Strategic brand-building and franchise development among the many strengths industry veteran Kilpin brings to PlayMonster’s leadership team
Beloit, WI (June 22, 2020) – PlayMonster LLC is pleased to announce the appointment of Tim Kilpin as President of PlayMonster, effective immediately.
Kilpin, a leader and executive in the toy and children’s entertainment industry for over 35 years, has set brand strategies and creative direction for many of the world’s most iconic and successful children’s brands, including Monster High, Hot Wheels, Disney Princess, Winnie the Pooh, Barbie, and Mickey Mouse, having served in senior roles at Mattel, Disney and Activision Blizzard.
Reporting to CEO Bob Wann and based in the company’s corporate headquarters in Beloit, WI, Kilpin will focus on expanding and accelerating PlayMonster’s business with an emphasis on sales, marketing, design, and business development. Wann, in addition to continuing strategic and operational oversight, will increase focus on international growth and acquisition.
“Tim is one of the most experienced, highly accomplished and respected executives in the whole of the industry,” says Wann. “His tremendous stature and knowledge in the industry, along with his complementary skill sets make Tim the perfect fit, at the perfect time, to further PlayMonster’s growth and evolution towards becoming one of the industry’s top toy companies.”
“The PlayMonster team is an outstanding, experienced, talented group of people with a strong vision, who love what they do and love working together,” says Kilpin. “I really fundamentally believe that finding ways to build brands that offer quality play experiences for families and kids today is more important than ever and I am excited to be part of that.”
Prior to joining PlayMonster, Kilpin most recently served as President and CEO of Activision Blizzard’s Consumer Products business, overseeing the category strategy and creative development of multiple product ranges in support of key franchises. Before that, as President and Chief Commercial Officer for Mattel, Inc., Kilpin directed all aspects of the company’s global $5.5 billion Sales and Marketing operations, overseeing a staff of 1,500, working closely with both key internal stakeholders in Operations and Supply Chain Management, as well as with critical external partners in Retail, Studio Entertainment, and Consumer Products. In addition to other senior roles at both Mattel and Disney, Kilpin has also served on the Boards of Build-A-Bear Workshop, the Make-A-Wish International Foundation, and the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation; he is also currently a Board and Executive Committee member of the Toy Association.
Having built its success in a deeply rooted commitment to the power of play, PlayMonster has demonstrated a unique ability to interpret and innovate classic play patterns, keeping them fresh for new audiences, and will be aggressively continuing to build its portfolio of brands and content-driven IP across categories, both organically and through acquisition.
Kilpin’s appointment also signals a continuing emphasis on recruitment of key talent aimed at supporting this growth, bringing added resources and experience to the PlayMonster team in key functions.
“Following the successes of our acquisition of Interplay in 2017 and our most recent acquisition of Kahootz this past year, our future growth will continue to focus on adding internal resources and external partnerships that bring even more industry-best practices and experience to everything we do across PlayMonster worldwide,” says Wann. “It’s a very exciting time.”
About PlayMonster
PlayMonster, a leading international toy and game company, believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives, and strives to keep play alive for all ages by delivering great play value through designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative and fun toys, games and activities. PlayMonster’s diversified portfolio includes popular brands and products such as “TOTY Game of the Year” Yeti in My Spaghetti®, plus The Game of THINGS…®, 5 Second Rule®, Relative Insanity®, Farkle, SET®, Five Crowns®, Spirograpgh , Colorforms, My Fairy Garden®, Face Paintoos™, Fashion Plates®,Y’Art®, Latchkits®, and Snap Ships™.
# # #
For More Information, Please Contact:
Lisa Wuennemann Jonathan Siemens
PlayMonster LLC Director, Marketing and Communications – ChizComm
(800) 524-4263 x1275 (416) 551-0822 x330
lisaw@playmonster.com jsiemens@chizcomm.com
