Getting a product onto the shelf, especially with the "big four" supermarkets is by no means an easy task.

The rule of thumb is, whatever you are proposing to place on the supermarket shelf, it replaces another item.

We had to convince them that our products would sell more units than the item it was planning to replace.

So, how did we go about getting a product on the shelf?

Well, we don’t have a Peter Jones from Dragons Den to open the doors to Tesco, as he always says he can do on the show. However, we had the next best thing in working with a good friend of ours, Rob Corney, owner of Bulldog Licensing.

Rob’s company Bulldog Licensing successfully works with some of the largest brands in the world. This includes EA Games, TIME Magazine, Sesame Street and Tamagotchi to name but a few.

Having a great contact is a good starting point! But there is a lot of work to do in convincing the buying team to sell your products their supermarkets, and not other items.

Our first challenge, and it was a biggie, was that we were an "unknown" brand!

This puts you on the back foot immediately as we cannot compete with established brand names such as Disney, DC, Marvel and other famous children’s shows. Secondly, these known brands come with constant advertising. This can come via movies, TV shows, magazines or just being out there in the public space.

We had to WOW the buying team with a presentation that went above and beyond the norm. Where we normally present just the lunchbox, onesies and characters we were planning to use on these items, we went that extra step to impress them.

We wanted to tell the buyer the full story of It’s a Wildlife. How do we see the brand now, where do we see it in the future? What characters are available on launch and which new characters would we introduce, and so forth.

We set about creating a presentation which included all 15 characters, not just the ones proposed for the initial launch items. Next, we mocked up numerous designs of items that were part of the retail sales plan. These ranged from lunchboxes and bedsheets through to apparel for teens and adults.

The buyers understood our vision and how we saw the brand developing over time. We left nothing to chance and went over and above what we would normally do.

As mentioned earlier, we know we are fortunate to have great friends that can give us the opportunity to open these barricaded doors. However, with a combined team effort and a great presentation we were successful in getting our first product to market!

Our first range was our lunch box product with a run of 50,000 units sold nationwide in branches of Asda.

These were also accompanied by a series of onesies for juniors, also sold in Asda.

These proved to be a Christmas best seller within the Asda stores and their range of lunch bags outsold Disney’s Frozen version over a like for like period. This is something we were exceptionally proud of at Form.

The strength of the brand was recognised within the industry. It was nominated for a Licensing Award in 2016 alongside the Andy Warhol Foundation and the V&A Museum.

The brand continues to stretch its legs throughout the coming years with licensing deals held with manufacturers until late 2017. A host of new products are in production and will be available in major retailers such as Tesco, Asda, and Carrefour.