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Tag: walt disney

  • The Walt Disney Company appoints new Head of Consumer Products Commercialization

    The Walt Disney Company appoints new Head of Consumer Products Commercialization

    The Walt Disney Company has announced the appointment of Mahesh Samat, Executive Vice President, Disney Consumer Products Commercialization for the Asia Pacific region. Reporting into Ken Potrock, President, Disney Consumer Products Commercialization, he takes on responsibility for the commercialization of Disney franchises across merchandise, publishing and licensed games throughout India, Southeast Asia, Greater China, Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

    Samat rejoined The Walt Disney Company in India in November 2016 and went on to integrate the Southeast Asia and India businesses to form The Walt Disney Company’s South Asia regional hub in September 2017. He led most of Disney’s integrated business units driving new strategies that are providing tremendous growth for global franchises and unilaterally creating new business opportunities for all Disney businesses. He previously led The Walt Disney Company’s India operations from 2008-2012.

    “The Asia Pacific region continues to provide immense opportunity for Disney products and experiences,” said Potrock. “I am confident that Mahesh’s proven leadership and steadfast focus on innovation and entrepreneurship will deliver dynamic growth across our brands and product categories.”

    “Disney products and experiences bring our stories and characters closer to fans every day. I am pleased to have the opportunity to lead this exceptional team to delight kids and families across these high growth Asian markets,” said Samat.

    With more than twenty-five years of experience in FMCG, Media and Healthcare across India, Asia-Pacific and Europe, Samat previously worked with Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s, Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis and Boots India Limited. Between 2012 and 2016, he established the Epic Television Networks and its popular Hindi-language, The Epic Channel in India.

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  • Mickey Mouse pop up marks its 90th birthday

    Mickey Mouse pop up marks its 90th birthday

    Raffles City is hosting a Mickey Mouse pop-up store celebrating the cartoon character’s 90th birthday.

    Dubbed ‘Mickey Go Local’, the store is a partnership with the Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia and features more than 80 souvenir products ranging from apparel to household items. The Mickey Mouse pop-up will also exhibit 90 figurines of the popular rodent, designed by Singaporeans, including President Halimah Yacob.

    Raffles City will host the pop up as part of its Arts in the City program until August 29.

    Amit Malhotra, country manager at The Walt Disney Company Singapore and Malaysia, says the exhibition-cum-store will engage fans of all ages in a locally relevant and fun manner, providing more ways for people to celebrate with their favourite Disney character.

    “Mickey Mouse is an endearing global icon, which has crossed boundaries to touch lives around the world through his optimism and happiness,” adds Margaret Khoo, GM at Raffles City.

    “The same can be said for the universal language of art and its power to bring joy to communities. Raffles City Singapore is delighted to showcase unique expressions of our Singaporean way of life through this familiar icon for this year’s Arts in the City program. Collaborating with individuals from different walks of life on this exhibition makes this uniquely Singapore showcase even more meaningful as we mark the nation’s 53rd birthday in August.”

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  • The Simpsons store: a new retail phenomenon?

    The Simpsons store: a new retail phenomenon?

    The Simpsons is about to expand offscreen into a retail store network, with two flagships confirmed as the first global outlets for the popular animated US TV series.

    Beijing and Shanghai will be home to the world’s first The Simpsons stores because the 27-year-old show is familiar to Chinese audiences and Simpsons products have already been a success, reportsChina Daily. A network of 100 retail stores is planned to follow.

    Opening in the fashion district of Sanlitun in March, the Beijing store will be the first bricks-and-mortarSimpsons store in the world. The second store will be launched in Shanghai in June, according to 20th Century Fox Consumer Products president Jeffrey Godsick. Its location has yet to be announced, but it is expected to be in a high-traffic mall similar to the one in Beijing.

    Fox launched Simpsons products in China in collaboration with fashion brands nearly three years ago. It started to team up with Chinese retailers 18 months ago before deciding to open the stores last year to tap growing interest.

    Godsick says the products released in China sold out quickly, and there were routinely a three-hour queue for people to enter the fashion brand store in Shanghai that launched Simpsons products.

    Already, Walt Disney has led the way by opening its first flagship store in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area in May last year. The world’s largest Disney store, it offers more than 2000 categories of products.

