smoothie at work, a protein shake at the gym, or even a margarita on the beach. It's small enough to fit in a cup holder, but powerful enough to blast through tough ingredients like ice and frozen fruit with ease. BlendJet 2 is whisper quiet, so you can make your morning smoothie without waking up the whole house.
00:21:42
Speaker
It lasts for over 15 blends and recharges quickly via USB-C. Best of all, BlendJet 2 cleans itself. Just blend water with a drop of soap and you're good to go. With an array of colors, patterns, or even Disney-inspired designs to choose from, show off your personality while you're blending up something delicious on the go. What are you waiting for? Go to blendjet.com and grab yours today.
00:22:10
Speaker
and be sure to use the promo code AICPOD12 to get 12% off your order and free two-day shipping. No other portable blender on the market comes close to the quality, power, and innovation of the BlendJet 2. They guarantee you'll love it or your money back. Blend anytime, anywhere with the BlendJet 2 Portable Blender. Go to blendjet.com
00:22:35
Speaker
and use the code AICPOD12 to get 12% off your order and free two-day shipping. Shop today to get the best deal ever. And now back to the show.
00:22:52
Speaker
So that's an example of seasonal. An example of life moments of something we introduced last week is babies. I think to the question on sports teams earlier in youth sports, this idea of family and coming together, right now we have two body types that I would say are adult focused. I think we are looking at what building out a family would be, and I think this is the first step.
00:23:21
Speaker
Obviously, having a baby is a huge milestone in people's lives, so we're really excited that pop yourself can now be a part of a moment that, you know, Bunko in general would really probably never be involved with. And if you think about
00:23:39
Speaker
whether you or a loved one just had a baby and what this can represent of that. You think about baby showers, you think about reveal and announcement moments, all of that now pop yourself can participate. So when we say it's a privilege to be a part of these moments that we weren't a part of,
00:24:00
Speaker
uh prior this is it this is an example and this is something that we are as we move into 2024 are going to be doing a deep dive of how we can specifically um have you know items where we where fans can celebrate these key life moments and if you haven't seen a baby i have one here i know it's probably small on the screen you can see that the scale uh sits up in its own blister um super cute
00:24:26
Speaker
So we're excited about the early response on this too. And again, I think it's a good contrast of how we're going to participate in seasons and how we're going to participate in life moments. The next is one of the other stats that I didn't mention, which I'm fine sharing. We are over 50% of the time, people when they purchase a pop yourself item are adding a buddy.
00:24:53
Speaker
What is a body a body is i mean for all of all purposes a pad but we have some great plans for this line the scale of a pop to a body of the splashes up again you can see it's just kind of a cute little sidekick that goes with you but we've we've buddies have been a mainstay since we launched them in stores and
00:25:19
Speaker
Up until this point they've been just dogs and cats but we know that we can have fun with buddies that could be literal like a pet, which is why we're bringing in the rabbit and a snake and more dogs, but there's opportunities to bring in things like a ghost. That's the ghost I was referencing, which our number one buddy
00:25:37
Speaker
Up until this point has been a black cat it just it just has it just it just goes it cranks it's the number one no other body is really come close to it although collectively they all do well but last week with the launch of the ghost the black cat was finally dethroned so we're really excited about what this can mean this is an attached item so this is an additional.
00:26:00
Speaker
$4 as we go forward and you have the opportunity to add up to two. So Buddies is a place that we're going to continue to invest in as we go forward.
Collaboration with TikTok for Wider Engagement
00:26:08
Speaker
And these Buddies you see here outside of the ghost are releasing next week. So we're really excited to expand the Buddy assortment and choice for fans.
00:26:19
Speaker
The next thing I want to talk about is something that is happening today. To the digital and activation standpoint, to the join the population comment, we're doing something that for us as far as reaching Gen Z, reaching a new customer is something that
00:26:42
Speaker
We've just never really done anything quite like this. So today on TikTok, TikTok's all about fun videos and viral moments and filters and funny, humorous, all sorts of emotion, short clips. And we're excited that we've partnered with TikTok to bring a lighter version of our builder.
00:27:03
Speaker
uh into the platform so if you go on tiktok and you go under effects it's going to be it's on the top row i just looked at it um so we're uh we're really excited about this i would give you a live demo but we we tried this earlier in life it just didn't didn't quite read yeah so we're
00:27:21
Speaker
Obviously really excited about what this can mean for the brand going forward and just reaching a larger audience. We also think it's just super fun and back to like the DNA of what our brand of Funko is and what pop yourself is. We think fans will have a lot of fun with this. I think the fact that it blanks and like the eyebrows raised as yours do, I think we're excited to see the types of videos that fans make today. So that's something that we're going to be monitoring throughout the day and they're excited about.
