How Funko Manages 1000+ Licenses: Inside Pop Culture's Biggest Deals

How does Funko predict the next pop culture obsession before it even happens?

Join us for an exclusive conversation with Lucy Salisbury, who orchestrates one of the most complex licensing portfolios on the planet at Funko. With over 1000 active licenses spanning Disney, Warner Bros, anime, sports, and more, Lucy reveals the strategy behind pop culture's most successful merchandising empire.

In this episode, you'll discover:
- How Funko decides which of 1000+ licenses to pursue
- The real negotiations behind massive entertainment deals
-Why anime exploded from niche to mainstream (and what's next)
- How to break into licensing with zero experience
- The secret to managing Disney, DC, and Marvel simultaneously
- What makes a product sell out vs. sit on shelves

From predicting the next Grogu phenomenon to creating "geeky Gucci" with Loungefly, Lucy shares two decades of licensing wisdom that shaped brands from Ministry of Sound to Saban's Power Rangers.

Ready to understand the business behind your favorite collectibles? Hit subscribe for more insider licensing conversations!

#Funko #Licensing #PopCulture #BusinessStrategy #Disney #Collectibles

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Transcript

We've got over 1,000 licensed properties. I started off training as an accountant analyzing derivatives. Very serious job. And from there I thought, you know what, this is great, but I need bit more kind of fun in my career. 

 I think it was back in 2020 that anime was an untapped gem and now it's really a driving force in. 

 Licensing all the time. All the time. Even in Funko, you know, people emailing, come on, can we get this? Can we get that? 

 For every individual that reaches out to Funko saying they want it, there's probably hundreds, if not thousands of people that will actually buy the product. 

 It turns out there are a lot of people that want to buy Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton or Leo Messi or Lewandowski in pop form. That's something that maybe weren't too sure about whether football fans would necessarily buy into Funko, but yeah, they do. We never want to kind of be over supplying the market. Collectors want to see a little bit of scarcity and our fans want to feel, okay, I'm going to have this. And I'm part of a select few. 

 One question I'm desperate to ask. Which is your most favorite of all time? What has stood out the most for you? 

 I'm gonna have to pick. 

 When I decided that season two of the podcast would focus on conversations with licensing experts, I asked you guys, who do you think would be great to have on the show? And there was one name that came up a lot. Funko. They're one of, if not the biggest licensees in the world with over 1,000 licenses. So I'm excited to bring to you today my chat with Lucy Salisbury. Lucy is director of Group licensing and Retail development, and she knows all the ins and outs of Funko's licensing business. It was a really interesting chat and I hope you like it. Before we dive into today's show, I wanted to share something really exciting with you. For the first time ever, I'm opening my vault of nearly 20 years of licensing experience through my online course, Learn to License. 

 Whether you're just starting out or looking to level up your licensing game, this is everything I wish I had known when I began my journey from deal structures to finding the right license, knowing if you're ready and how to pitch like a pro. It's all there, the fundamentals that separate successful licensors from everyone else. Visit learntolicense.com and let's get you from curious to confident. Now let's jump into today's episode. Lucy, I'm Excited to have this conversation with you because you bring such a fascinating perspective to the licensing world. You are orchestrating one of the most complex licensing portfolios on the planet. You've built your career understanding what truly drives fandoms. And now you're helping shape how one of the world's largest licensees connects with those passionate communities. So today we're going to pull back the curtain on how these massive deals actually come together. 

 The strategy, the relationships and the very human negotiations that happen behind closed doors and the creative decisions that turn popular IP into a collectible that fans will treasure. So Lucy, thanks for joining us on Bornlicensing to License. 

 Thank you for inviting me. I'll try to live up to that lovely billing you've just given me there. 

 Well, Lucy, let's start with your story. You've had an incredible 20 plus year journey through licensing from Ministry of Sound to ITV Studios to Saban Brands. And now you're at the epicenter of pop culture licensing at Funko. But I'm curious about how about the thread that connects it all. What drew you to licensing in the first place and how did each of those experiences shape your approach to what you're doing today at Funko? 

 Yeah. Thank you. So had a pretty interesting and varied career history as you've alluded to. I started off training as an accountant. I was working for British Lamb PLC analyzing derivatives. Very serious job. Then I went to and from there I thought, you know what, this is great but I need to a bit more kind of fun in my career. So I went to Ministry of Sound as a financial controller. So very much still in the finance realm. But from there I was there for about seven years and kind of halfway through I, I got the opportunity to manage their licensing team which was super exciting. We did consumer electronics licensed franchise clubs, opening up clubs in Singapore and Hong Kong. That was great fun. 

