Business June 28, 2022

Fanattik – Gifts and collectibles by Anthony Marks

By Monika Wasserman

Fanattik is a merchandise partner for some of the biggest film and video game studios in the world, we are licensed to create gifts and collectibles, everything from bottle openers and playing cards to in-world replicas, statues, and busts. The products Fanattik creates are supplied to retailers all over the world from the UK to Australia.

The business was started 15 years ago by Anthony Marks. Previously Anthony had worked for several toy companies as well as Manchester United where he developed ranges of branded product. With a milestone birthday coming up (not telling you which one) he thought it was a now or never moment and left a company he enjoyed being a part of and set off on his own path. 15 Years later Fanattik has gone from a one-man band working out of a spare bedroom to a global award-winning pop culture company.

Brexit is still proving a challenge, a third of our business is with the EU so when Brexit hit, these EU orders stopped overnight. Things are slowly improving but it still takes way too long to ship orders to the continent which means fans must wait sometimes many weeks longer than they should be for our latest releases.

The opportunity for us is the holy grail of the USA, the biggest market for pop culture product. I recently returned from a series of meetings in America, I can’t state which brands I spoke with at this time but the meetings were positive and having these additional brands within our portfolio could be enough to open some of those retailer doors we need open to enable us to get a foothold in the US market.

My advice to any other business owners is that you should not try and do everything yourself, invest in hiring the right people, put your trust in them, you suddenly find yourself with more time on your hands, enabling you to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

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Monika Wasserman

Doctor and a Freelance Writer at itsmeandyou.com

Monika Wassermann is a doctor and a freelance writer based in the UK who lives with her cat Buddy. She writes across several verticals, including life, health, sex and love, relationships and fitness. Her three great loves are Victorian novels, Lebanese cuisine, and vintage markets. When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to meditate more, weightlifting, or wandering around in town.

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