Live Company Group PLC (LON:LVCG) Executive Chairman David Ciclitira caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss BRICKLIVE Lite, two new centres, expanding into the Dominican Republic and what’s in store for the next 10 days.
Q1: David, can you tell us about BRICKLIVE Lite and the idea behind it?
A1: It’s a pop-up show which appears in malls or indeed in hotels where for a relatively short period of time, BRICKLIVE comes to that location and it encompasses elements of BRICKLIVE, obviously, and it’s there for anything between 4 days and 20 days.
It’s basically there to fulfil a need and yet again, is being developed by Korea, I think I mentioned on these chats before, Korea is very much an incubator for new ideas, so I’m really delighted to be able to announce this today.
I’m particularly delighted that Mr Reon Kim, who’s the owner of HiBrick and has been our very long-term supporter, is behind this initiative.
Q2: Are there any further plans to extend the BRICKLIVE Lite brand to other markets?
A2: Absolutely. This is, as I said, an incubator in Korea and I’m absolutely certain that this will be something we’ll develop across all of our markets in time.
Q3: Another two centres opened in Korea, can you provide us with any information on the partner and are there further plans for expansion?
A3: Yes, on both. Mr Reon Kim has invested alongside me right back in the end of 2016 and he’s obviously the second largest shareholder in the Live Company Group. He is developing his activities in Korea under the brand of HiBrick, we signed a new contract with him quite recently, which we’ve also discussed with you, and this gives him the right to do centres and BRICKLIVE Lite. The Touring exhibitions such as the one that’s going to Busan and other exhibitions will basically be handled by different people in Korea.
Mr Kim is an innovative man, he’s very keen on BRICKLIVE and loves the brand. He’s not only supported us obviously in Korea, but he’s supported us certainly and as I said he’s our second largest shareholder. This is a particularly great thing that he’s doing for the brand again and it’s a fantastic thing, so I can only speak positive about him and the initiative.
Q4: So, you’ve announced the Dominican Republic show, can you share any further information on this?
A4: It sort of got ahead of itself really because it was actually the Dominican government who I think announced it all or tweeted it, so we had to announce it.
We obviously, at all times, are developing new projects with our partners and EXIM, who’s our partner in Latin America, had such an amazing first show in Buenos Aires, not only was it very successful but it made them significant monies, in fact they made a $100,000 profit, that’s a significant plus for them, that’s after paying our licence fee and everything.
So, they are chuffed to bits and are out there developing new market places and I know they’re already in discussions with other markets in Latin America so very happy for them and Dominican Republic, that maybe one I go to personally.
Q5: I understand that this is a busy time for LVCG’s BRICKLIVE, but can you tell us what’s in store for BRICKLIVE in the next 10 days?
A5: Absolutely. We’ve just finished Glasgow which was a success, undoubted sell-out crowd on days of the weekend.
We’re moving forward this week, we have a launching on Thursday in Bangkok, particularly exciting because our partner there is also partnered with Live Nation and partnered with Disney, so they’ve chosen to partner with us and that’s fantastic, our regional partner BEC-Tero. I will be arriving in Thailand at the weekend and look forward to seeing the show.
I’m then going onto Seoul where we will be having a formal opening of the BRICKLIVE Kids’ Café on Tuesday and then down to Busan where we are basically launching our Busan International Film Festival show on the 1st August. I’m heading off then to Japan where we’ve got exciting developments in the works and then down to China, as you know we’ve just announced our biggest-ever announcement last week which is this 20-city tour commencing in September in Beijing of BRICKLIVE Animal Paradise.
So, it is August, there’s huge amounts going on, lots of partner discussions and I suspect more announcements as we go along.