 And from there I went to a company called Firebram, which is another music merchandiser looking licensing and merchandising for artists like Amy Winehouse, Oasis that still in the news today, which we. And we. I still work with them today, which is great. And then from there I went to Saban. I kind of realized I needed to get more into the biggest part of licensing, which is really kind of more kids IPs, you know, toys. Saban at the time had Power Rangers, which was one of the biggest boys properties at the time. They got bought by Hasbro and then I came to Funko. So yeah, I've been here for just over seven years, been absolutely Thrilling ride. 

 Got to work with most of the world's biggest IP owners crossing multiple genres and yeah, I'm sure we're going to talk a bit more about Funko in a while. 

 From finance to Funko. That's your headline. That's unbelievable. Going from, you know, the finance side of things to getting into like the real fun side of licensing. That's amazing. 

 But you know, like, finance is super important in licensing, isn't it? We do so much forecasting MGs, you know, how's it affecting the balance sheet? So I think I've retained a lot of those skills. But yeah, it's great doing the other parts of licensing as well, which is working with people, brands, working with marketing and sales teams. So it's a more kind of, you know, rounded career choice. 

 Yeah. One of the things I love about Funko is their story. And I've been very lucky to see the documentary and learning, you know, where Funko started. But I'd love for you to take us through their licensing origins. What was the first major license that made everyone realize that the company was onto something really special? 

 Yeah, well, you've seen the show, right? It was a great starting point for me when I got the role here. So we started in 1998 a chap called Mike Becker, when. That's when Funko was born. And our first item was a Big Boy bobblehead. So Big Boy is a restaurant chain in the us. They've got a really cool kind of iconic acute chef logo character. And, and he was like, look, I know there's a lot of kind of nerdy types like me that are going to love to buy a bobblehead of this character. Let's see if it will work. And it did work and it worked well. And from there we took on some more licenses. Austin Powers was one of our earlier licenses. That was a really fun property for the time and yeah, it just grew and grew from there. 

 Over the years we developed Funko Pop, which is one of our most iconic brands that a lot of people know us for today. That came in kind of late 2000s and I think one of the first kind of major IPs we worked with Funko Pop was DC Comics. Obviously a huge range of characters available from that comic book brand and movie brand. So yeah, and from there we've taken on more and more licenses and I think, you know, fast forward today, we've got over a thousand licensed properties. We're covering most of the world's biggest IP owners crossing genres from anime to major entertainment to music to sports to video gaming and everything else in between. Along that side, that journey as well, we've acquired Loungefly brands. 

 You can see I'm in the Loungefly room today which is a really amazing collection of high end accessories. And yeah, I think that's a kind of snapshot of the last potty history of our last 30 years. 

 Yeah, I'm really looking forward to talking about Loungefly. So you mentioned Lucy, Funko has over a thousand licenses and everyone wants to work with you which is a really luxurious position to be in licensing. When everyone's knocking on your door, when you've got, you know, the likes of Disney and Warner Brothers and all the other licenses that are literally knocking on your door, how do you actually decide what gets the green light? Walk us through the decision making process. 

 So we have a strategy. We, we know that we want to target licenses in specific brand genres that are covering growth fan segments and growth regions for Funko. And alongside that we get every day by IP owners, everyone from kind of more regionally based, smaller IP owners to major studios. And you know, there's a lot of decisions, there's a lot of factors that we want to take into account there. So we look at you know, fan demand, content pipeline is there, you know, great content moments we can link in with retailer interest. We're constantly getting suggestions from our retail teams, from our sales teams on licenses they would like to see and kind of cultural neat moments, you know, pick up from social media what's really hot at the moment. So we tend to ask is there a fandom behind this property? 

 And, and you know, what's the community behind it? Is there, you know, more kind of cosplay? We're seeing might see brands at conventions that we think that this is becoming much hotter. You know, TikTok trends sort of evergreen potential or is it more kind of based around specific moment in time? I think Funko would like to work with, you know, they can be great product opportunities for Funko but we want develop more long to medium term partnerships with our IP owners and sometimes you know, it's based on a gut decision as well. Like are there real fans within the business that can see this being a strong property for Funko? So when you take all of that into consideration, hopefully we make some good choices and we license strong IP opportunities. 

