Part of the 1966 Century 21 supplement.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR
MANAGING DIRECTOR
K. B. SHACKLETON

OUR PROGRESS REPORT

The countdown which launched Century 21 Merchandising on its highly successful journey was begun some ten years ago with the entry of A. P. Films into the wonder world of puppetry. At that time the film company was a small independent producer of films primarily aimed at the television market. Gerry Anderson was managing director with Sylvia Anderson, Reg Hill and John Read being his co-directors.

SUPERCAR

The first production, created and produced by Gerry Anderson, was "Four Feather Falls," which, in its way, enjoyed quite a degree of success. This success led to "Supercar" in 1960 and the formation of a merchandising division which I was invited to set up. This new division was known as A. P. Films (Merchandising) Ltd.

It is true to say that in 1960 character merchandising was not considered to be big business, though the Disney organisation had put in a lot of pioneering work before this time. Despite this reticence on the part of manufacturers we managed to attain a more than reasonable success with the " Supercar " series. And this entree enabled us to grow wider and more successful with the two following series, namely "Fireball XL5" and "Stingray." Character merchandising was becoming a force to be reckoned with in Britain.

A. P. FILMS

In 1964, A. P. Films, who had been carefully watching this growth, decided that the company should take a stake in the exploitation of the films it was producing. This would give the company some say as to the pace at which its subsidiary activities should move.

Arising from this policy came the joint venture with City Magazines and the two highly successful children's weeklies, TV Century 21 for boys, and Lady Penelope for girls. Currently, further weekly titles for the children's market are being planned. This joint venture was followed by the acquisition of a toy company, J. Rosenthal (Toys) Ltd., and a partnership in a children's record company with Pye records.

"THUNDERBIRDS"

These developments and acquisitions coincided with the presentation of A. P. Films' most successful television series to date, "Thunderbirds" and those in the trade will know the level at which Thunderbird toys, books, games and associated merchandise have been selling.

LICENSING ACTIVITIES

In parallel with these developments the Merchandising Company has continued its licensing activities and many highly successful Thunderbirds licences have been granted.

CHANGE OF NAME

Some months ago it was decided to change the name of the group to Century 21 Organisation, which reflects the futuristic note set by the films produced and the merchandising activities. The Century 21 Organisation consists of Century 21 Productions, managing director Gerry Anderson ; Century 21 Merchandising Ltd., managing director myself; and three merchandising subsidiaries, Century 21 Toys Ltd., managing director Jack Rosenthal; Century 21 Publishing Ltd., managing director Alan Fennell, and Century 21 Records. The first production appearing under the Century 21 banner is the full-colour feature film " Thunderbirds Are Go " which had its world premiere in London this month. I think you will agree we have an exciting story to tell and I know you will find much to interest you in the following pages.