Nowadays, Hasbro, Mattel, Lego, and LeapFrog are among the top toy companies in the world. But soon, these brands will be challenged by pop culture licensed toy maker Funko as it aims to be a billion dollar company in five years.
According to Forbes, Funko has the potential to be the top toy brand in a short span of time due to the number of licenses that it has amassed. While Hasbro has about four to five licenses a year, Funko has over 200 licenses, including Marvel, DC, “Game of Thrones,” “Harry Potter,” “Star Wars,” “The Walking Dead,” and WWE, among others.
Funko Chief Executive Producer Brian Mariotti said that the huge number and variety of their licenses is what makes them unique from other toy companies. Moreover, as the cost to produce their popular merchandise is very low, Funko gets to cater to fan bases that other toy companies would ignore.
“A lot of people don’t understand pop culture,” said Mariotti. “They think what we’re doing is a fad.”
The executive says that people who purchase their products are no different from sports fans, who tend to buy jerseys, caps, or mugs of their favorite teams. Mariotti said that the Funko customer is someone who is a fan of either a TV show or video game.
Apart from its popular licenses, Funko is also targeting other fandoms who are followers of 80’s and 90’s films and TV shows. As seen on the company’s official website, Funko also has licenses for “The Goonies,” “Thundercats,” “The Breakfast Club,” and “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.”
Because the brand itself has a huge following, Funko generated $425 million in revenue in 2016 and has been growing each year. So what’s next for the company?
Funko has recently added the wildly popular gaming app franchise, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” to its licenses, and exclusives are now available at Hot Topic and GameStop. This week, the company also announced on its official blog that they will be releasing their newest line of Hero Plushies featuring fan-favorite DC characters. By March, collectors can snuggle with plush versions of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Harley Quinn.
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