 So you really need to have your finger on the pulse as to what's happening in pop culture, what's happening in entertainment, what's happening in 24 months time. I mean, I'm sure that you're dealing with every licensor that you're engaging with telling you that their property is the next big thing, sharing brand decks and you know, saying that, you know, the movie launching in 12 to 18 months time is just going to be a huge hit. How do you prepare for the next Barbie or Wicked? Making sure that you can supply demand while mitigating risk if the film bombs? 

 Yeah, I mean, you know, you work in licensing, right? Everything's going to be the next biggest movie and opportunity. I mean we look at whole array of data. I mean our social team are all over this. They're looking at Google trends, we look at Amazon searches, we look at TikTok searches. We try to have a kind of more data approach to it. We're not just kind of listening to the stories that the license source tell us. Although that's really important because when major studios are kind of sharing with you kind of top line marketing plans and you can see the scale of the backing they're getting from those IP owners, then that gives you a bit more kind of surety and credibility around the opportunity. 

 I think with the titles you mentioned, there was a feeling that they really would be huge opportunities for Funko. But even so, you know, when we're looking at, we try to be quite measured in our risk, you know, we'll happily back a really strong potential product opportunity. But when it comes to product ordering, that's very much based on retail interest and demand. We don't want to be in a situation where, you know, we make too much product and we want to make sure that there's scarcity built in there. But yeah, there's some science involved in evaluating the opportunities. 

 So Lucy, would you say that Evergreen Properties are, you know, those consistent performers that have generational fans? Are those a little bit easier to work with because you kind of know what you're dealing with? You know, it's, you know, it's not going to be the hottest brand in the world. It's not going to have like a big, that big Barbie film moment. But it might have, you know, a just consistent supply of interest because it's an evergreen brand. 

 Yeah, I mean it's interesting because a lot of our product ranges, you know, if you look at say superheroes, they've been around for many decades, right. But they've got constant streams of new content and you know, for Funko we're actually in a great position because when we're looking at say a new, a superhero movie, that's an opportunity for Funko not only to dive into the style guide around that new movie but also to kind of tap into that more nostalgic look and feel for the brand. So we might ahead of launch, launching our movie product, we might launch a kind of some products based around more. 

 A more classic style guide because we know that there's going to be hype around the IP that you know, that people are going to remember their love for that IP and they're going to maybe want to buy, you know, the brand a character from the original content, not just the new version. So I think for Funko we're kind of uniquely placed because we can capitalize on both the kind of the classic versions and the new, the new IPs. 

 I did see the announ few days ago with the Wicked Part 2 range which looked really cool. So you guys are working with Universal again around the film? 

 Yeah, absolutely. And that's, you know, that's a really interesting one because it's a new movie, new huge movie, but based. Based on a musical and the characters, you know that they're well known from other, from other related content. So that kind of, that's really nice fusion of kind of new and old but it being a huge kind of. We feel like it's a huge new. But then you know, you can't just focus on. You can't. For a company like Funko, we have to, we want to be having something for all, all fans and we can't just focus on evergreens. That's a really important part of the business. But we want to be making sure that we're. We've got product out for new, new types of IP as well. And I'd say maybe anime might be something that we didn't. You'd put into that genre. 

 Anime feels like something that's really owned by kind of Gen Z, Gen Alpha even and Y. We have to be ready to leap on the hottest anime shows that you know, the kids and the slightly older kid alts want to buy into. 

 Yeah, let's talk about anime, Lucy, because I know that you predicted, I think it was back in 2020 that anime was an untapped gem essentially and now it's really a driving force in licensing. There's just so much momentum with the anime genre. How what made you think back in 2020 that anime was going to be a huge hit? And what emerging fandoms are you watching today that you feel like others might be sleeping on? 

 I mean, yeah, it's, I think there's been a few people saying it. I can't claim that was an original prediction from me, but I think just seeing it with a kind of global view and just seeing how well certain markets had really kind of bought into the anime bug, particularly in North America, kind of bought into the trend more quickly than Europe. Although saying that you know, France, they've been fond of anime for probably the longest in, within the European markets. And now what we've seen is other markets within Europe kind of catching up to that level. So you know, the uk, Germany, Spain, Italy, all you know, ce, Benelux, Turkey, Israel, you know, Greece, all those territories really kind of backing anime in a big way now. And it's kind of a globally significant in all markets. 

