Bulldog Licensing signs deal to represent top football brand

Bulldog Licensing has signed an agreement to represent Topps property Match Attax, the trading card game that is the UK’s No.1 children’s football brand.

Targeted at boys aged 6-13yrs and girls aged 9-12yrs, Match Attax is the best-selling sport trading card game series the world has ever seen. New card releases take place three times throughout the football season and fans use their collection to play a card game version of football, using the defence and attack statistics on the cards.

Nearly half of all boys in the UK collect Match Attax. During the last football season, a Match Attax pack was bought on average every 1.2 seconds, through 46,000 outlets – with parents accounting for 74% of all purchases. Live swapping events are held across the country, whilst the brand’s online presence – Toppsfootball.com – has over 600,000 registered users and is the 9^th most visited boys site in the UK.

Bulldog’s initial focus is on products such as apparel, accessories, stationery and gift, with initial merchandise predicted to hit retail from spring 2018.

Chris Rodman, Group Managing Director of Topps says “Given the phenomenal interest and engagement in the Match Attax brand, from both children and their parents, extending the brands reach with a focused licensing program offers both Topps and licensees a unique opportunity. Rob and the Bulldog licensing team are the perfect partners to help us achieve this goal”.

“We are incredibly excited about representing Match Attax,” says Bulldog MD Rob Corney. “It’s tapping into a huge market and the stats surrounding the brand are staggering – it is amazingly popular. In licensing terms the brand has massive potential and we are expecting to be announcing on initial deals very soon.”

Bulldog Licensing has announced further deals for the Enid Blyton brand, with Smiffy’s and Widdop and Co. Ltd both signing agreements.

Enid Blyton’s best-known work is The Famous Five series, but her titles also include Malory Towers and The Secret Seven. Her books have delighted successive generations of British children, sold hundreds of millions of copies, and regularly feature in the top ten list of the best-selling authors in the UK. Enid Blyton also has huge international appeal and is the fourth most translated author in history – after Agatha Christie, Jules Verne and William Shakespeare.

The deals with Smiffys will see the company produce fancy dress for World Book Day 2018 featuring characters from The Famous Five, Malory Towers and The Twins at St Clare’s. Meanwhile, Widdop and Co. Ltd is on board for a range of products, including ceramics, glassware, kitchen accessories, camping kits, cushions, gardening items, and baking items

This adds to a growing licensing programme, with Gibsons recently signed for puzzles and The Lagoon Group for toys and games. Bulldog Licensing is launching The Famous Five programme this year to coincide with the 75^th anniversary of the first book, with greetings cards, stationery, and gift products all on the way. In addition, a series of tongue-in-cheek Famous Five books for grown-ups has been a publishing sensation – regularly topping the bestseller charts.

“We are dealing with a huge amount of interest in the Enid Blyton brand, as evidenced by signing four licensing agreements in just the last few weeks,” says Bulldog Licensing Director Vicky Hill. “Licensees are anxious to tap into the huge nostalgic appeal of Enid Blyton’s work and we expect to be announcing even more deals soon.”