A Quebec company specializing in the creation of children’s content has just struck a big blow, as it developed the animated universe of the Wild Manes franchise for the toy industry giant JAKKS Pacific.
Epic Storyworlds created the universe, characters and stories of the Wild Manes fillies for the first season of 40 episodes which is broadcast on the YouTube channel. However, the agreement with JAKKS Pacific, a California-based company, goes well beyond this achievement.
At the moment, Wilds Manes episodes are only streamed in English on YouTube.
Photo provided by Epic Storyworlds
“It’s not just a service contract that we signed, but a business partnership with them,” says Steve Couture, co-founder of Epic Storyworlds. For us, it’s a spectacular accelerator.”
“We are launching our series and our experience on the Roblox platform at the same time we are in stores.”
They receive a percentage of the sales of Wild Manes toys, which are already on shelves in more than 5,000 points of sale in North America. They are sold in all Walmart and Target stores in Canada and the United States.
The mission for the Quebec SME, which launched its trademark during the summer, is to have long-term success.
“It’s not about having a cool toy that you handle and that disappears the following year,” adds Mr. Couture. What remains over time is something that has depth and a story.
“For example, Star Wars toys are still sold today because of the films and many other things.”
Today, with the many content channels that are accessible to children, it is not easy to carve out a place in the sun.
“When they open Netflix, they have access to an ocean of content, many of which were created with spectacular budgets. They are attracted to that. If you produce something on a smaller budget, it’s harder to hook them.
“Which means that the importance of our characters and our texts is gigantic.”
Millions of potential customers
In order to raise awareness of its series and its characters, Epic Storyworlds also placed Wild Manes on the Roblox network, which has more than 80 million users around the world.
“We have had a professional content development studio for two years on this platform,” says Mr. Couture. People are wondering where the young people are. They are there.
“We use it to discover content like that of Wild Manes. It’s part of an overall marketing effort.”
Going international soon?
Mr. Couture does not hide it. He wants to bring the Wild Manes series and products internationally in the near future.
“When you do a global deployment, despite the power of our partner and its ability to bring toys to stores, you have to take it one step at a time,” emphasizes Steve Couture. Currently, we already have an interest in the northern territories and we are working quickly on a translation.
“We also work based on where there is interest in our brand.”
At the moment, Wild Manes content is only broadcast in English. On the other hand, the CEO of Epic Storyworlds intends to translate the episodes of the series into French and several other languages in order to reach the widest possible audience.