 I did see an interesting statistic the other day and I really hope that I'm repeating it accurately that more than 50% of people that watch Netflix engage with anime. And I, and I was like, wow, that is, that's enormous. 

 It's incredible. I think it just offers so many opportunities. But I think you know, anime is such a broad term, isn't it? There's huge variations in the property mix. There's you know, animes that are really great kind of family fun, that attract, you know, really strong kids followings and then you've got much more kind of adult, kind of more violent based animes that I mean they typically come from a more adult based manga a lot of the time as well. But, and there are hundreds of anime properties and I think that maybe traditionally has been a struggle for other casino products companies because you know, where do you start? You know, what's the right anime for. For my product line, for my territory, for my retailer. And I think you know, again that's a strength for Funko. 

 We've got some huge an within the business who absolutely live and breathe it. We have anime, you know, we have sessions in the office where we will kind of dive into anime show and, or a movie and really try to understand the characters and what the fans want to see, how they want to see their favorite character replicated in pop form. So yeah, it's been huge. I can, I can see it getting bigger and bigger. 

 Yeah, me too. Me too. I, you know, so much momentum behind it. We talked about having to have the, have your finger on the pulse as to what's happening in pop culture. What's, you know, the next wave coming. And you talked about TikTok. How do you, how do you manage finding the next trend but worrying that it's going to take time to bring product to market and what happens if that trend's over by the time you get to market? How do you work through that? 

 I think there's no completely easy answer to that one. And I think, think not being afraid to get some things wrong, I think is key to it as well, being brave in your choices. But I think we, you know, you just have to manage it. I think Funko, you know, we have a, a lead time with our product development. You know, we've got to create molds, we've got to tool up fat in factories, you know, bring that product in. You know, there's a timeline involved in that. So it's going to take a certain amount of time to bring a product to market. So we want to be, we want to have a, a sense that this property is going to be around for a year or two before backing it. I'm trying to think of, you know, hot social trends where we bought product. 

 I'm thinking of something like a Skibidi toilet, right? That kind of real, that real kind of social phenomenon. Funko brings out a really crazy looking range of products that do pretty well and you know, we're looking for those kind of opportunities as well, you know, but it's tough to predict we're not going to make everything, we're going to get some things wrong. I'm sure we just try and have to try and have, you know, manage it carefully and, and get more right than we get wrong. 

 Do you often get fans reaching out and saying why have you done this? Why haven't you done that? How, how long do I have to wait to get this particular Funko? 

 All the time. All the time. Even in, even in Funko, you know, people emailing, come on, can we get this? Can we get that? I mean we love that because that shows that there's organic demand for something. So that's a factor in our licensing decisions. But if even for a company like Funko who's got a thousand licenses and more than anyone else in the world, we still say no to more than we Say yes to. So, you know, you have to. It's about balancing risk and opportunity. 

 Yeah, I guess that's a great way. When people are coming to you. If enough people are coming to you about one particular property, like, okay, the demand must be there for everybody individual that reaches out to Funko saying they want it, there's probably hundreds if not thousands of people that will actually buy the product. 

 Yeah, but that's why it's great with data tools, you know, social listens. Social listening. How many people are searching for it on Amazon? How many people are searching for a Google, you know, where are they located? That's why it's great to have these tools alongside that kind of, you know, gut feel. 

 Yeah. Let's talk about what happens behind the scenes because when I think about Funko having over a thousand active licenses, I think about what that actually means. I think, you know, if someone's listening today and they're not too familiar with licensing but they, you know and love Funko's product. Their experience is seeing it on shelf and seeing the finished product, but they probably don't appreciate how much work goes into getting that product onto the shelf. It means dealing with a lot of different sets of brand guidelines, approval processes, stakeholder relationships. How do you practically manage that level of complexity when you've got so many licenses? 

 Yeah, it's obviously a huge factor for Funko to have so many licenses. And every licensor is different. They've got unique brand guidelines, review processes, they've got their own internal politics and viewpoints that we need to be aware of. But we've got dedicated teams focused around processes that have experience dealing with the each licensor and they're ensuring that communication is streamlined, expectations are met. Some of those processes are run globally. So if you think about hardlines, product development or royalty reporting, we'll have global teams. But then in terms of like how we amplify the business by working with the licensors in market, that's very much a regional function. So within my team I actually have a global team that activates regionally. So Gemma and my team, she's responsible for Europe and APAC joint business planning. 

