TFNY: Toy Industry Vets Launch Huge! Play, Ink Deal with Epic Story Media

Kevin Mowrer, Adrian Roche, and Dave Ciganko have launched Huge! Play, a new company offering direct-to-consumer premium play products. The company plans to release its first products into the North American market next year with a global expansion to follow.

Ahead of Toy Fair New York, Huge! Play has entered into a partnership agreement with Epic Story Media. The long-term deal will allow Huge! Play to create, produce, and distribute direct-to-consumer premium toys based on key intellectual property (IP) from the Epic slate. Each property and product will be approached on a case-by-case basis.

“Questioning and innovating everything about bringing play to today’s audiences and leaving behind the baggage of the last 30 years of the toy business — [that] is the vision we all share in launching Huge! Play,” says Kevin Mowrer, founder, and co-CEO. “Our radically simplified B2C model leans into the dominant rise of online purchases and puts us in a relationship that answers directly to parents, kids, and fans without all the middle-men in the equation today. This means informed innovation, with relevance and heart, that will change how we create play and expand their stories.”

Mowrer has served as a consultant for top toymakers, holds multiple toy patents, and founded Hasbro’s entertainment division, in addition to running its research and development department.

Roche, Huge! Play co-CEO and co-founder, previously served as the managing director for Fisher-Price/Kiddicraft in the UK, after which he spent 14 years as vice president of The First Years Inc/RC2 in the UK, followed by a move to the U.S. to head the company’s infant and preschool licensing business. Roche also led preschool, boys toys, and licensing at Mega Brands, and set up the U.S. operations for Alpha Group as its North American president.

Ciganko, who serves as Huge! Play’s co-founder and chief development officer, spent more than 40 years as a toy creator and executive at Mattel’s Fisher-Price division.

Huge! Play will be in attendance at Toy Fair New York, taking place from Feb. 22-25 at the Jacob K. Javits Center.

Click here to view the Toy Book‘s full coverage of Toy Fair New York.

About the author

James Zahn

James Zahn, AKA The Rock Father, is Editor-in-Chief of The Toy Book, a Senior Editor at The Toy Insider and The Pop Insider, and Editor of The Toy Report, The Toy Book‘s weekly industry newsletter. As a pop culture and toy industry expert, Zahn has appeared as a panelist and guest at events including Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC) Wizard World Chicago, and the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy. Zahn has more than 30 years of experience in the entertainment, retail, and publishing industries, and is frequently called upon to offer expert commentary for publications such as Forbes, Marketwatch, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, the Washington Post, and more. James has appeared on History Channel’s Modern Marvels, was interviewed by Larry King and Anderson Cooper, and has been seen on Yahoo! Finance, CNN, CNBC, FOX Business, NBC, ABC, CBS, WGN, The CW, and more. Zahn joined the Adventure Media & Events family in 2016, initially serving as a member of the Parent Advisory Board after penning articles for the Netflix Stream Team, Fandango Family, PBS KIDS, Sprout Parents (now Universal Kids), PopSugar, and Chicago Parent. He eventually joined the company full time as a Senior Editor and moved up the ranks to Deputy Editor and Editor-in-Chief.