Live Company Group PLC (LON:LVCG) Chairman David Ciclitira caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss its BRICKLIVE show in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Q1: We saw a release earlier today on Buenos Aires, what can you tell me about the show?
A1: Obviously, we’re very excited because Buenos Aires is a major world city and with our partner EXIM, they’re launching a 10-day show, launched at the weekend and finishes next week and it’s the first show in Argentina so we’re adding Argentina to the list of countries that BRICKLIVE are now in.
The show itself is a normal BRICKLIVE show with some content featuring animals made of Lego, the show apparently has been very successful over the weekend with several sessions sold out and ticket sales are above what we expected so I’m really delighted.
As you all know, the BRICKLIVE model is that we have partners who we licence both the content and the show to and obviously I’m, at all times, very happy when our local partner is making money, so this looks a fantastic launch for BRICKLIVE in Argentina.
Q2: What can you tell us about the partners?
A2: EXIM is a Miami-based specialist in South America. We ran a show with them last year in Brazil which was very successful, and they are working to launch in Mexico because they have the rights also in Mexico and Puerto Rico, so it looks as though we will be in both Mexico and Puerto Rico later this year.
What’s really interesting about these people is they are theatrical producers really, so they are the licence partner in South America for Peppa Pig, they are producing theatrical shows of Peppa Pig. So, they bought theatrical knowledge to our shows and I think they’ve added to the basic BRICKLIVE.
The thing about BRICKLIVE, everybody knows Lego, each culture is slightly different, and I think it’s great that the people who are Peppa Pig’s partners believe in BRICKLIVE, we all know the success of Peppa Pig so that’s fantastic.
Q3: I think you’ve touched on this but what is different and new about this show?
A3: Well, I think what they’ve done is, as I’ve said, they are using actors and they are bringing to life the BRICKLIVE show in terms of bringing it to life, so they’ve got theatre actors working with kids and in the BRICKLIVE environment.
I think that’s an important thing because part of our long -term plan will be to develop our own characters, we’ve also seen the huge success of Peppa Pig and Peppa Pig started as a TV character, it then developed beyond that into all the merchandising and the marketing that it has and now it’s going into shows.
If you think BRICKLIVE are starting at the slow end and obviously we’re targeted to be seen or to involve 1 million people by the end of this year and obviously we’ve yet to launch fully our merchandising programme. Our merchandising programme will be launched in our show in Glasgow at the end of July but the thing that we really would like to do, and this is something that won’t happen this year, it’s a 2019 project, is to begin to launch our own characters.
With so many fans of BRICKLIVE, there’s an obvious link in that area so the guys in EXIM have been quite helpful really, they’re developing BRICKLIVE in a way that we’re very happy with.
Q4: Looking forward, what can we expect from this partner in the future?
A4: As I said, we’re working on a show for Mexico and I think they’re working on a show for Puerto Rico later in the year. We, I think, are slated to run two more shows in Argentina, they’re going to be announced in the next 2 or 3 weeks, they will be later this year in Argentina. So, Argentina is obviously going to be quite an important part of their programme.
Live Company Group PLC operates as a live events and entertainment company. The Company offers sports marketing, media, and management services. Live Company Group also provides television and radio broadcasting services. Live Company Group serves customers worldwide.
