First shipment of 30,000 bears goes into indie stores
There’s a new bear at the teddy bears’ picnic with 30,000 arriving in Dorset and they’re already off on their travels around the UK’s High Streets!
Thanks to IC&G, Barley Bear plush is now in town and helping the company live up to its full name, as co-owner Ian Wagstaff explained: “We’re called International Cards & Gifts but, until now, our sole focus has been on greeting cards. While cards will always be the backbone of what we do, thanks to Barley we can now justify the & Gifts part too!”
The proof filled two enormous containers that arrived at the publisher’s warehouse after eight weeks at sea, containing 30,000 plush Barley Bears – many of which had hardly any time to fluff themselves up before making their way to the independent retailers who have been placing pre-orders for the cute ursines since February when their arrival was fanfared on the IC&G stand at Spring Fair.
Representing a significant development for the respected card publisher run by Ian and his brother Simon, the decision to expand into plush by translating cute card star Barley from a 2D brand into 3D isn’t one the IC&G team has taken lightly, especially given the complexities of such a product diversification, not to mention the investment of both time and money.
“We’ve been working on this launch for several years,” Simon added, “knowing that, if we go down this path, we need to do it properly and create a range that not only our retail customers would really want to get behind, but that we’d have the right tools to give to them so they could promote the brand to their customers and build a following for Barley.”
And to give the bear a real push in-store, each Barley delivery is being accompanied by a counter-top stand of caption tags, window posters, door signs, shelf stripes and balloons, plus goody bags to give away to customers – and a full-size costume character has been created by Rainbow Productions whose diary is being filled with shop appearances to add some retail razzamatazz, alongside the dedicated consumer-facing website and Instagram campaign to boost the brand awareness.
“Admittedly, we’ve had a few years to get this together, thanks to Covid!” added Simon. However, he revealed the move was partly prompted by retail customers, sparked by the Barley card range’s evolution.
The first incarnation of Barley was as a felt bear, which successfully debuted on a range of cards based on designs by artist Tracey Colliston, who also runs her own Ginger Betty publisher, launched at PG Live four years ago,
Then, when Christmas cards launched featuring Barley as a furry character thanks to Tracey developing the bear and creating one to photograph for her designs out of fluffy cushions she found at TK Maxx, there was a stream of retailer comments saying they’d love to see him being made into actual plush.
With no knowledge on the furry front, Simon and Ian took advice from Paul Haines, who offers a specialist product design and sourcing service through his company Moses Frank.
“I can’t tell you how many swatches of fur we’ve considered, and shades of brown we’ve mulled over,” laughed IC&G’s creative director Amanda Miles, “and then, of course, we had to make sure he was as huggable as possible!”
Wanting to create a range which comprised enough SKUs to make a presence in store, but not too many for it to be a major commitment for the retailer, the team came up with the idea of creating 15 different tags, covering occasions, relations and key sentiments, for a counter-top display where they can be selected by the consumer and affixed to a bear.
This means that, while there are currently 13 different designs of Barley plush with a dozen in a 9” size plus a large version, by using the tags the personalisation options extend the permutations.
So, what are IC&G’s hopes and dreams now for Barley? “While we’re still finding our feet in the plush arena, we know the public and retailers have a real affinity with the character,” said Simon.
And Ian added: “We’d love to see Barley plush in 1,000 stores, for the consumer to take him to their heart and who knows maybe we could licence him onto other products in other areas.”
Barley may be joining a menagerie of existing bear brands, not to mention other plush characters, but as Amanda said: “Everyone knows there’s always room for one more at a teddy bears’ picnic!”
Top: IC&G co-owners Simon (left) and Ian Wagstaff with a new life-size Barley Bear
