Partner Article

Creative Director for Global Brands at Mattel relocates to UK to join Blue Kangaroo

A big name in global brand licensing has relocated from his base in the US to join a Brand Creative agency in the UK. Paul Richards, former Creative Director for Global Brands at Mattel, has made the move back to the UK to join Blue Kangaroo as the team’s Director of Creative Strategy. With effect from 1 June, Richards will be responsible for working with Blue Kangaroo’s existing client base as well as growing the portfolio; strengthening the agency’s offering for consultative creative and brand development, working strategically with clients at Board level. Commenting on his appointment, Richards, said: “Blue Kangaroo is a big name in the brand licensing industry, producing stand-out work for its clients in the UK and the US. I’m delighted to join such a talented team, to help build on the agency’s strengths, and further its offering in strategic creative and brand development. “I champion the idea that creative design, when used strategically, can work to solve brand challenges while being a driver of growth for companies and their clients. I’m looking forward to being part of the Blue Kangaroo team where together, we can reimagine the possibility of the brand for existing and new clients alike.” Blue Kangaroo is a creative design agency based in the North East of England. With a team of designers, creatives and illustrators, the agency works extensively with big-name brands in the UK such as Entertainment One, Warner Bos and BBC Worldwide. In addition, the agency has successful exported its skills to the US, working with clients including Hit Entertainment, Mattel, The Walt Disney Company and other world renowned entertainment brands in San Francisco. The talented team at Blue Kangaroo produce characterisations and brand identities primarily from feature films and television shows, transferring the iconic visuals into packaging, point of sale materials and print. The agency also works with its clients both in the UK and the US to create style guides, as well as product and character development. Richards continued: “Over the past few years, I’ve come to know Blue Kangaroo and the quality of its work, through being one of my major competitors while heading up Red Central, to being one of my key suppliers while at Mattel. The services the agency offers are industry-leading and I’m pleased to have this opportunity to lend my knowledge of the industry from both an agency and client-side point of view, to further develop the skills of the team and our offering, working collaboratively with our customers to ultimately benefit their bottom line.” Jason Knights, Managing Director of Blue Kangaroo, added: “To have Paul join the team at Blue Kangaroo is most certainly a defining moment in the agency’s journey. Having being in the character brand licensing industry for over 10 years now, we’re well established and respected for what we do and how we help our clients. “With Paul on board, we’re going from strength-to-strength and the future is certainly looking very bright for Blue Kangaroo; he’s a huge talent in the industry having created the brand identity for some of the biggest household names. As well as being charged with developing our relationship further with Mattel, Paul will be instrumental in growing our strategic brand consulting services, working with clients to look at the bigger picture, defining brand strategies that are driven by design, and taking creative ideas from concept to shelf.”

Last year, Blue Kangaroo was recognised for its expanding portfolio of export work at the North East Exporters Awards, sponsored by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI). The agency went on to win the accolade of ‘North East New Exporter’, recognising Blue Kangaroo’s exceptional exporting achievements to clients in the US during 2015. As such, the agency has seen its portfolio with clients based overseas grow by 70% during the last financial year.

For more information about Blue Kangaroo and its services both in the UK and abroad, visit: www.bluekangaroodesign.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Northern Design Centre .