What if Playmobil changed their policy on Licensing...

[Martin Milner]

I know it's not their "company policy" to create figures that represent real individuals or film characters, but I really think they're missing a trick (and a fortune) in some ways.

Imagine a link with the NFL, and uniformed figures representing all the players. What little American boy (or bigger American blow-in, i.e. me) could resist collecting his favourite team or players.

Add in Baseball, Hockey, Basketball, English Premier League, European teams... the possibilities are huge. Even if Geobra only got a fraction of the profit of each sale, they'd be making millions of extra Dollars, not to mention the spill over benefit of getting their name recognised in every house in the USA.

Sigh, I guess one can dream (or customise). Maybe Geobra have already approached these organisations and been soundly rebuffed.

[Gepetto]

I think Geobra is just too staid and has a mindset similar to Legos was not too long ago.



Gepetto

[reylocann]

Aside from the fact that licenses cost a lot of money, the mark-up on Playmobil is not huge for retailers.  If they were to introduce licensed figures/sets, the costs would go up markedly.  Customers were complaining 3 years ago that prices were too high, i.e. the $199.00 of the Victorian Mansion.  I saw a decline in sales when the specials went from $1.99 to $2.99.  I think Lego is actually struggling (at least they were 3 years ago).  Their sets are wonderful but children typically only build as per the instructions and the creativity aspect of it has gotten lost.  I applaud Playmobil for remaining true to their brand of creativity.  I remember my my nephew had great fun when the pirates attacked Noah's Ark and the cavalry came to save the day!     

[highlandcattle]

I hope playmobil never give in to licensing. Look what happened to lego, soon the will be making all licenced themes, rather soulless

[kenc]

I also believe Geobra shouldn't go for licensing. Lego has shown that it doesn't work well. To cover the high cost of the license, the sets are too highly priced. Look at the prices of Lego's Star Wars range, they're ridiculous in relation to the number of bricks included in the sets. The same would happen to Playmobil.

Besides, Geobra already covers a lot of existing movies or events:

-Dragon theme -> Lord Of The Rings, Eragon,...
-Ghost pirates -> Pirates Of The Carribean
-Jungle treasure theme -> Indiana Jones

[Indianna]

. . . . Besides, Geobra already covers a lot of existing movies or events:

-Dragon theme -> Lord Of The Rings, Eragon,...
-Ghost pirates -> Pirates Of The Carribean
-Jungle treasure theme -> Indiana Jones

This is an excellent point!  Most of the elements are already available for a child to set up a scene based on a favorite movie or book.  The creativity (and a lot of the fun) comes from figuring out which bits and pieces to use and that would be lost if every element were already manufactured by Playmobil.  When my son was younger we had a wonderful time setting up our castle pieces (steck, of course!) in various arrangements.  One time it was one of the Harry Potter books with a rubber snake as the basilisk, another time it was Castle Brunwald from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (klicky Indy swung from window to window with his whip (a piece of playmobil sail rope) and, biggest of all, Helm's Deep from LOTR The Two Towers.  Whatever Playmobil didn't provide (or we didn't already own) we made from cardboard, construction paper, paint, waxed kitchen twine, thread, hot glue, chop sticks, bamboo skewers (these make excellent spears, swords, spikes, castle gates (with popsicle sticks)) and so on.  My nephew has all the Playmobil ships and is obsessed with the Pirates of the Carribean (he just got the new giant black octopus - very excited!  )

The biggest problem with licenses, IMHO, is that the products manufactured under license usually have a short shelf life.  I think this is something Lego discovered with Harry Potter, Batman, even Indiana Jones - once the particular movie starts gathering dust on everybody's DVD shelf all the sets get put on clearance by the big retailers (Target, Walmart, TRU, etc.) to make room for the next set of licensed toys based on the next hot movie (I think Lego Star Wars stuff has been more continuously successful.)  By avoiding licenses Playmobil can keep a set alive and on the toy store shelves for a longer period of time while reaping more profit by avoiding license fees.

To go back to Martin's original thought, though, wouldn't it be nice if one could easily order the components to make up a particular team.  The figures from a variety of sports could be available in various color combos with corresponding sheets of stickers with numbers and letters and even some generic insignias like animal heads or geometric designs that could stand in for team logos.  This would be an ideal product for an expanded and improved online ordering process.   

[Bill Blackhurst]

I agree that using someone else's creation would cause Playmobil products to under go extreme price increases! The price would need to increase drastically, & the reason LEGO can do it easier is because of the design differences between them & Playmobil. Lego is much smaller for example & if Playmobil would create an equivalent set to the LEGO Star Wars: Star Wars Ultimate LEGO Collectors Series $1500.00, or Millennium Falcon $499.99, or the Death Star II model $299.00 the prices would be off the chain! I think they would increase prices across the entire product line to compensate for the licensing royalty burdens to show the profits needed to stay healthy. The average fire truck may go up 25% under this change! This is a bad idea  !

[Rasputin]

As much as I would like some of the themes that are not being capitalized on to be made I would not want to see what happened to Lego's. I have also noticed the disproportionate price's of the Star Wars sets and actually try to persuade our kids to not get them due to this. I also agree with the point that Playmobil has offered so many themes and parts that almost anything can be created that one wished for .

One theme that has not been done very extensively is the American football but we have to keep in mind that this is a German toy and they have taken care of the European football quite well. 

I would also think it is in Playmobil's best interest to stay pure and avoid licensing

[skypurr]

My eldest boy has special needs and some learning difficulties and playmobil has been great for him to use his imagination.  His interests range from Bob the Builder and Postman Pat, to watching movies, especially High School Musical, Harry Potter and Mamma Mia.  He has used playmobil figures to act out film premieres and make his own 'movies' and 'music videos'.   It hasn't mattered that the figures look nothing like the film and pop stars, like all children he has a great imagination and to him the fairy tale princess really look like Meryl Streep and Ashley Tisdale.....as for Zak Efron in a purple top hat... ! 
I do think that if they were to  produce characters under licence they would never produce all the figures that all children want - and anyway it gives us an excuse to customise.

[Martin Milner]

To go back to Martin's original thought, though, wouldn't it be nice if one could easily order the components to make up a particular team.  The figures from a variety of sports could be available in various color combos with corresponding sheets of stickers with numbers and letters and even some generic insignias like animal heads or geometric designs that could stand in for team logos.  This would be an ideal product for an expanded and improved online ordering process.   

One theme that has not been done very extensively is the American football but we have to keep in mind that this is a German toy and they have taken care of the European football quite well. 

I would also think it is in Playmobil's best interest to stay pure and avoid licensing

I guess my ideal would be something along the lines of the European footballers, but for American Football, giving various tops, leggings, and helmet colours to choose from, with stick on numbers like the footballers have. The down linemen would have to be fatbody klickies of course...