Emma Coote discusses Beams International’s range of Bluey gift packs and accessories

Emma, for those that don’t yet know you, who are you?
I’m a licensing consultant and wear a number of hats. As one of these, I work with Beams International as their Brands and Licensing Director… I look after brand acquisition, managing their relationship with existing brand partners and ensuring they optimise opportunities at retail for their licensed brands.

The surname Coote: I have a horrible feeling I know the answer, but do you know its origin?
Well apparently, it actually traces its roots back to the Old English word ‘cote’ which means ‘small cottage’ or ‘shelter’.

Like a dove cote?
Like a dove cote, exactly. However, our family crest does include the famous follicly challenged water bird…

Yes, I was afraid it traced back to baldness… But thank you for not making eye contact when you went there! So! One of the brands you’ve been working with recently is Bluey. What kind of Bluey products are you bringing to market?
We’re developing a huge range of composite gift packs and accessories to cover all imaginable gifting occasions. These range from milkshake kits and hot chocolate mugs to keyrings, Easter-egg hunt sets and barbecue packs.

That’s quite a diverse range. What makes Bluey the right property for this? And why now?
The multi-generational, multi-occasion appeal of Bluey is quite incredible. There are so many episodes, covering so many different events and topics – as well as characters spanning all generations… So the diversity of the range we’ve been able to develop, while staying completely true to the brand, has been mind-blowing. And as for why now… Bluey is enjoying a meteoric rise in popularity – both from a broadcasting and consumer products point of view. It’s a very exciting time to be a part of this licensing programme.

Great answer. Thank you, Emma. What was the process you went through creatively with BBC Studios?
We’ve worked very closely with BBC Studios from the outset, both on the development of the gifting concepts and the finessing of the final product executions. From a Beams point of view, we bring to this process our in-depth knowledge of the sorts of products that work well at retail within the gifting category. And BBC Studios, of course, bring their encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Bluey, to ensure the themes and the creative routes used remain true to the heart and ethos of the brand.

What were the biggest challenges doing these products, Emma? Dare I ask that?! And if I dare ask, dare you answer?! Ha!
Ha! We should both dare, I think, because – and this is a lovely problem to have – the biggest challenge has been keeping up with demand from retailer buyers for Bluey concepts to cover a plethora of different gifting occasions. We’re currently working on ranges for Valentines, Mother’s Day, Easter, Father’s Day, Halloween and Christmas. Bluey is a brand for all seasons!

So meeting consumer demand is the biggest challenge… How are you solving it?
Well, it involves a lot of hard work from our Product Development, Design, Buying and Sales teams… But we’re managing to stay on top of the demand, largely due to endless efficiency of the wonderful Kerry Feeney who heads up food-gifting development at Beams.

Kerry can take the rest of the day off; tell her I said so. Now, I think I’m right in saying that Beams International has partnered with BBC Studios before. What other ranges have you worked on with them?
We were previously part of BBC Studio’s Strictly Come Dancing licensing programme, and we currently have an Only Fools and Horses gifting licence… We’ve held this for six years, and it’s still going strong! Under this licence, we supply food and beverage gift packs to retailers with concepts such as ‘Mange Tout’ Pale Ale with ‘You know it makes sense’ pint glass and Nag’s Head Pub in a Box. It’s a very fun brand to work on.

Oh, I can imagine! We should do something with Only Fools and Horses; I keep meaning to. But tell me about Beams! What’s their background?
Beams International is a family-run composite gifting company. We supply food, beverage and lifestyle gifting to all the major grocery, high street, department store and discounter chains within the UK. We were founded 27 years ago, and we specialise in branded gifting, which we supply to retail under licence. We pride ourselves on our long-term, collaborative brand relationships – some of which now span over two decades.

Amazing! And has that always been the focus?
When started, way back in 1997, we very much focused on beverage gifting which we supplied into the likes of Woolworths, BHS and Debenhams. As the retail landscape has evolved, though, we’ve diversified our gifting range to also include food, lifestyle, cosmetics, gardening – you name it really!

Fantastic. And to wrap this up, Emma, tell me: what else could I have asked you about today that I didn’t?
You could’ve asked me what my personal favourite Bluey episode is…

That would’ve been a smart question. And what’s the answer?
Having had two little boys who refused to sleep for the first couple of years of their lives, I would have to say Sleepytime. If you haven’t seen it, watch it immediately – it’s a masterpiece!

Well, you know what… I’m going to! If Kerry Feeney can take the rest of the day off, so can I! Thank you, Emma.