Funko’s Senior Director, Product – EMEA, Sam Clapham, on licenses and the rise of Bitty Pop!

Alrighty. Sam Clapham… Thanks for joining me. How are you?
Busy, busy… Funko busy!

That’s a particularly special kind of busy!
Ha! It’s crazy, but I almost feel like I don’t know any other kind of busy now…

How long have you been here?
It’ll be 12 years in March. It was only my second job. Straight after I left school, I went to a company called Chapman Entertainment. That was Keith Chapman’s company… Keith Chapman; creator of Bob the Builder and Paw Patrol. I was lucky to have that as my first job out of college because I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. When I went to the local recruiter in Wimbledon, they said I wasn’t going to get anything – but that they’d keep me on their books. They rang me later the same day to say they had an opening for a product-development assistant or a licensing assistant in Wimbledon Village.

Which was local to you, presumably?
Yes. And it turns out that was with Chapman Entertainment. So I think everything happens for a reason. Your life’s mapped out for you – because, three weeks later, they offered me a full-time job.

And for those that don’t know the back catalogue, on what would you have been working for Chapman Entertainment back then?
I worked on Fifi and the Flower Tots, which was another one from Keith. Then I also worked on Roary the Racing Car, Little Charley Bear and Raa Raa the Noisy Lion. After Chapman went under, the IP’s were got bought out by Dreamworks. It’s now owned by NBC Universal and – sadly – Raa Raa the only one still on TV. There’s no product out there, but they did a series of 26 a few years ago.

And after that? Not straight to Funko?
Not quite, no. Post Chapman, I started doing product development at Underground Toys. We used to do home and gift development and plush. After I became Head of Product Development, we got bought by Funko and I transitioned more into this kind of product.

It’s a short origin story, but it’s a belter! And today, we’re here to talk about Bitty Pop! For the uninitiated, Sam, how do you describe Bitty Pop!?
Bitty Pop! are teeny-tiny versions of some of the most prevalent Pop! collectibles and recognizable pop culture characters. That’s the official description! In the past 15 months, we’ve launched 20 properties including Star Wars, Disney Pixar, Harry Potter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and GI Joe to name a few…

Wowzers. There are some big hitting names there! And I’ll put in some images, of course, because the big thing about the little Bitties is how super cute they are! And you know, I don’t go round saying ‘super-cute’ about just anything! In terms of expanding that range, tell me: where’s it going…
For autumn winter, we’re launching three new form factors for the Bitty Pop! range. One of them is a themed display – a Hogwarts Castle, for example… You put your collection on it. They look awesome. You can also get the Bat Signal or the Death Star.

Oh, my stars!
We’re also just launching Bitty Towns and Bitty Rides. These are little vehicles and houses. They’re static, but you can take Batman out of the Batmobile and put Robin in. We’ve also got SpongeBob in his pineapple house, and Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas in a snowmobile. And you can do the same with the houses! We’ve got lots of IPs across the Rides and the Towns, some that haven’t launched before in Bitty. So with The Simpsons, for example, we’ve got Bart with the Kwik-E-Mart. From Friends, we’ve got Rachel in Central Park! It’s a huge range of licenses – something for everyone.

Let’s push in on one; let’s go with Hogwarts as an example… Let’s say I bought that. Does it come with a unique figure to start the collection off?
You get two unique Bitty Pops! that are exclusive to each display. And then there’s enough space for another 16, because that’s how many make up the full collection. So autumn/winter is an exciting time for Bitty Pop! Then, for 2025, we’ve got even more form factors coming. But you’ll have to come to Toy Fair to see those…

Try and stop me! So tell me, Sam, how has having such a wide group of licensed partners helped the rise of Bitty Pop!?
In short: the sky’s the limit! Because Funko’s philosophy is everyone’s a fan of something. It’s something we say to our partners because it’s so true… You might be a fan of Star Wars. I’m a fan of Beauty and the Beast… Everyone’s a fan of something – and, by having so many licenses, Funko’s got that something for everyone.

Smashing answer. I love that philosophy: everyone’s a fan of something.
Right?! And because we launched with things like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Marvel, we’re reaching different age groups because the IP covers a wide-range of consumers. Kids might’ve got into Star Wars or Marvel more recently because of the movies, but you might want an Iron Man or Captain America because you were a hardcore fan of the Marvel comics when you were little. We’re lucky to have those sorts of licenses because they let us go wherever we want.

That’s an interesting point. A character like Batman is simultaneously old and new… He’s – what? 85? And yet there’s always an audience gravitating towards it. So Bitty Pop! attracts younger and older fans?
A bit of both, yes. We get two bites of the cherry because we’re getting our avid Funko fans – those who just love Funko, love pop culture, love seeing something new – and want to start collecting it. Then, we’re recruiting new Funko fans that want to buy into the micro-collectible trend. So there are much younger IPs like Princess or Minions – but older people still buy them because they’re great pop-culture themes.

Brilliant. I do know a few people that like the full-size Pop!, but they don’t buy them. But when they see the Bitties, they’re irresistible – they go gaga for them!
Yes, you’re exactly right. My 15-year-old nephew is a great example… He isn’t into Pop! But when he saw Bitty Pop!, he really liked them. Now he has them all over his gaming station.

Yes. And maybe they’ll prove to be the gateway Pop! Alright… Thank you so much for joining us, Sam. Let’s tie in again at Toy Fair.

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