Countdown to Halloween: Lucy Salisbury and Lauren Ilsley on the rise and rise of Funko advent calendars

Lucy, always lovely to see you! We’ve spoken a few times in the past; people can find out all about you here and here. Lauren Ilsley! You’ve done well to avoid me; what’s your role here?
Lauren: I’m a Product Development Manager at Funko EMEA. I look after Bitty Pop! I look after Impulse and Value Channel. I also look after Mondo, then soft lines and Loungefly as well. That’s it.

You say “That’s it!” but that’s quite a lot! I imagined there would be 20 of you on all that. And Lucy, every time I come in, you’ve been promoted… Has that happened again?
Lucy: Ha! No, not in the last five minutes.

But by the time we leave this room… Who knows?! Alrighty, before we jump in, remind me: what are the three different scales of the main Funko figures?
Lauren: Funko Pop! are 4”, Funko Pocket! are 2” and Bitty Pop! are 1”. Some figures might end up a little taller because they have a hat or whatever. We started doing the Pocket in 2018, and the Bitty came out in 2024.

For me, those smaller sizes are irresistible! And they’re the scale that people get in the different advent calendars… Let’s talk about those! Not just for Christmas?
Lucy: Not just for Christmas! We’ve got these 13-day ‘Countdown to Halloween’ calendars. 13 days to Halloween, Deej! Halloween is such a fun time of year and something that we see grow in popularity year on year in Europe and with our product offerings.

I love the 13 doors idea! Lucky 13! And this is like a blind box? I don’t know everything I’m getting in there, do I?
Lucy: No, that’s right. This is the one from Warner Bros. There isn’t a picture of everything that’s in there so yes, there’s an element of surprise. But you can see on the front on here you’ve definitely got Pennywise from It, Freddy Kruger from Nightmare on Elm Street…

Oh! And Beetlejuice in his ‘guide’ outfit…
Lucy: Yes! So there are a few different IPs in there. The other one here is The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror. What’s fantastic about having the relationship we do with our incredible licensing partners is that we get the opportunity to celebrate multiple IPs in one product. Again, you can’t see everything that’s in there, so there are some surprises. This one might look like Halloween, but it’s actually Nightmare Before Christmas! It’s a full-on Christmas advent calendar.

Makes sense. And Nightmare Before Christmas is an absolute slam dunk because the theme fits. But I see Marvel too… What’s the selection criteria for a decent advent calendar?
Lucy: One big factor is that you’ve got to have a critical mass of range development. Marvel’s perfect because we’ve done 100 characters in Marvel. But if there’s an IP for which we’ve only developed four characters, that can’t work… We need the variety of characters to keep the reveals exciting for our fans.

Lauren: Another consideration is the partnership we share with the licensor. We work closely to ensure we can celebrate festive events while staying true to the IP. For example, we’ve been able to add Santa hats to these characters… You can open this Marvel one, Deej – take a look for yourself!

I’m allowed to open this?! Oh, my days, what a treat! And this one is Bitty Pop!, is it?
Lauren: Yes. The Bitty Pop! Advent calendars we only launched this year; this is brand new. You get 10 Bitty Pops, and you get the pieces that build a Bitty display. It’s an amazing way for fans to collect not only their favourite characters but also creative and inventive stands to display them. You can see here with the Christmas tree on the back how that builds up with a star on top…

Oh, I love that… Wait a second: breaking news! Day one is Iron Man! He started the film franchise; he starts the advent calendar! He’s in his own little presentation case; I love this! And are there exclusive figures that you can only get in the advent calendar?
Lauren: Of course! Now, day two may not be a Bitty Pop! figure… Might be a box!

It IS a box! In the interests of research, I’m opening a few more days… Is this box a keyring?
Lauren: It’s a keychain case, yes! So basically, you can slide open the top and you put any Bitty you like inside to use as a keyring.

How do I open the top?
Lauren: It slides off.

