Dulce Lim Chen VP- Asia Pacific, Cartoon Network Enterprise, Jibi George Assoc Dir, Licensing – India & S Asia, Cartoon Network Enterprises

Based in Hong Kong, Dulce Lim-Chen is responsible for leading Cartoon Network Enterprises’ (CNE) mission of driving long-term value and financial returns for Cartoon Network’s well-established brands and merchandising programmes across the Asia Pacific.

Lim-Chen’s purview includes CNE’s various licensing businesses, including merchandise, publishing, home video products, interactive games and others, as well as promotions and events in 15 countries across the region. She is also responsible for the successful implementation of integrated network initiatives; third-party representation of brands and properties; and liaison with CNE’s divisions across the world on global planning and execution of such plans in the Asia Pacific region.

A veteran in the licensing business, Lim-Chen holds extensive experience in consumer products, publishing and brand development with multinational media and entertainment companies in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining Turner, she was with Sesame Workshop as Vice President, Business Development, Asia Pacific, Sesame Street English, overseeing the planning for and execution of the Sesame Street English strategy in the Asia Pacific region. Lim-Chen was with the Walt Disney Company for over nine years and was the head of the Asia Pacific Publishing business. She began her career at Time Warner, where she spent 10 years in the publishing division’s sales and marketing offices.

Based in Mumbai, Jibi George is responsible for developing the consumer products and promotional licensing business for Cartoon Network and POGO brands and strengthening the company’s dynamic third party licensing portfolio in India.

He joined in 2001 and is a Turner veteran. George made a successful transition from marketing to licensing and has to his credit the launch of some of the most exciting and profitable initiatives such as extending brand POGO to retail. He also played a pivotal role in creating CNE’s strong presence in the India’s organised toy industry by delivering successive hits such as Blazing Yo-Yo and POGO Goyo Racer, among others. Recently, George and team successfully bagged the licensing and merchandise rights for Bakugan for India. Bakugan is the latest international toy phenomenon and Cartoon Network Enterprises, along with Nelvana Enterprises, won the Best Licensed Program Award for the Bakugan line at the international licensing industry Mecca – LIMA.

In this interview with exchange4media’s Puneet Bedi Bahri, both Lim-Chen and George share Cartoon Network’s vision for India and the journey so far.

Q. How do you view the overall industry scenario for merchandising in India?

Lim-Chen: I can’t speak for the industry, it will be presumptuous. But I can speak for Cartoon Network Enterprises, specifically for India, where there are many macro economic factors that are dovetailing nicely with the growth in the retail industry. For example, right now, a lot of our sales are concentrating on Metros, which we expect to trickle down. That will happen because some of the big players are looking closely at this market. A lot of this means partnering with global players, which would change the way consumers buy and change the way we are able to distribute our products. The other thing is growing consumer demand; it has emerged with strong buying power. I have seen the change in branding products that has come over the years and has gradually increased from the past.

George: The way consumers are going is a clear reflection of the way retail is going. The retail chains are also focusing on specifics. In the future, there will be departments that would focus on stationary and books only. They are already on that process and they will add on to that on their expansion plans and that is clearly from consumer demand. As organised retail grows, branding product, licensing products will have much larger sales.

George: In the pre-school space we have ‘Bob the Builder’, ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’, and ‘Sesame Street’. For boys we have ‘Ben 10’, ‘Ben 10 Alien Force’, and ‘Bakugan Battle Brawlers’. For girls we have ‘Power Puff Girls’ and ‘Gwen’, while on our POGO business we have ‘Pogo Wheels’, ‘Pogo Inspired’ and ‘M.A.D.’.

George: Cartoon Network Enterprises expects to close 2009 with a high double digit growth of 25-35 per cent. This is specific India information. CNE’s No. 1 toy brands in 2008 were: ‘Ben 10’ (120,000 units sold), one of our latest acquisitions ‘Bakugan Battle Brawlers’ (400,000 units sold), and ‘POGO’, our branded line of five new toys (200,000 units sold). We have sold over 855,000 toys in 2008-09 across our properties. The toy revenues are up by 60 per cent, while apparel revenues are up by 50 per cent, specifically on the toys portfolio.