00:27:49
Speaker
So next, I wanna talk about what's next. So those are some of the highlights that we've seen for pop yourself up into this point.
Positioning Pop Yourself for Holiday Gifting
00:27:59
Speaker
As we go forward, we know we're knocking on the doorstep of holiday. And for us, we've launched this, we've campaigned, and we're gonna be moving into a holiday push, positioning this really as the ultimate gift.
00:28:18
Speaker
you know why first and foremost it's it's personal i think whether you're a fan or even know what pop is or not the fact of getting a figure of yourself that you can display that has your name on the box that has the your interest in the hands i think that moment of.
00:28:39
Speaker
Getting that and seeing that but also this idea of giving it the person who gave it to you it shows that you know that i think you know that exchange is personal it is a pop figure so it's also fine so we do think that this is
00:28:58
Speaker
a huge opportunity for us this holiday season. Like I said before, the gift giving season is going forward. At $30, we think that that's also a great price point for customization and personalization. If you compare that to just other products in the marketplace, we think that we're well positioned at that price point. And the fact that you'll get it at a reliable time. Right now,
00:29:26
Speaker
I mean these are shipping out in a day and a half and there's ground shipping so it's arriving to fans in four to five days. We're planning to scale as holiday scale so we can do the best we can to keep that as we go forward so this is a reliable gift.
00:29:44
Speaker
as we move into the holiday season i think that's a really important point that we focused a lot on the fulfillment side which i haven't talked a lot about because obviously the complexity of that of putting together really a one of one every time going out the door but for us hot this holiday aside the fact that hey.
00:30:06
Speaker
It's January and I got a birthday party next weekend. Is this a gift that you can go on Funko.com and receive and expect to give? And the short answer for us is yes. And that's going to be really important as we go forward. So as we scale, those are the problems we're going to have to solve and we're going to solve because for us, that's a key part of the experience and it's going to be a key part of the experience this holiday. One of the things we're going to showcase this holiday
00:30:35
Speaker
is like for Halloween you can become a mummy and like you for you can become a skeleton this holiday you are going to be able to become an elf which we're really excited about this is something that we tested in our stores for just a few weeks last year but we're excited about bringing this to the masses of what this can mean I think there's a lot of you know a lot of celebration of families and jammies and all of that coming together and we
00:31:04
Speaker
We think that this will resonate with fans and you can expect to see this later this holiday season. So we expect a quite literal take on seasonal in addition to all the other just everyday gift giving moments. So we're excited about this.
00:31:23
Speaker
And then just to talk through, I'm going to spend a little time going into detail. I know the slides generic, but I promise I'm going to give you a little more detail than that. So the first is, like some of the questions that have come up on product,
00:31:37
Speaker
evolution. First and foremost, we have multiple pipelines that we are listening to, whether it's actual social listening, whether it's our own social channels and polls, whether it's our customer service. We have active flows of information coming to us about what fans want to see next, and we are absolutely going to be listening to that. In fact, we have a whole
00:32:03
Speaker
updated assortment that has another 150 items coming in the first half of next year that is 100% listening on to what fans want to see. Because like I said before, ultimately this brand works if fans can see themselves, if they can identify with the choice that we're providing. And I'll give one example. One of the things that popped up in the feedback was a wheelchair. And that's something that
00:32:32
Speaker
we heard across all different vehicles and that's an example of something that you're going to be able to get in the first half of next year. So it's important for fans again to see themselves. The other thing with the product evolution is more seasonal moments and being a part of a cultural
00:32:53
Speaker
conversation so like i mentioned all the different gift giving moments of valentine's days happening mother's days having father's days happening will have literal examples of product that we that fans can celebrate the other thing we're looking at as we get into the special moments is we're gonna start to introduce special boxes which i'm.
00:33:14
Speaker
we think will just add to the collectability and specialness of the moment. So those are all things that you'll expect to see us do early next year. The next is licensing. I mean, this is a question we get, obviously, because of the nature of our business. And strategically, like I said, we've launched without licensing. This is about celebration of pop and cementing that as an icon.
00:33:41
Speaker
But we know that our fans love fandoms, and we know that that's how a lot of people get their identities, which we embrace, and that's great. As we move into next year, licensing is absolutely going to be a part of it, and I'm just going to give you a little bit of a sneak of how we're thinking about it.
