New opportunities as Kennedy and Signature merge

Kennedy Publishing’s newly announced merger with Signature publishing will bring new sales opportunities for stores, a director at the company has revealed.

Both companies are owned by Claverley Group Limited, and the merge will see Kennedy’s portfolio of magazines expand to 63 titles across the UK and Ireland. Most of these are preschool, primary and pre-teen magazines, although bookazines and stickerzines joined their roster in 2023.

Kennedy’s licensing director Sophie Rowlands told Better Retailing the merger would mean a larger team and a larger portfolio for the publisher, allowing them to “look at new and exciting opportunities”.

Rowlands revealed these new opportunities would include further acquisitions and new launches alike, including licensed and in-house brands. She pointed out that Kennedy has recently seen success in acquiring less successful titles from other publishers.  “Our expert teams often turn around sales on these titles,” she added.

Rowlands told Better Retailing that stores can expect to see more opportunities in Kennedy’s expanded portfolio, particularly in promotional opportunities and new listings.

“We’re always keen to take part in promotional opportunities, especially on licensed titles,” she said, explaining that in addition to bumper and high-value issues at school holidays, Kennedy were positive about tie-ins for brands in time with other projects in the same licensed brands. She highlighted the success of the Barbie franchise in tandem with the Barbie movie in 2023, and told retailers to watch out for Kennedy’s work with Universal ahead of the release of Despicable Me 4 this summer.

A member of Kennedy’s distribution team told RN that “a key focus will be on better quality gifts for the former Signature titles, which will drive increased sales at retail”, and that the team could now “offer ranging advice on our products, highlighting key titles to stock that have activity such as new shows/movies that will drive sales”.

Asked about other opportunities to watch out for, Rowlands told RN: “We’ve seen the primary girls category do fantastically well last year with Barbie, Gabby’s Dollhouse, and all of our pets titles. Pink is the girls best-selling compilation title in the UK.”

She also highlighted upcoming opportunities in educational titles, as well as a planned Hot Wheels special with Mattel with covermounted cars.

Dean Barber, Managing Director of Kennedy Publishing, added that the merger “enables us to continue delivering valuable learning opportunities to our young readers, cementing the company’s position as the second-largest children’s magazine publisher and building on a solid foundation to set us up for sustained growth for years to come.”