 Daniela and my London team, she's responsible for helping with the flow of franchise information in Amir and apac. And then I have Tanika based in la and she is responsible for joint business planning in North America and latam. So that's really about kind of how can we amplify how we grow our Product sales in those markets by working really effectively in tandem with the licensors that are based there. And then, you know, outside of my team, there's the wider licensing team that's really critical for ensuring we're acquiring the right ip. We've got our creative team that's responsible for developing the designs, making sure they're signed off. We've got our legal team that's responsible for executing all those hundreds of agreements. You know, that's, that's a, that's a huge responsibility. Responsibility. 

 Our sales and retail partners, they're on the ground making sure that we've got adequate product available in store and it's being delivered at the right time. Marketing is a huge part of Funko. We have dedicated teams in most regions now, particularly in Europe. We've got dedicated marketing managers in each of the key markets and they're working collaboratively and cross departmentally to ensure product ranges are released in partnership with licensors. Our social team touched on those guys earlier. Critical. So they're ensuring that the broader fan community hears about the upcoming releases. Because we're launching so many products. No, social is a huge platform for us to communicate those launches with fans. 

 So yeah, bit of a dream team like you must. You have to have an amazing team to be able to do what you guys do. 

 Absolutely. You know, I'm gonna embarrass him and call out Jeff. I've worked in consumer products now for 20 years. He's one of the best at making sure that, you know, our press and all of our launches that he would work on, they're just really strong. He, he does a, a report for each market and you know, he's working on multiple brands and opportunities each month. So another, you know, everyone's got to be really strong when you've got this volume of products, partnerships and launches, there's a kind of no room to hide. 

 Yes. For those, for those listening, we haven't heard from Jeff. Hey, we are opening in. So yeah, thanks so much for joining us, Jeff, and helping us tee this up. I want to help those listening really understand the scope. We talked about having a thousand plus active licenses, but that doesn't mean there's, you know, one product per license, so to speak. For example, you have like a DC license with Warner Brothers. Within that you have Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash. You know, there's lots going on there. And so I want people to really understand a thousand active Licenses actually means an enormous amount of product. So when we're talking about your team trying to best manage everything, we're talking about, let's say Batman for example. I mean I'm speaking to you in front of behind me. 

 I've got two Batman Funko products and that's just me. I mean there must be a lot of different skus that you've had with just a brand like Batman and then you have over a thousand licenses. 

 Yeah, I mean it's incredible. It's, it just brings so many opportunities and you picked out Batman. You know, we've, and we've had, we've had some really great anniversary moments. I think with Those, those IPs that been around for so many decades just brings in so many opportunities to dive into the growth of that I pay over, over time. So you know, when you look at Batman for example, we've done, we did a retrospective of all the Batmobiles in pop ride form. Really, really cute, amazing products. We've probably covered all of Batman in his various suits. But also we'll make sure we're covering, you know, the Batman, the new movie that was out and then, you know, this talk Batman 2. We'll make sure we have a really great product line around for that as well. 

 I guess it presents a lot of opportunities and I think we're much better now at kind of working with our partners and, and kind of really focusing on the major opportunities on both sides. So you know, we might with a Disney for example, we might have a thousand products we're doing with them in over a year. Right. But we want to make sure we're talking to our teams about, you know, what we're going to be, what are going to be the biggest opportunities for their retail markets. And that might differ in terms of, you know, what countries we're in. It might differ in terms of, you know, certain ips are bigger in different locations that can, that could support different retail campaigns. They' so we kind of, we try and say here's all our products. 

 How, which products are going to be most suitable for your brand campaigns, in which markets and which retailers and how can we work effectively to collaborate on the biggest opportunities. 

 A quick pause here. If what we're discussing is really resonating with you're going to love what I've put together in Learn to license. This isn't just another course. It's two decades of real world licensing experience distilled into actionable strategies you can use immediately. I've worked with everyone from startups to Fortune 500 brands and the patterns for success are surprisingly consistent. The course covers all things that you need to consider when it comes to licensing, particularly those who are just starting out. So visit learntolicense.com your future licensing deals will thank you all. Right, back to our conversation. Lucy, you mentioned working with the likes of Disney, with Warner Brothers, with Anime licensors. Sometimes the licensing world can feel very corporate, but there are real people that are making these decisions. Tell us about your relationships with licensors and why they're crucially important. 