    “China’s movie and television industry will bring a lot of investment opportunities for derivative product sales,” Professor Zeng Hongshan of Zhongnan University of Economics & Law has told theChina Economic Herald.

    Derivative products of Star Wars have created about $30 billion worth of business, and in 2013 and 2014 alone generated about $4.6 billion for Disney, China National Radio has reported.

    Meanwhile, the Simpsons stores will cover about 250 sqm and offer about 200 products including T-shirts, hats, jackets, pants, cellphone cases, lifestyle accessories, stationery, shoes, sneakers and socks.

    Between 25 and 50 per cent of the products will be sold exclusively through Simpsons stores, says Godsick.

    “We will continue to design individual consumer products for each of our movies and TV shows in China, and ultimately grow our brand as a company,” he says.

    In October 2014, a Simpsons World app was launched in China, allowing fans to watch all 500-plus episodes of the series for free.

  • New Disney park in China to bolster sales, Uniqlo chief says

    New Disney park in China to bolster sales, Uniqlo chief says

    Fast Retailing Co. Chairman Tadashi Yanai said Walt Disney Co.’s new park in Shanghai will help his Uniqlo casual clothing brand expand in China, shrugging off concerns over an economic slowdown in the Japanese retailer’s largest overseas market.

    “The opening of the Shanghai Disneyland gives both of us, Uniqlo and Disney, a business opportunity,” Chairman Tadashi Yanai told reporters in Shanghai, where Uniqlo will open a new Disney-inspired concept store. “Our business is getting absolutely no impact” from China’s slowdown, he said.

    Starting Sunday, Uniqlo will devote an entire floor at its six-story China flagship store in central Shanghai to products jointly designed with Disney. A human-sized Mickey Mouse statue greets visitors to the store, where T-shirts and toys depicting characters such as Tinker Bell, Woody of Disney Pixar’s “Toy Story” animated films, and Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies are on display.

    Japan’s richest person, Yanai plans to open 100 stores a year in China as Uniqlo competes with Hennes & Mauritz AB’s H&M and Inditex SA’s Zara to win over consumers in the world’s most populous country. The retailer’s design tie-up comes as Disney prepares to open its $5.5 billion Shanghai theme park next year, its biggest foreign investment and a bet on the country’s booming middle class.

    The Disney collaboration should help Uniqlo boost sales in China “as buzz builds around the opening of Shanghai Disneyland,” said Bloomberg Intelligence retail analyst Thomas Jastrzab. “Expanding store-specific limited edition merchandise offerings should help Uniqlo increase regular foot traffic and improve customer loyalty.”

    Fast Retailing rose 3.3 percent to ¥46,800 ($388.09) at the close of trading in Tokyo on Friday. The shares are up by 6.3 percent so far this year, compared with the 3.3 percent gain in the benchmark Topix index.

    Uniqlo has about 360 stores in mainland China, the most in any country outside Japan, where it has almost 850 shops. The company plans to expand its Greater China network, including mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, to 1,000 outlets.

    China is a key market for Fast Retailing as Yanai attempts to turn Asia’s biggest clothing retailer into the world leader, with a target of ¥5 trillion in sales by 2020 from its forecast of ¥1.65 trillion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31.

    Yanai said demand for Uniqlo products will increase amid an economic slowdown in China. Everyday clothes with basic designs and advanced materials that Uniqlo sells at affordable prices fit well as China shifts its focus to consumer purchasing from manufacturing, he said.

    “An economic slowdown in China could boost Uniqlo’s sales, particularly as shoppers increasingly look for value-for-money when purchasing clothing essentials such as T-shirts and pants,” Jastrzab said.

    China’s apparel and footwear market is highly fragmented, with market leader Bestseller AS, owner of brands such as Jack & Jones and Vera Moda, holding a 1.7 percent market share by value in 2014, according to Euromonitor International. Uniqlo ranks eighth with 0.6 percent, while Inditex is ninth with 0.5 percent and H&M is out of the top 10 with 0.4 percent.

    “Our concept of manufacturing is fundamentally different and unique,” said Yanai. “We don’t chase trends, but we would rather want to incorporate fashion into our basic clothes.”