We have expanded our organized retail sector reach by 27 per cent in 2009. Currently, our products are available in 4,000 retail counters, including Aditya Birla Group, Lifestyle, Pantaloons, Reliance Trends, Shoppers Stop, Landmark, Crossword, Odyssey, etc.

Another consolidated area is our publishing programme with Ben 10, PPG, Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, M.A.D and Sesame Street with over 1,100,000 units sold. We have enhanced our category strengths by 30 per cent and added over 300 new SKUs. That’s our India-specific data for 2008-09. We have strong pre-school offering with ‘Bob the Builder’, ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and ‘Sesame Street’. Factors that have contributed to our success in India include strong brands and strong content on our networks that we have the No. 1 and No. 2 channels in the kids’ space. We have strong partners that we have alliances with in each and every category. We have got established retailing relationships and our team is capable of delivering a 360 degree relationship aimed at supporting our partners beyond just licensing our iconic characters. That’s the success factor for out group.

Lim-Chen: In India, most families have less number of kids, which means they are going to give their kids a larger number of things. Also, because kids consume more variety, they are now into gaming, watching more TV, they want more content and want to further access the content in the form of DVD, books, etc.

George: This reply is specific to three key things – one is growing retail, the way more organised operators are coming in, strong offering from brand, and more matured consumers. All these three attributes clearly attribute market dynamics for us.

Lim-Chen: Yes, we are planning to enter the home video market. Cannot give an exact time, but we will be here in the next 2-3 months. Besides, we are also venturing into publishing content, Gwen Merchandise Portfolio, Console Gaming, as part of our new business for 2009. Our core expansions will be in promotional licensing, food and beverages and personal care. These initiatives will carry forward for 2010. Some of the new properties that we plan to launch for consumer products are already existing on our channel. Ben 10, who is our 15-year old brand, is going to have some new innovations. Then we have Gwen, a new girl’s brand character that we are introducing and are very excited about it. We already have Power Puff girls, a 10-year old brand. Also, there is a new show called ‘Secret Saturdays’. These apart, we have ‘M.A.D.’ on POGO and will be introducing another show called ‘F.A.Q.’ What we are glad to do is keep on layering new properties to the existing ones and growing the existing ones by adding new sub-segments.

We don’t just stop there, we have high hopes and are very aggressive in the right way, because to grow exponentially we need to add new businesses, which is why we are entering the home video business. Home video is a major category in a lot of companies. It is, in fact, a standalone business, because it is pretty hefty by itself, and India is one market that continues to grow. In publishing we are creating a new portfolio driven, inspired to some degree by India, because our partners here are seeing a lot more content. There will be consolidated publishing programmes with Ben 10, PPG, Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, M.A.D. and Sesame Street.

Lim-Chen: CNE is an exciting business vertical of our networks and has been growing at a steady pace since its launch in India in 2001. We entered the character branded products space only in 2005, and in a short span of time, CNE has to its credit, several shelf scorchers such as Beyblade, Blazing Yo-Yo’s, POGO Wheels, Ben 10, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, M.A.D, etc.

We are currently present in 19 categories in over 60 cities ranging from apparel and toys to home-furnishings across all our properties. Our India milestones include: Marketing our toons as brand ambassadors and attracting non-traditional clients (ICICI, Citibank, BPCL, All Out Mosquito, etc.). Emerging toy portfolio, successive toy hits from our stable, edutaining property: M.A.D., also the only kids’ original production with retail line POGO’s success at retail. Representing some of the biggest brands and movies (Hollywood and Bollywood).

We are very much dovetailing into the general macro economic indicators, which is the growth of the general electronic segment, retiling more disposable income and more easily accessible different platforms. India is one of the markets where home entertainment is still a growing segment and we don’t see that change for the next mid- to long-term.

George: We have 200 deals/associations across promotional licensing, products, publishing, retails chains, etc. and strong relations across the board with licensees such as Reebok, Lilliput, NewBoy, Far East Promotions, Mitashi; retailers such as Lifestyle, Pantaloons, Reliance Trends, Shoppers Stop, Landmark, Crossword, Odyssey; as well as work with a host of other promotional licensing partners such as Kissan, Frito Lay Cheetos, Pizza Hut, Bata, Wrigleys, and more. We have successful promotional licensing initiatives with Ben 10 with Unilever, Fritolay Cheetos, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Wrigleys Boomer, Bata, etc.