 Yeah, and I know this is something you've touched on in your podcast as well, and I completely agree. It's so important and licensing, it's a lot more personal than people might think, particularly with, you know, the growth of systems and how much they can be involved. But the license, you know, it's an asset, but it's not just an asset. It's, it's a treasured legacy, it's a foundation for their business and it's something that they, that, you know, you have to, you feel personal care for. And I'm thinking about how we work with partners and you know, the types of human interactions that might be involved, you know, getting the deal underway, getting the proposal agreed, getting the license executed, all of that. You know, people are absolutely critical and involved in every part of the process. 

 And sometimes the SARS align, we can execute agreements with partners pretty quickly, but often the deals involving multiple brands, multiple product categories, territories, channels, there could be a lot of back and forth and negotiation between legal teams might take a few months to get executed. It can take some time, but it's completely worth it. And then, you know, thinking about approvals, another, you know, it's all about trust, it's all about, you know what latitude we get given. And we work with a number of partners. Some of them say, go for it, we trust you, let's see what you can do. Some of them want to manage it much more tightly and we have to get every single, you know, aspect of the packaging of the product approved. 

 All I'd say is kind of, it feels like over time, the more we work with a partner, the more latitude we get given as a result. And I think that's because they can trust and see that, you know, we understand the products and the consumers, hopefully, and we want to do something great. Something that's going to sell well and they want that too. So they'll trust us to kind of make that happen. 

 I always say that licensing is a relationship driven business and also to never burn your bridges. It's a very small industry. Everybody knows everybody and we're really lucky because, you know, there's barely been a person in the licensing world that I haven't really liked. Personally, I think we're really lucky working with such a great group. Paul When I talk about those that are new to licensing, I talk about how, you know, they're not. The licensor is not just giving you a license agreement. It is, you are forging a long term partnership with them and they're going to be the ones that know their brands best. So, you know, there's no way that you or I could know what's happening, you know, with a particular brand. What, what's Disney doing in the next 24 months? You know, they know best what's happen, their portfolio. 

 They know what those kind of big theatrical moments are going to be, those big anniversaries. So you're not just relying on the licensor to provide you with a license, you know, approve the product. You're also leaning heavily on them to tell you what's going to be big, what are going to be that big, those big moments that we should be jumping on board for. 

 Yeah, absolutely. That's absolutely critical. Exactly. As you just mentioned. So it's things like, you know, they're presenting a new movie opportunity to Funko. I mean, like, great. We can see, we can see you've got a great marketing campaign. This is going to be huge. It might be a part of a franchise, the franchise has been huge, but we really want to dive into, okay, what's going to be the standout character who's going to be, you know, a really great, cute kind of Android or monster or quite often Funko fans. They love kind of characters that look a bit different in pop form. So we're kind of, we want to tap into what's going to be the standout product opportunity, community from this content piece. 

 And you can't do that without a thorough understanding of the movie, of the IP and hopefully of the fandom as well to know what they're going to latch onto. 

 The Mandalorian is a great example and Grogu just went crazy. Did you guys, did you guys manage to get that wave? Did you have a Grogu Funko out? 

 Yeah. 

 All the hype was Going. 

 We did, absolutely. Yeah. I think, yeah, it's been. I wouldn't be able to tell you how much, many. How many Grogu sold, but yeah, it's. Well, up there. They're huge. You know, Groot would be another one you pick out as well. Groot with a hugely popular character from the Avengers movies. And yeah, Disney are lucky. They've got a whole bunch like that. Right. 

 Well, sometimes they, sometimes even they don't know. Who knew that Grogu would have been such a big pop culture moment? You know, just memes everywhere. Who knew that, you know, who knows that this is going to be the hot one from this particular series? Or, or, you know, Groot for using Groot is a great example. There are a lot of great characters in that particular property, but it was a Groot that kind of stood out. So sometimes it even catches the license or off guard, doesn't it? 

 Yeah, totally. Totally. I think, I think we're. We're probably much better now than we might have been in previous decades. I think when we can see a range coming through, we. You kind of get a hunch for, okay, this character's. He looks really cute. This is a really great, you know, animal and, you know, monster or even a monster. You know, Thanos. He, he's such a scary character, but in pop form, he's really cute. And that was, you know, another bestselling kind of Marvel character for us. So we kind of got a good feel of what's going to translate well into our pop stylization. 

