Hornby’s Hidden Gems

Recently, I had the opportunity to be invited to the opening of the recently renovated Hornby Experience Centre in the seaside town of Margate, UK. For me, this was a hallowed trek because some of my earliest toy memories involve a few Corgi Classics. Four cars in particular I can clearly remember, the year 1985 or 86’, were the famous Aston Martin DB5 with the ejector seat (X2 because I lost Goon Number 1), The BatMobile with the front saw, the famous BASF BMW M1 and the FORD MUSTANG COBRA with the ESSO livery on black. Didn’t realise that 40 years later I would be standing on the steps, a guest of Hornby’s curated classics and their sub-brands one of which is CORGI.

The Wonderworks

The facility recently underwent a complete interior renovation, and this was the soft opening ceremony to mark the occasion. To be fair I have to say I had never been to the earlier place and have no frame of reference for comparison.

It is a lovely space divided into a café, a shop/showroom and then a carefully curated museum/experience area that represents all the brands and their history. The colour schemes chosen from their product’s palettes, plenty of open space to admire the displays and of course some beautifully built diorama displays created with Hornby Products specifically for Hornby train models.

It is a lovely place to visit and most definitely a must-do if you are ever in Margate.

But the problem for me was, great car brands but no audience save for a few long-standing fans. After the likes of the Asian Diecast Expo where you are lighting to breathe at times, where influencers are falling over each other with gimbles and monopods, where the rivalry between brands has gotten so intense that now all of them are having gala dinners and special giveaways for dealers and influencers to curry their favour with a sweet and sour flavour. Yes, one brand flew people from the US, UK, and Europe to Malaysia while recently another brand flew everyone to Macau. This was a very sombre affair in comparison.

Hornby’s Problem

While concentrating on a UK-only market CORGI, POCHER and Airfix have been overtaken globally but a thousand other brands. With steadily growing demand for diecast models and the growth of the scale model collecting market, many brands have cracked the code to cheaper manufacturing allowing a lot of brands to grow very quickly in leaps and bounds. Hornby has largely ignored the global market, and not only have they lost market share which is being fought for tooth and nail by hundreds of other brands, but now those brands are penetrating the UK market with more modern cars, brand licenses and much better detail.

The other issue is that the younger, fresher brands know social media, and collaborative marketing, understand fashion and pop culture and have been doing a stellar job wooing the dealers, advertisers, and influencers. Even Mattel has noticed the fall in market share and has started to act. It’s a sign the Asian tsunami of brands is deadly for business. Try stopping them by strangling the market and collectors will find a way of getting their products even spending triple the cost if they have to.

Hornby Pro’s

Between CORGI, POCHER and AIRFIX they have some pretty amazing licenses. Some of these they can use to their advantage to work with Asian brands automatically giving them a foot into Asia. And to be honest for these brands, unless they have Pokemon, Octanaughts, Gabby Cats, Paw Patrol products and licenses turning up at the HONG KONG TOY EXPO will probably net them a few supermarket shelf spaces and a bit of business at the very least.

But they have 007, Harry Potter, heck they even have FERRARI surely that accounts for something?

Get in the Game Hornby!

Leveraging on their legacy and of course licenses in hand Hornby has the chance to get back into the game and start becoming a serious player in the Model Car Collecting Market. There is always the ability to collaborate with younger fresher brands to build distribution and product partnerships faster than you can say ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’.

Then the need to look at the current social media trends in the industry and start getting active in the global community. POCHER should do hybrid builds of cars on a 1/12 scale. Pre-built but with the ability to open up more than just the doors and engine hood.

Even 1/12 scale models of famous engines both historic and modern will become important as we move into the electric age of transport. A lot can be done but they have to understand the market they are playing in.

The good news is that Hornby has been infused with new blood and if they look at turning things around quickly, then there is hope they could revive a lot of these brands and turn them into high revenue streams.

And the thing with umbrella brands is that, when some of them start to do well, the other brands start to pick up based on increased visibility. If not, they will be left behind with the reputation of ‘Those guys are still around?’

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