11 November 2020: Little Brother Books (LBB), the UK’s leading publisher of children’s Annuals has secured an exclusive partnership with one of the UK’s most established media organisations, DC Thomson Media (DCT).
The Scottish-based media heavyweight, DC Thomson Media, renowned for its history in newspaper and magazine publishing, is home to some of the most successful children’s brands, including The Beano. The partnership with Little Brother Books has initially focused on The Beano and its iconic best-selling Christmas Annual, which is one of the longest running annuals in the UK market. The key objective was to drive broader retail distribution for DCT annuals, as well as reach new audiences, and from 5th November 2020 the 2021 Beano Annual is listed in all of LBB’s dedicated Annuals FSDU’s across all of Lidl’s UK and Irish stores for the first time.
Commenting on the partnership, Matthew Reynolds, MD at Little Brother Books said: “The Beano and DC Thomson Media are synonymous with Annuals and it has been our pleasure to work with the team to drive their iconic Annuals into more retailers in 2020. Unfortunately, Annuals have recently been wrongly perceived by some retailers, which we (LBB) have been successful in proving wrong in the wider market. Annuals remain a must-have Christmas gift for many families and therefore appetite at retail remains very strong so long as they are visible in store for customers to see (as they are purchased on impulse). We know DCT share our passion for the long-term success of Annuals, and as such are proud to represent their Annuals in many new retailers for them and we hope this is the start of exciting things to come for both companies.”
Craig Houston, Head of eCommerce and Partnerships at DC Thomson Media adds: “Despite the difficult trading environment we are all experiencing, the Annuals market in particular is facing strong headwinds and we at DC Thomson Media are confident our market leading titles and award winning content have the right mix to continue to supply and grow our collection of annuals. I’m delighted to partner with Matt and his team. They are well known, respected and well established in the market and the partnership provides excellent opportunities to reach wider markets.”
In recent years, Little Brother Books has successfully established itself as the UK’s leading publisher and distributor of Annuals for the third consecutive year with up to 1.2million Annuals sold each year with LBB’s top selling Annual reaching over 300,000 copies); its achievements have been driven by Annuals being LBB’s sole focus as a business, and its expertise in partnering with retailers to maximise sales in-store (as Annuals are a time-sensitive product category to get right), and subsequently secure repeat business year on year.