“Timing is key”: Jeff Kaplan of Retrobrands USA on what makes a brand worth reviving

Jeff, it’s great to catch up. Let’s start at the beginning – what led you to set up Retrobrands USA?
We started in 2012. I was reading a newspaper and there was article that said: ‘Procter & Gamble upset about White Cloud’. White Cloud was a toilet paper brand in the 90s that Procter & Gamble owned along with Charmin. They dropped White Cloud – abandoned the brand – to favour Charmin. They were then upset because someone obtained the trademark for White Cloud and licenced it to Walmart – so White Cloud became Walmart’s own in-house private label. They were doing $600m a year with it and I thought: ‘What a great business model!’ I’m a baby boomer, so I started thinking about brands I grew up with. One was Di-Gel – I still remember the commercial!

This was a brand of indigestion tablet?
Yes. I did my research and nobody owned it. So, I filed for the name and within six months, I had a deal! A company contacted me and they were interested in it, along with some other brands. I sold it to them within a year for over almost six figures. What a great model! So that’s how I started with that one brand.

Amazing. And looking at your portfolio today, what makes a retro brand appeal to you?
Well, retro is in right now, but timing is still key. A great example is a brand I had called Victrola – the RCA Victrola record player. I had that in 2015 for two years and I couldn’t license it to anybody. You couldn’t give away a vinyl record in those days! Then one day I got a call from a company in New York who’s making record players. He needed a name for his brand. He was doing about a million dollars a year at that point, but he needed a good name, so he asked if he could I buy the Victrola name. I said “I’d rather license it to you” but he was adamant he wouldn’t license it. So we came to a figure, which was wonderful, and records then took off. That company did $100m. It’s all about timing.

The other key factor is popularity. The brand has to be truly iconic – and that doesn’t mean it has to be really old. There are brands out there that are 10 years old and they’re seen as retro. We have Extreme Dinosaurs and that’s a brand from the 90s – I personally didn’t know the brand.

That was a toy line from Mattel, and also a TV show?
Yes. When I saw that Mattel was coming out with Street Sharks again, I thought there’s no reason not to follow the leader! I looked and discovered that Extreme dinosaurs had been abandoned by Mattel. If you look at the reception to Street Sharks and what they’re doing with that brand, I hope we can follow that lead and do some exciting things with Extreme Dinosaurs.

Also in the space we own Dr. Steel and Captain Drake from Mattel’s Big Jim toy line. I’m looking for someone that might want to relaunch those. We actually did a little comic on Dr. Steel and Captain Drake that was fun. We also own Ultra Force and Sky Commanders. Then I have some classic games, like Smash Up Derby and The Last Straw. We’re looking for licensees for those. It’s a fun business model and everybody’s getting into it – it’s the new gold rush.

When you bring brands back, do they always thrive in the same categories, or do you try to expand on what came before?
It depends on the brand, but look at Bain De Soleil. Bain De Soleil is the famous suntan screen brand that I now own. It used to be owned by Bayer but they abandoned it years ago. We’re relaunching a whole line of Bain De Soleil sun and skincare products, but we’re also doing some eyeglass deals, some beach towel deals… It’s not just about bringing back the core range, you need to have a wider offering to appeal to the public.

“The brand has to be truly iconic – and that doesn’t mean it has to be really old!”

How complicated is the process around acquiring these dormant brands?
It’s the most difficult and complicated part of the whole thing. And the UK and the EU laws are different to here in America. In America, it has to be three years or more of non-use – with no intent to resume use – to be available, and I do my due diligence.

And sometimes, my interest can stir other interest! For example, look at Oreo Cakesters. That brand was dead and wasn’t even registered anymore, so when I filed for that trademark under Cakesters, it was approved… But then Oreo contacted me wanting the rights back and so I signed a settlement deal. Within a week, it’s back on every shelf in America!

Ha! Does it ever surprise you that there are these dormant brands still available?
Yes! One example is one of the most famous ice cream brands in America – Chipwich. They were the first ice cream sandwich with chips around the edge. It came out in the 80s and was owned by Nestle’s. It was a billion-dollar brand and they gave it up because they had another brand called Toll House Cookie. I got the brand, sold it and it’s doing really well for them. It blew me away that they would let a brand like this go. Sometimes it’s a result of mergers and buy outs, sometimes it’s just these corporate decisions, but it is surprising.

Is there a range or deal or a launch you would highlight as a good example of how creative licensees can be with a retro brand?
A good example is a shampoo called Tegrin. Tegrin was the number two dandruff shampoo after Head & Shoulders. It was a huge brand and was given up. When I relaunched it through a licensee, they totally ignored the original formulation and came out with a much healthier version to get it into Whole Foods and so forth. They didn’t even use the same look or old logo – it was completely creatively revamped. I was a little nervous about it, but it succeeded.

Another example where we’ve had to be creative to bring a brand back is Musterole. It was my oldest brand, from 1905. It was like Tiger Balm, but it contained mustard seed oil, which is very difficult to manufacture. It also used to contain petroleum jelly, which is not good for the skin because it traps everything. So instead, for the relaunch, it became all-natural – it retained the texture and the look, but we had to update the formula.

And look at Bain De Soleil. Consumers today don’t want an oil that turns you dark – they are more health conscious when it comes to tanning. So we’re going to cater to that customer with a very low SPF – but we’re also going to cater to the regular customer who wants protection, but they want the feel and the texture of Bain De Soleil. It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it.

Jeff, this has been fun! I have one last question. What helps you have ideas for where your retro brands could go?
It’s really about working with talented people. When I do a deal with someone, they know their industry better than I do – and they know what ideas will work. They know the buyers, the price points, the way to innovate. So you depend on the people around you.

Thanks again!