Now we start on chapter two, one thing so many either ignore or do not know about is the third branding project taken up by Genius Brands right around the time Genius Brands was taking up LLama Llama there was a small apparel company Psycho Bunny trying to go about licesning and building its brand, wanting to step up to the next level, then the next.
Up until this year Psycho Bunny had really not taken off, and indeed it showed in Genius Brands licensing/royalites from the brand, then recently I noticed $168,352 in royalties received related to Psycho Bunny in Q1 2019 for the 2018 year. And I am like has that finally started paying well, why? Will it now start to pay off after all the hard work?
Well this past year it took that leap to the US with a pop up store here and there and then decided in late spring 2019 they opened the first of what hopefully will grow to 100's as this is where everyone wants to be the US market a full on brick and mortar luxury brand. Must have gone well besides opening another international store in Cullican Mexico
Was it a risk, most certainly, for Psycho Bunny and for Genius Brands, it was a commitment that if it did work out, just like Llama Llama and Rainbow Rangers would not see the harvesting of the fruit for 4 years or more minimum, but, when it did there would be no stopping it.
Genius got to work and started doing their thing as the journey began.
Genius Brands International Signs Three New Licensees for Psycho Bunny, Expanding the Product Range for the Luxury Apparel Brand Jan 8, 2015
Then the expansion of the Japanese line
Luxury Fashion Apparel and Lifestyle Brand Psycho Bunny Enters Licensing Agreement With ITOCHU in Japan to Develop Upscale Accessories Program Apr 14, 2015
Then the first store was tried overseas to see if/how it could work. Up to that point Psycho Bunny was an exlucives brand in specialty shops around the world in places like Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, London etc.
Genius Brands International and Neroli Open First Dedicated Psycho Bunny Retail Store in Panama City November 30, 2015
Just after this launch of the first test store an interview was given as you can see by the video was quite the shor strong run operation in it's infancy with plastic shipping boxes in their offices etc, still taking those baby steps working on the end game.
The die was set and off they went, all while continuing to develop Llama Llama and Rainbow Rangers,etc. How it has unfolded to this point where they have in the last 4 months literally gone into overdrive. How a brand is built from a specialty niche market into a Billion dollar brand.
Psycho Bunny: How The Right Partnership Built a $20M Brand ($20 million in December 2018 things have changed kids, what a difference a year makes) Listen to what these fellows were doing still when signing on with Genius Brands when both were taking a risk them with Genius and Genius with them it is at 11 minute mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4KDQiDNtGs
Well the first US store seemd to do well so lets just start rolling this thing out in November 2019 because the US market is when things really get cooking.
Recent article January 16, 2019 Cool article on Malls being refurbished into upscale destination places, has quote from Psycho Bunny about opening their first US store there, before only being online in US.
From DXLG conference call Q&A with analysts Harvey Kanter Yes. So one other comment I just would tell you on that and hopefully you will, I don't know how long you have been shopping with us, but one of the important points is like Psycho Bunny is a perfect example where for Psycho Bunny which is one of our fashion brands, we will rotate through the tees and there is kind of a collector level of involvement, for lack of a better way to say, with our core consumer that comes in every four to eight weeks, looking for a new tee.
Has it taken a long time for Llama Llama, Psycho Bunny and Rainbow Rangers to start to blow up, yes, but CEO said all along it will take years, well the time has come to harvest. It won't be this one or that one it will be all three and Kindergarten Superhero we that is just the icing on the cake.
Next two chapters coming Rainbow Rangers and Kindergarten Superhero which the latter will not take years to blow up, that is going to debut interantionally with a full line of merchandise from the jump in 2020. Thta's what happens when you have the Governator involved and Alibaba partnered with you to take on China/Asia from the jump.
And let's hope to see snother 20-30 Psycho Bunny stores open in 2020 and the "in" crowd continue to make this an Ed Hardy type deal where Psycho Bunny is seen everywhere and collectors of their T-shorts etc abound. Looking forward to seeing what the royalties are for 2019 they were very very busy.