Nebulous Stars creative toys sparkle in more than 70 countries, but the Quebec company that imagined them remains obscure.
“We work hard in the shadows,” laughs Geneviève Lecompte, co-founder with her partner Kevin Richer of the Tween Team agency.
Last February, like every year, Geneviève Lecompte and Kevin Richer held an imposing booth at the Nuremberg toy fair.
In April, Kevin Richer and their daughter Léa-Rose participated in a fair in Shenzhen, China, where the company has been leading an offensive for a year.
In mid-October, their marketing director Caroline Trudeau presented their novels Nebulous Stars at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The magazine Nebulous Stars published six times a year.
This fall, the brand is launching a range of pajamas for girls, distributed in Clément boutiques.
Amazing and mysterious company…
Nebulous Stars is first and foremost a brand of toys and creative activities – coloring or activity books, pencils, jewelry to assemble, dolls, stuffed animals, stationery items, etc. –, orbiting around a silky intergalactic universe .
The argument: young fairies make starry worlds appear where benevolence reigns.
They were born in the head of Kevin Richer.
The origin of the universe
“My husband and I have been in the field for over 25 years,” says Geneviève Lecompte.
The two entrepreneurs met in high school. Both came from entrepreneurial families. Geneviève’s grandfather is the founder of the Telbec press agency. Kevin’s parents founded Bojeux.
After having had honorable success with various ranges of creative toys, the two partners wanted to create a brand “which would have depth beyond the tablet product”, explains Geneviève Lecompte, “which would have a positive message, linked to our personal values”.
They founded the Tween Team agency and created the Nebulous Stars range in 2017.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY TWEEN TEAM AGENCY
Kevin Richer, marketing director Caroline Trudeau, Geneviève Lecompte, all three from Nebulous Star, and Marianne Pauchant and Katharina Benz, from the General Delegation of Quebec in Munich, at the Nuremberg fair, in February 2023
“It’s my husband who is the initiating creative spirit, but we have a great development team who have put their hands to work to create a range which today has more than 150 products. »
The graphics, the illustrations, the stories, “everything is done here in Quebec internally, everything is written here, it’s 100% Quebecois,” she assures.
Tween Team has 18 employees, including two in Barcelona and one in Paris. All work from home. “It was already like that before COVID! “, she says, laughing.
The items, not too surprisingly, are made in Asia.
“We started with this brand in all humility with a small location in store, saying to ourselves that if we put all the products together, we would have the wow effect of the brand and the visual. It snowballed,” says the president.
Through carefully chosen distributors – this is Geneviève Lecompte’s specialty – they are sold in more than 70 countries, including New Zealand, Greece and the Baltic countries. “We even sell in Ukraine, despite the situation! »
“We sell to distributors in each market,” she describes. They take possession of the stocks directly in Asia and they import the products into their country themselves. This is our business model. »
More than 15 million items have been sold so far.
A true novel
Small scenes were associated with each of the characters.
“Fans wrote to us to tell us that they would like to know more about a particular character or a particular story,” continues the entrepreneur.
The Milky Way was mapped out: the company partnered with Éditions Petit Homme for the printing and distribution of illustrated novels.
Nine titles have been published since 2020, all written by Quebec authors.
“Each of them is a best-seller several times in Quebec,” she assures.
A Chinese collectors’ market
Through its manufacturers and suppliers, Nebulous Stars began expanding into China a year ago.
“It’s a big potential market, but very different from the European market,” she observes. There are some small adjustments to be made on certain products to really focus on the demand of the Chinese market. »
Women are particularly interested in collectible items.
“It’s still quite surprising. In fact, there is no real age limit for a brand like ours. »
Full licenses
Nebulous Stars now licenses – a model it envied “among the Disneys of this world”.
His novels are translated into English, and from English into the languages of various markets. “They pay us a royalty for the sales of the novels which are made in each country. »
The same principle now applies to the magazine Nebulous Stars. “We sign licensing contracts in countries like Romania, Croatia, Slovenia. We are also in discussions for the Baltic countries. »
The Nebulous Stars universe is expanding.
A redesign of the Fondussimo fondue stove
PHOTO ETIENNE DIONNE, PROVIDED BY FONDUSSIMO
The new Fondussimo Evolution and Evolution Mini models.
Basing a lot of hope on innovation, Fondussimo has just launched a new multi-use fondue stove.
The Fondussimo Evolution stove, as its name suggests, is an evolved version of the device that Dany Bernard launched in 2018.
Le Beauceron had designed an elegant electric fondue stove, which was characterized by its six removable perforated stainless steel baskets. Each guest places their pieces of meat and vegetables in theirs, which they fish out with tongs. No more tangled forks and dropped pieces.
The new Fondussimo Evolution model includes a ceramic bain-marie, which transforms the device into a cheese or chocolate fondue pan. A four-basket version is also available.
The company invested half a million dollars in developing the new product, modernizing its brand image and optimizing its e-commerce platform.
Far from melting, its workforce has tripled, going from four permanent employees in January 2023 to 12 today.
The magazine Atikuss arrives in town
IMAGE PROVIDED BY ATIKUSS
Cover ofAtikuss
A new magazine in the desolate landscape of print media.
Atikuss, a company dedicated to celebrating and safeguarding the art of living and the history of the 11 indigenous nations in Quebec, launched the first issue of its namesake magazine on November 3.
The 100-page publication notably contains a special section devoted to indigenous women. It will be offered in printed and digital versions – it can be found on the company’s website.
The founding president of Atikuss, Josée Shushei, has just received the Small Business award in the Impact Entrepreneur category of the Prix Femmes d’affaires du Québec competition.
The name Atikuss is an amalgamation of the word atikwhich means caribou in Innu, and the suffix uss, which refers to youth. Young caribou, then.
We hope that he will escape the large foreign predators who haunt the media territory.
Transmission of CVTech-IBC
This was to ensure the transfer of the company to a new team.
CVTech-IBC designs and manufactures continuously variable transmission systems, intended in particular for recreational and utility vehicles.
The company announced an investment led by Banque Nationale Placements Privés (BNPP) in its share capital. It supports management in the repurchase of shares from president and majority shareholder Alain Charest and director of operations Marc Dionne.
Taking over the wheel of the company, David Ouellet is named president and chief operating officer.
Founded in 1969 in Drummondville, CVTech-IBC employs nearly 200 workers in the region.
The number
4
The Capitole Hôtel de Québec, founded in 2019, obtained its CAA-AA Four Diamonds, which ranks it among the best establishments on the continent. Barely 3.2% of the 60,000 establishments identified in North America have the Four Diamond designation.