 No way. Yeah. We talked about Funko fans coming to you and saying, you know, please, can you create something out of this? How about when the product goes so well that you sell out? Do you get, do you get people contacting you? Being like, when you, when will there be more in stock? You know, I'm desperate to get my hands on this. 

 Yeah, I mean, it's, that's a key part of our business model. Right? It's, you know, collectors want to see a little bit of scarcity and, but, but you, it's all about balance. You want to, you want to be able to, I think for our, for our main product ranges, we want to ensure that we've got an adequate supply of products so that fans can get hold of that product 100%. But we have launched recently limited edition exclusives, which are super limited runs of product could be from a few hundred to just a couple of thousand or maybe, you know, a little bit up from that. And they're going to be, you know, independently verified. 

 You can go to a site, it's tracked, you can see how many have been made and that sc, you know, scarcity is super important for those kind of product lines because they, our fans want to feel, okay, I'm going to have this and I'm part of a select few of lucky consumers that have actually managed to get this item. So yeah, again it's about balance. But I think with Funko, with our collector model, we never want to kind of be over supplying the market. That's something we kind of look out for. 

 So Funko has created literally thousands and thousands of products over the years. And you must have some really incredible stories. Can you tell us about a product that performed way beyond your expectations? Maybe something that seemed like it was a niche play or not, anything that was going to set the world on fire or maybe even a risky bet at the time, but it ended up just becoming this phenomenal here. 

 Well, I'd like to, I mean, yeah, I was thinking about this question I, I think in terms of like a product or a property weren't sure about. Something that I've personally been involved in Funko in trying to grow is with some of our kind of more Europe driven global sports like soccer, football or elite wrestling from the F1 teams. And that's something Funko hadn't really done too much before because it's maybe a different type of consumer thinking about a sports consumer versus like our anime or entertainment Disney kind of consumers. And I've been trying to kind of really grow those sports genres and it's been super successful for Funko. It turns out there are a lot of people that want to buy Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton or Leo Messi or Levandowski in pop form. 

 And that's something we want to do more and more of because it's opening up a new kind of genre to Funko. We want to, we want to have products that those fans can buy into as well in pop form. So that's something that maybe weren't too sure about whether football fans would necessarily buy into Funko. But yeah, they do and we are. 

 Yeah. I mean if there's anyone that can compete with entertainment fandom, it's definitely sports fandom. Like you know, the, the, those sports fanatics. Absolutely. I see them buying into what you guys could create for them for sure. Let's talk about Loungefly because you mentioned you're sitting in front of some really beautiful products behind you. You know, this is what's often called geeky Gucci or the Chanel of pop culture, which I love. I'm constantly seeing the most incredible product come out from Loungefly. And most recently I saw the clueless backpack, which 30 the 30th anniversary of the film. People were going wild just to get their hands on that backpack. What's driving the success of Loungefly? And is it just that fans want to carry their fandoms with them or is there something deeper in how people express their pop culture identity these days? 

 It's really interesting. I think it's all those things. I think the, I think the execution of product is there was really nothing like that in the marketplace. I think we look at the price point and you look at the quality of finish. They're so detailed. And I don't, I, you know, there's other, you know, it's nothing like that kind of back to school kind of bag that you might buy in a supermarket. It's something that's definitely a bit special and that's been a huge factor. And we've again, it's kind of similar to Funko. We really try and dive into those real fan favorites within the genre. So you know, we're looking at conventions what the fans buying, what are they cosplaying? How can we turn that outfit into. 

 How can we stylize that in terms of a lounge fly piece and, and produce something that's, that's really desirable? And then it's, as you said, it's tapping into those everyday pop culture moments as well. And I wanted to bring in our collection with McDonald's. For example, you know, our Happy Meal set was an everyday favorite. You might not think that people might want to wear a ready meal on their back, but you know, that won a licensing award, performed really well. It super high quality. It's super high fun. You know that's adding more kind of elements into the mix as well. Alongside all the great anime entertainment and, and sports Loungefly we do. 

 I think whenever I see a Loungefly product launch, I always think, wow, that's really thoughtful. Like you've actually thought about what does the fan want? You're not just slapping a logo or a character on a product. You're actually saying, okay, this person that would buy a McDonald's backpack, what would they want to wear on their back? What kind of detail? What can we actually offer them Absolutely, yeah. 

