Now they're juggling, what, 4 different series at once (including Dino Rise and Wiltopia)? At least with generic Playmobil you don't have to try to get a series off the ground as the customers can make their own
Way back, in the early days of the development of Novelmore, the goal was to create only ONE full-flagged IP with books, games and a tv-series flanking the toy. And perhaps after a few years and having learned some lessons, attempt a second IP directed at girls. It was a strategy still in line with the moderate and careful evolution of the core brand that existed under Horsts reign.
But between 2018 and the start of the pandemic, the core brand became increasingly under pressure... Due to the licenses taking up more and more development resources, the original Blue Line got neglected more and more. With licenses like Dragons taking up most of the room for new molds, the novelties of once successful Blue Line themes like police , pony farm, construction, etc... were reduced to mostly refurbished re-releases of already existing sets. The result: Blue lines performed poorer and poorer.
And without making the proper analysis - that neglected development leads to boring products and bad sales - the idea grew that the core brand itself was the problem. So, top management doubled down and the core brand was further sacrificed - a nice sign of this is that the playmobil logo got reduced by 66% on the newer box designs - and all the energy went into new "offerings" like Everdreamerz, Dino Rise, Ayuma, DOC and especially Wiltopia, which got brandings that clearly depart from the "blue wall" concept that once gave Playmobil its unified presence in toy stores.
This made it pretty much a self-fullfilling prophecy as far as the future of the Blue Line is concerned, and i am really wondering what the fall novelties of 2023 will bring.