00:34:00
Speaker
One is probably the obvious of hey we had accessory choices you have t-shirt choices that you may pop in the phone and see that there's certain accessories would be highlighted and you can and you can represent that and participate in that i think that that's a way you think that this would how this how licensing live within this brand.
00:34:25
Speaker
The other thing we are exploring is we know that there are there are there are fan bases out there that are massive and not just the amount of fans they have but the amount of content they have where pop yourself can.
00:34:40
Speaker
and said big license can be its whole own ecosystem. So we are exploring that too and how the distribution side of that will come to life. I think may or may not be on Funko.com. And those are the types of things that we are exploring of how we can bring this brand to life for fans. The last thing that we think this lens for licensing that really lends itself well to our
00:35:08
Speaker
point-in-time events. Obviously, events are a part of our DNA. We do the Comic-Cons, and we do the Funko Bills, and we're about to go to New York Comic-Con. Those are big, and I would expect some sort of representation of that as we pop yourself in that as we go forward. But there's also cultural moments that tie to licensing. This is one that's not imminent, but I'll just take the Super Bowl as an example, where it is a point in time, it is a week, and imagine if you did
00:35:36
Speaker
We were there and you did have custom items that were the teams playing, hopefully the Bears one day for 20, 34. That where you can put yourself in that team's jersey, have that custom box and it's very special for that moment. We think that's important to drive the collectability of this brand as we go forward. So we're excited about and are exploring what exactly that can look like as we go forward.
00:36:04
Speaker
And then the last piece, and I'll kind of close with this, is currently this is only available in the US. More than any other license we have, we know that this is going to resonate across the globe because it's people.
00:36:21
Speaker
And so the one of the things that we're actively working on as we move into next year is how can we expand this into different territories and. That is going to be something we do next year, the exact rollout is something that we're actively working on day to day now.
00:36:39
Speaker
But we'll have more to share on that because obviously getting this accessible to more fans is really important for us. So that's another pillar that you'll see as we move into 2023. With that, that is the end of what I had prepared. Hopefully that just gave you a little bit of insight into
00:37:01
Speaker
how we're thinking about the brand within our portfolio at Funko. What are the highlights we're seeing? There's a lot that we're really encouraged about and how do we take that momentum and build it as we move into next year is what we want to showcase for you today.
00:37:19
Speaker
So with that, I think we'll open up another question period if that works. Thank you, Dave. Yeah, we have a few pop yourself related questions that we can go through. First, we had a question. Can you tell me where the figures are manufactured? If overseas, have you considered building facilities in the United States?
00:37:37
Speaker
We are, so yes, to everything you just said, they are components that are manufactured overseas and they are, we have a fulfillment center in Mexico, which I'm in San Diego and it's just, you know, I can get there in under 45 minutes that assembles
00:38:02
Speaker
and ship some over the border to ship out in the United States is how it's currently planned. As we go forward, we're looking at all options. I mean, because we're talking about small components, there are opportunities for us to think differently about it, but that's at least currently how the programs run. Great. Are there plans for more hairstyles, hair colors, and clothing options to be able to match more personal styles?
00:38:32
Speaker
Yes, lots of that. I mean, I think to the day one comment, our assortment had to start somewhere. But again, it's really day one. And as we go forward, the biggest thing for us is listening to fans and fans feedback and implementing that
00:38:51
Speaker
uh into this assortment so this is going to get uh bigger we'll optimize where we need to optimize where you know we can look at slow sellers or outfits that don't resonate anymore but that's going to be really important for us from a trend perspective but also to make sure that people can see themselves uh perspective as we go forward so uh starting next spring we have a whole
00:39:12
Speaker
uh, next round of items coming through. And if there are specific things, uh, to an example of fan feedback, just provide those directly to myself or, uh, Brianna, we have a running list, um, that we evaluate and we look for trends and themes. Um, and we, all we need to see is that and things get added to the assortment. So the short, that's a long answer to a short answer, which is yes.
00:39:36
Speaker
Someone had mentioned your reference to Build a Bear and they're curious about the experience for retail, given that there's an Everett store with the popular self experience in the Hollywood store, obviously. Is there more to be considered for the retail experience further afield or is this really just an online experience for now?
