Bandai UK has unveiled window installations featuring its two core collector brands: Gunpla at Hamleys Regent Street and Banpresto at Hamleys Westfield.
The windows are the first official brand level launch in the UK for Bandai UK’s collector and hobby channel and will be in-situ for the duration of the six-week summer holidays to coincide with stock launching in-store for the first time.
Both installations will deliver invaluable organic brand awareness amplified by the higher than average summer football, providing an introduction to the brand for newcomers for whom it will be their first encounter of Gunpla and Banpresto. Meanwhile, for those customers more familiar with the properties, the new stockist will establish a key London base as the popularity of the two brands continues to grow.
Jack Sturman, Collector & Hobby channel brand manager at Bandai, said: “This is a huge moment in time for Bandai’s collector portfolio. We are currently seeing unprecedented category growth and the Hamleys launch is the first step in establishing a highly-visible UK presence for two of our core collector brands, showing our commitment to both customers and consumers of our intention, to grow and support these brands in the UK market.”
Gunpla is the flagship Bandai Hobby brand and the name is derived of two words, Gundam and plastic. Gundam is a long-standing iconic anime franchise which first aired in Japan in 1979 and has been adapted into numerous series and movies through the last four decades. This includes titles which are available on platforms like Netflix which continues to introduce new fans to the property. The licence is a sci-fi epic set in a future not too unrecognisable from our own with militarised space-warring factions using Mobile Suits – giant robotic weapons which require a human pilot to operate.
Banpresto is a portmanteau of the words Bandai and Presto – essentially it is Bandai Spirits’ core collectibles brand with a focus on licensed statues. In the domestic Japanese market. its ranges can be found commonly available within the myriad arcade centres and prize machines which helps to establish the products as sought-after collectibles. In the UK, Banpresto is available at a large number of collector specialist shops and has a growing high street presence thanks in-part to the continued boom of anime which is a central component of the Banpresto statue range.