 And it's, there's so much detail, you know, with the, like the, with some of our Harry Potter collections, like the wand will be the clasp or they just add so many kind of little hidden finds within it as well. So it's a bit of discovery from, for the fan when they see it and when they see it in the in store and when we can, when we do our social post as well now, really dive into those kind of little elements that add the authenticity to the product. 

 Yeah, we talk about like films having like Easter eggs. You guys are actually putting Easter eggs in product that people can discover. And you know, those, that's the detail that fans really love, which totally. 

 Yeah. So that's a great fan base to. 

 Have a lot of people listening. Are very new to licensing. Perhaps they never licensed anything before. What advice can you give someone that's thinking about developing their first licensed product? 

 Okay, so thinking about how new licensors might approach consumer products. Yeah, I think it's changed a lot in the last 20 years. I'm sure you'd agree, David. How, how potential new licensors might approach retail and licensees. I think previously where they might have started talking to retailers and licensees maybe two or three years ahead of product launch and maybe looking to get, you know, major listings at retailers for kind of new IPs. That's much more challenging now. But there are opportunities for new licensors, I think, particularly with the growth of social media. And I'd say, you know, for a company like Funko, we've seen that there might be a new IP will come to us and they've worked really hard in cultivating their, their fan community that they're working really hard talking to their fans. 

 They understand what they're looking for and they've come to them looking for a product. And so that might be a great starting place for Funko because we could say, you know what, we might not get a listing with a major retailer straight away, but there's enough of a organic fan base and this licensor is very engaged in talking to them that we can get a product range together and then it might move into a product that could be sold into a major retailer. Taylor. I think so. I think, yeah, think about your fan community. It's so important seeing More and more D2C is a hugely important sales channel for most licensees now. I'd say think about that and how that can, and how that can support a new licensee. 

 And also I'd think about kind of the ip, the style guide, thinking about how that can apply with different products. For think about, you know, if you're pitching Funko, we've got a unique stylization with Funko Pop. Have to think about whether your brand would fit with that. Does it feel organic and natural? Does it make a synergistic product? It doesn't always and that's fine but we want to focus on something where it does. And you know, lastly I'd say listen to David's podcast because that's got some great tips for new license, really great advice. 

 Advice. And tell me what about if you were giving advice to the licensee, a manufacturer that's never worked in licensing before. 

 I mean if you, if it's something like Funko Pop, I'd say don't bother, we've got it covered. We do. In any other non competing category I would say yeah, I think it really depends on the type of product, on the genre is such a, there's so many, there are so many opportunities. I think, I think I, I, I think I'd say look outside the mainstream a bit. I think try and go for more niche audiences, more kind of niche fan bases because I think that's where the opportunities are now. And I, I'd go, you know, I'd go socials I think, you know, try and avoid kind of here today, gone tomorrow type ips. But, but, but any kind of IP or character that's generating a following over time on socials that might not be necessarily covered by other licensees. 

 That, that sounds like a good opportunity. You know, for Funko. We quite like taking on new IPs that haven't got a huge base of additional other partners because that means that we, there's some space for Funko to kind of operate and release products. So yeah, I think look, try and look for those nice opportunities. It's not easy. I think that if we all knew the answer to picking and choosing and licensing a great ip, you know, we'd be instant millionaires. But I think it's, I think I'd go for some of the paths less traveled as it were in terms of it. 

 Really good advice. So one last question for you Lucy before we wrap up and this is the one I've been most excited to ask you. You've worked on so many amazing products. One question I'm desperate to ask which is your most favorite of all time. What has stood out the most for you? 

 I'm gonna have to pick because I'm a big Liverpool Football Club fan and although I have to say I am completely agnostic, we work effectively with all our football partners but personally I really love our Mo Salah Pop figurine cuz he's one of the my all time favorite footballers and it's a super cute product. It sold really well for Funko and yeah I love it. 

 Lucy, this has been such a fascinating chat. Thanks so much for joining us. Everyone can see the results of Lucy's licensing magic on shelves everywhere from your local store to online and probably in your own collection at home. Lucy, thank you so much for joining us on Bornlicensing to Life License. 

 David, thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you today and I'm really looking forward to listening to this and your other podcast. 

 Awesome. Great. Thank you. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Bornlicensing to License podcast. Don't forget to like and subscribe. And if you're eager to learn more about licensing, I encourage you to take a look at my course, Learn to License. I've condensed almost 20 years of learning in my licensing career. To help others understand how licensing works. And as a reward for sticking around, here's a discount code you can use. That code is born to license 25. I hope to see you there.