00:39:57
Speaker
No, I mean retail is, I say that common intentionally because it retails a key part of this strategy going forward to what I said about what we're seeing in stores about families coming together. I think because it's accessible and Funko.com, now we have to think differently about our stores. They have to, as experiential as our stores are for the pop yourself section, has to be more experiential. So the types of things that we're looking at is
00:40:26
Speaker
differentiated assortment, differentiated box, as you go through the build experience, is that different than online? Are there unique photo ops? Is there a ceremonial pickup when you get your pop? All of those things are being evaluated. The short answer is yes, we are going to be looking at both HQ and Hollywood, but there's also, we think, opportunity, like I said, with pop-ups and
00:40:54
Speaker
other smaller format where this can come to life even beyond those two stores where we can bring and infuse some of that experience going forward. So that same sort of point, do you think there's an opportunity to have like an East Coast HQ? Well, you want my personal opinion or what I think?
00:41:17
Speaker
Clearly, we have a lot on the west coast for the two stores that we have. Even if you look at the events, we're excited about going to New York Comic Con and what that represents. I'm not going to say yes because nothing's imminent, but we are actively, from a pop yourself standpoint, looking at ways where we can bring this experience to the east coast, whether that's in a temporary way like a
00:41:42
Speaker
a weekend pop-up or something that's small format in a little bit more semi-permanent way. All of those things are being explored right now. But we always, I mean, the East Coast thing is nothing new for our brand. We want to be there more than we are today. We want to show up more. That's why we're excited about New York in a couple of weeks. But that's kind of where we're at today with that question.
00:42:05
Speaker
And on the online perspective, shipping is restricted to the US. Are there plans to expand access to other countries like Canada?
00:42:16
Speaker
Specifically, well, I would say there are plans to expand to other territories. I mean, it's obvious for us to think that Canada and Mexico, just given the geographic location of those, would be natural territories. I don't want to commit to anything today because there's a lot of complexity to work through. But yes, as we move into next year, we are going to be actively looking at
00:42:41
Speaker
territories to ship to and expand to. So more to share on that soon. Great. So are there any special, you mentioned special days and holidays, are there plans or discussions for wedding related pop yourself options?
00:43:03
Speaker
Yes, and I would love to show you the assortment that's on my floor over here that we are working through. Yes, the answer is yes. I mean, the wedding season is something that we are going to be celebrating next year. One of the things that we've seen fans do is not only give them as gifts, but use these as cake toppers. So there's a lot that we are embracing. There's also some other
00:43:32
Speaker
Without getting too many details, different price point options that we're looking at for things like that, they can really kind of elevate what that experience is about bringing people together. So more to share on that soon, but short answer is yes. That's in the pipeline. We do have some suits and things in the assortment now, but it's nowhere near where it's going to be in the future. And by future, I mean first half of next year.
00:43:59
Speaker
Um, since this is a customizable product, are there plans for accessory packs and removable items? Uh, pushing me on the product question. Short answer is, uh, uh, yes, we are looking at, um, accessory packs. We're looking at that from a, um, a licensing solution, uh, to.
00:44:23
Speaker
Hey, it's my game day pack because the other thing that I didn't get into much detail, there is the interchangeability. So I'm holding my laptop here. You can take that out. So there is some of that when it comes to accessories.
00:44:40
Speaker
and things like that. So those are also things that we're exploring. We think that also there's an opportunity to potentially add collectability into that special package, special accessories. That's also something that's a part of our core business. Like how do we bring some of the collectability into this? But short answer is yes, timing is TBD on that and how exactly that comes to life. But that is something that's being actively explored and developed.
00:45:09
Speaker
Awesome. Well, that takes us... Oh, got another one from Sarah. How many accessories can you currently choose? Can you get additional ones as add-ons like the buddy? Yeah, so currently you can choose two that fit in each of your hand and then you can choose up to two buddies. The buddies are an extra price, but that's where it is today. And to the question previous, there probably is
00:45:39
Speaker
you know opportunity if you're sitting here and you know you love ice cream and you love sushi but you know pizza is the third favorite and you can leave that out you know how we how we address that and how we can provide that option for fans going forward is something that we're exploring likely through the packs but we'll see.
00:46:01
Speaker
Well, great. Dave, that took us through all the questions. Oh, here we go. Um, is articulation elbows, knees ever something that you, that could happen with this pop yourself line? I would say, I wouldn't want to say never, but I'd also say that that's, we want to be true to what pop is. Um, pop is a vinyl, uh, figure that has, um, limited articulation. So I would think that that,
00:46:29
Speaker
I would never say never, but I think we also want to be true to what pop is and not, you know, deviate too far from that. But I think it's an interesting comment. It's just that hasn't been something we've explored. Well, then that officially takes us through the chat questions. Thank you, Dave. Thank you all again. We hope you have a wonderful day and we will chat soon. Thank you, everyone. Appreciate the time.
00:46:56
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
00:47:12
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
00:47:36
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Franca Blaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.