You did say that! I’m a terrible multitasker… Alright, I won’t do them all; I get too easily distrac – it’s GROOT! Oh, these are amazing! So I get lots of Bitty Pop! I get to build my display, I’ve got a keyring case, exclusive figures, surprises! Anything else?
Lauren: You also get a pin case – so a case like the keyring, only instead of a chain, it’s got a pin on the back so you can attach it to a backpack or a top or whatever. You also get a few elemental pieces; a cute little Christmas tree, for example.

In terms of the licenses for which we’ve already created our standard Pocket Pop! advent calendars, we’ve had Five Nights at Freddy’s for Halloween, we’ve done Harry Potter, Disney Classics; we’ve done Pixar… We’ve done Marvel, Stranger Things, DC. Moving forward, obviously I can’t share too many details, but we’ve got some really strong ones in the pipeline.

Lucy: Maybe we can share some genres, though. We’ve got more entertainment licenses coming, but we also have anime and gaming which we haven’t really done before. So that’ll be Funko’s first foray there… And as you know from the last time we spoke, Anime is absolutely killing it at the moment.

And you might not be able to say, but are there other holidays that would work for advent calendars?
Lucy: That’s a tricky one! People don’t necessarily buy a series of products for every holiday… So the occasion itself has got to be a big enough cultural moment to warrant a countdown. That said, it’s not just about that seasonal window anymore. I was on a call with a licensor earlier and we discussed how people are searching for advent calendars sooner and sooner.

Oh?!
Lucy: Yes – so there’s an opportunity to get our product range out a bit earlier as parents try to find their advent calendars in September. And actually, we do also see sales in August which is when the Bitty Pop! advent calendars launched. The Pocket Pop! Advent calendars follow in September.

And who do we think is buying these?
Lauren: In terms of where we position it, Bitty Pop! advent calendars reach lots of fans at a slightly lower price point. Bitty also has the buildable elements; it’s a bit more interactive so we see it as being a bit younger. Pocket Pop! advent calendars are more premium with a higher price point.

Lucy: Pocket Pop! also skews slightly older – I mean: look at the Halloween calendar from Warner Bros. You’ve got The Exorcist and Freddy Kruger in there. It’s not aimed at young kids and our presentation of the product shows that.

Well, on that…. I was thinking earlier about them being collectibles. Even if you weren’t aiming these at collectors, there are going to BE collectors, aren’t there? Are there maybe people out there that won’t even open these calendars?!
Lucy: That’s an interesting question, isn’t it? The calendars aren’t like Pops… A lot of people don’t take their Pops out of the box. But would you buy an advent calendar and never open it? Because you don’t even have pictures of everything you’re getting; you don’t know what you’ve got. That being said, I’m sure there are some out there who like to keep their advent calendars intact after purchase!

Right. Look at the pig’s ear I made opening that one, though! Ha! What a state! But Lucy, you spoke about kidult collectors on a panel at the Mojo Nation Play Creators Festival… From that, I understand that you don’t tend to set out with a great focus on making releases more and more collectable…
Lucy: For a lot of the products, yes. That said, with the advent of our limited-edition exclusives program, there is some locked in scarcity. Value is certainly a consideration, because they’re more expensive items… But that’s something our true fans love: the thrill of the hunt!

Well, let’s discuss that another time because it’s certainly an interesting topic. To wrap things up, Lauren, I must find out about you! How did you come to be working at Funko? What’s your background?
Lauren: I’ve worked in product development for the past ten years, kind of within the licensing industry for most of my career. I’ve been here for three-and-a-bit years… For the other six, I was at a company called BB Designs which makes licensed merchandise. I wanted to try something a bit different, though, and work at a bigger company. Funko is so well known in the licensing industry that – when it came up – it was an absolute no brainer!

Brilliant! Well, thank you so much for making time to talk about the advent calendars. I think they’re great! And let’s catch up soon about Mondo and Funko Pop! exclusives.

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