How the World’s first Monopoly City Takeover exceeded all expectations – with LeedsBid’s Martin Dickson

Monopoly, Martin! It must haunt your dreams! But let me say: congratulations… The Monopoly City Takeover in Leeds was one of the best licensed installations I’ve ever seen. I think you absolutely nailed it.
That’s very kind of you, Deej, thank you. That means a lot because, as a business, we’re clear about what we want to do and the level at which we want to do it. We want to do good things – great quality. And if someone had said at the beginning that this would go down as well as it did – well… I‘m not sure I’d have taken it. I mean, I knew it was going to be good, but it really did exceed all expectations.

Fantastic! I’ll just explain that this was a citywide installation in Leeds in the UK… It featured eight giant Monopoly playing-piece models, a treasure trail of sorts, quizzes, displays, story-time sessions, Monopoly-money bunting everywhere! Really marvelous. Not your first installation, I suspect?
Ha! No! In previous summers, we’ve done other activations. For example, we’ve done three Jurassic Trails… Large dinosaur trails! For the third one, we had 12 giant animatronic dinosaurs around the city centre. We had a spinosaurus in the water on the canal. Absolutely huge! Not being a dinosaur expert, I didn’t realise the spinosaurus would be bigger than the T-Rex. But we did have a T-Rex…

Say again?
We had a T-Rex…

Perfect, I just wanted you to sound like Richard Attenborough! Ha!
Ha!

And just from the fact that you’ve done that three times, may I infer that dinosaurs are always a hit?
Oh, yes! The dinosaur trails are universally popular with children, adults, families… They’re just such a big thing. Literally, and figuratively! Up until Monopoly, it was the biggest thing we’d done. And there’s no connection to that, of course; there’s no backstory… Leeds – so far as I know – has nothing more specific to do with dinosaurs than any other city in Britain.

And for the uninitiated, I should explain that Leeds is the UK’s spiritual home of Monopoly because the original UK publisher, Waddingtons, was based there for close to 100 years…
Right. That was a key part of this installation because we had an opportunity to tell the story of Waddingtons to a lot of Leeds people who didn’t know it. Leeds has got a rich heritage; some fascinating history but – for whatever reason – it isn’t as widely known as some cities… In Manchester, for example – where I’m from – you’re brought up to know all about the first meetings that created trade unionism, the city’s music history, the Luddite movement – things like that. I know people from Liverpool can do that, too.

Fantastic. And in terms, then, of getting the Monopoly installation up and running, how did that come about?
We first reached out to Hasbro in November 2022; just sounding out the initial idea. From the word go, Hasbro were brilliant to deal with. They’re a major corporate player, as you know – an absolute giant… But you’d never know it from our point of view! I tried to convince my boss that it was worth finding the budget to fly me and my events manager over to LA for those early meetings, but he said no! So we spent about an hour on Zoom selling the idea of a city-wide Monopoly attraction to a guy called Max Proulx – he couldn’t be more helpful; absolutely brilliant.

Ah! We’ve done a couple of interviews with Max. Good egg… One was about a Bop It arcade game. People can read that here. Then, earlier this year, we spoke to him about Peppa Pig turning 20. Again, I’ll put a link to that here. We also did interviews recently about The Story of Waddingtons, Waddingtons at War, Monoploy at 90 and Cluedo at 75. I’ll put in links to those respectively here, here, here and here. And was Max aware, Martin, of that Leeds history; the Waddingtons background? I mean – Hasbro bought out Waddingtons Games 30 years ago this November, so there’s no real reason that he would be…
He was only vaguely aware of it – he was very open about that – but he was fascinated by it. And he said, “If you send me the plan, the evaluation and some detail on your dinosaur impacts, I’ll come back to you within a week.” And he did. And, fortunately, he loved it! One thing he said that I really appreciated was that he wanted to reward our ingenuity! So then he had a short conversation with the lawyers that end, and we negotiated a really fair price for the license. And that’s important because he really got it; he understood the concept of LeedsBid being not for profit.

Interesting… Brands Untapped is a not for profit – just not intentionally!
Ha! Well, credit to Max: he really worked with us to find a price. It was amazing, actually… He more or less said that there was no point doing it if they took all the money and we couldn’t afford to do it! So he was brilliant, Deej. And then, once we’d convinced him, he just plugged us into his team in London. They look after the UK and Europe side of things – and we’ve dealt with very happily with them pretty much since. In fact, we had a mop-up meeting with four of them on Zoom last Thursday. Now the conversation has begun about what we could do in summer 2026.

Oh, Martin! Don’t tease! That has to be Cluedo, surely? Another classic game made in Leeds; another Waddingtons product?! Surely? Do that; do it for me! Come on! Ha!
Ha! You might be you might be onto something there, Deej… You devil! But it’s worth saying that Hasbro has so many wonderful games and titles… It’s just a case of making something work because – of course – we’re not actually playing the game. You couldn’t actually play Monopoly in the city-wide attraction…

No, of course… It’s a question of starting with that theme and building out.
Exactly. So we gave Hasbro alternatives. And in 2026, we would need to be just as creative with the next installation – be that Cluedo or something else. There’s a Junior Cluedo, for example… That’s more like a treasure hunt. I don’t mind you sharing theses ideas, by the way! Another idea we’ve been discussing is that perhaps we could do something around Trivial Pursuit.

Oh, wow. Interesting idea. That would work very well given what you were saying about the rich heritage of Leeds…
Right! Another conversation is around a compendium of games. So maybe Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit are a couple of them, but you would go across their product range… You could include things like Battleships and Transformers and have a whole range of different things going on.

I like that you’re being very creative in your thinking, Martin. That’s something I was thinking about when I visited… I was standing by the giant Scotty dog wondering how you chose what to include in the Takeover… Because it really did seem that there was something for everyone.
Well – again – that’s kind of you to say. To some extent, that’s about knowing what works for the different demographics. What appeals to the broad public? What would get people to come into the city centre and enjoy themselves? Because one key purpose of the bid is to bring people into the city to spend money locally… So it’s got to be something free for you to come and do – but it can’t look cheap.

Then, once in town, how you spend your time and money is up to you! So – to your question – we do try to give a range of things. Something to see, something to do, a free game, some quick interactions with people. As you saw, we did that by having costumed characters alongside each of the playing tokens.

Indeed. Let’s talk about the tokens! Scotty dog, top hat, wheelbarrow… Duck. Ship… Don’t help me! Iron, boot and car. Why those?
The tokens were very much in consultation with Hasbro. We initially talked about basing it on the Leeds version of the game. Understandably, though, Hasbro wanted us to use their current tokens… So that’s why you saw the tokens that you did.

What were they made of, Martin? Here, I really need you not to shatter my illusions. I need you to tell me they were solid pewter…
Ha! They weren’t solid pewter… Better! They were cast in mythril by, uh, a hundred dwarves – toiling in the moonlight. Is that what you want?!

Absolutely! Let’s wrap it up there! Ha!
Ha! I’m almost afraid to tell you… They were actually made for us by a model and prop-building company in Keighley, just northwest of Leeds. They’re called called Norse Sky. They build sets for TV and some film projects. Really, the tokens are made from a bespoke modelling resin… I’m not allowed to describe it as fiberglass, but it’s comparable. The models are hollow, but quite substantial. Four people could have lifted the dog, for example – it wasn’t like stone! Each model was cast individually and finished by hand.

And we’re getting a little into the weeds at my discretion here… But I’m curious about the scale! Because I think you made a really intelligent choice there… They made for fantastic photos to share, because you could fit someone in the frame alongside the model!
Yes! We did think very carefully about the scale. We wanted them big enough to impress, but we didn’t want people to stand next to them and feel Lilliputian! And you’re right about the photos… We didn’t just want it to be someone’s head and shoulders next to a paw!

Here’s a slightly mischievous question… I sense that you would’ve had a lot of unused ideas for the Monopoly brand extension. That being the case, what was the best idea that you had to leave out?
Ohhhh! Actually, there was one thing that we couldn’t make happen… I really wanted to do, but couldn’t – partly due to cost, partly due to time. And it really goes back to what we were discussing about bringing in a diverse range of people… We were trying to organise a road train, which would’ve been brilliant.

Great answer! That’s a great idea!
Thank you! It was one of those things where we thought we’d had a great idea, but wouldn’t be able to find a supplier. But we did! There are a couple of companies that could have done it for us in the UK. And we spent four months exploring it, but we encountered a couple of challenges with the highways people and the local authority – reasonable concerns that we couldn’t solve quickly enough. In the end, the suppliers understandably needed us to make a commitment, and we couldn’t do it in the timeframe. Plus, of course, the budget was pretty tight. A good chunk of it would have gone on a road train.

You know, as soon as you said it was a train, I thought: ‘I bet it ran late and cost too much!’ Ha! Even pretend trains are late and expensive! Ha!
Ha! But, you know, I don’t like to be beaten… I’m determined to do a train in the city one day – and mine will be on time and free!

And in terms of your looking for future ideas for, Martin… Do you actively look for licensing opportunities? Do you go to things like Brand Licensing Europe and scout around?
Actually, that’s really interesting, Deej. No! Honestly, we’ve not looked at it that way. I’m very blessed to have a small but really clever, creative team around me. They understand our audience and our city centre. That’s a key part of making the bid successfully… Understanding your territories, the sights and sounds, and what works. Having a key understanding of the shopping centres and attractions to understand what we can utilise. That way, we can work out what needs to go where. You know?

Not as well as you, no! Give me an example; what kind of thing?
Why did we put the hat in the middle of the Victoria Quarter? Where does the more mainstream item always work best? Which theatrical characters should be in which buildings? And on which stands? All that sort of thing helps with the planning and execution. So no, it’s always been very organic – but you ask an interesting question because that would open up a new line of thought, wouldn’t it?

It absolutely would! Well, I’m disappointed to say we need to start wrapping this up, Martin, because I’m just loving the chat! One last question: What’s the one thing that I could’ve asked today, but didn’t?
Well, I don’t think there is anything! It’s been such a great chat… There is one thing I wondered if you might ask about – and that was about the effectiveness of it all… And I’m very happy to share some figures. I can tell you, Deej, that through our formal evaluation, we had almost 586,000 people come to do the trail over the five weeks. They spent somewhere near £6,000,000 in city businesses…

Wow!
Yes, that’s a big tick for the businesses – and a testament to Monopoly because it’s even higher than the big Jurassic Trail we did in 2022. That was just under half a million people spending nearly £4,000,000. So we’ve surpassed it by more than 80 to 90,000 people. And interestingly, Deej, those 80 to 90,000 people – spend wise – accounted for around £2,000,000.

It’s an astonishing figure. And have you thought around the reasoning of that?
I think – from a business delivery point of view – the reason is probably the extent and length of the trail and the game. It kept people in town longer… We also know a lot of people who came back and did it in two visits.

Well, that brings us full circle, Martin! I’ll end as I began… By telling you It’s easily one of the best licensing installations I’ve ever seen. You absolutely nailed it – just as you have this conversation; it’s been such a pleasure – thank you for joining me.