Playful Development
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PLAYFUL DEVELOPMENT Annual Report 2018 of the Ravensburger AG Group PLAYFUL DEVELOPMENT CONTENTS Ravensburger in 2018 6 Playful development 8 Glossary 24 Financial Statements 2018 27 Management Report 28 Balance Sheet 36 Income Statement 38 Multi-Year Overview 40 4 5 REPORT OF THE MANAGING BOARD RAVENSBURGER IN 2018 2018 was an eventful year for Ravensburger. burger brands in the future. This will allow learning toy that records children’s voices. US business with titles such as “Gravity We would like to thank our employees for companied by images that invite you to Alongside our day-to-day business, we Ravensburger to become a bigger player Tried-and-tested children’s games such as Maze” and “Rush Hour”. their part in Ravensburger’s successful year. discover and develop through play. We worked intensively on our organisation and with our retail partners, offering more effi- the “Bugs in the Kitchen” series also The intensive reorganisation process in par- hope you enjoy reading this publication. structure and got our new corporate struc- cient service achieved six-digit sales figures. The German market for children’s and ticular has demanded extraordinary effort ture off the ground. As a result of this pro- youth books grew by 3.2 % in the past year. from all those involved, and we respect, ac- The Managing Board cess, Ravensburger is switching from a Financially speaking, 2018 was a successful In Germany, sales of Ravensburger toys in- Ravensburger’s book business saw even knowledge and appreciate what they have divisional organisation to a functional one. year for the Ravensburger Group. We re- creased by 6.7 % to € 141.7 million in 2018. stronger growth, expanding by 7.8 % to achieved. Our thanks also go to the mem- We are reorganising our sales, marketing, corded growth in all our core segments and Retail sales saw the same growth rate, thus € 68.7 million. This was largely thanks to bers of the Works Council, our retail part- supply chain and other functions across all increased our revenue by 4.3 % (adjusted significantly outperforming the 2 % growth the “Guinness World Records 2019” ners and suppliers for their outstanding brands and products. for exchange rate effects: 4.9 %) to € 491.5 in the German toy market. non-fiction series, which Ravensburger cooperation. million. This meant Ravensburger outper- publishes under licence. The young adult The driver of this reorganisation is the on- formed the international toy markets, most Outside Germany, Ravensburger toys re- fiction segment, which Ravensburger has The question of who we are and what we going change in consumer behaviour and of which stagnated. We generated sub- corded sales growth of 4 % to € 276.5 mil- expanded recently, also saw rising demand. stand for has a clear answer: “The Ravens- the impact this is having on our markets stantial growth in Germany and, in particu- lion. Although sales development suffered burger Group provides meaningful products and the retail landscape. Given the growing lar, the USA, where we have established a from the weak market environment in We celebrated two special anniversaries in for the playful development of people.” Our complexity and internationalisation of our stronger position with two acquisitions in some European countries, we significantly 2018: The “Wieso? Weshalb? Warum” series guiding principle is “playful development”, Group, the adjustment to our structure also recent years. increased our sales in the USA thanks to has been answering children’s questions a phrase that defines our responsibility and represents the next logical step in setting the acquisition of two smaller American for 20 years. The most successful series of describes the benefit we seek to achieve our strategic course for the future. The best-selling Ravensburger toy in 2018 games manufacturers that joined the German-language children’s non-fiction with our products. “Playful development” was the innovation “GraviTrax”, which be- Ravensburger Group as part of our interna- books marked its anniversary with new is the promise we make to our consumers. The changes we are making are a necessary came an international success following its tionalisation strategy. The Wonder Forge titles and extensive marketing activities. For our employees, it provides both affir- part of our managerial responsibility of en- launch in Germany. The Porsche 911 R brand enjoyed success in the USA, selling The Ravensburger Spieleland theme park mation and inspiration for their work with suring the company’s successful future. For three dimensional puzzle that we devel- around 250,000 copies of its new board has also been welcoming families for a focus on quality and a sense of purpose. example, we are merging the sales func- oped together with Porsche AG also sold game “Disney Villainous”. The brainteaser adventure, fun and action for 20 years. On the following pages, we would like to tions into a single organisation that will extremely well, as did “tiptoi® create”, a brand ThinkFun also made a substantial Around 400,000 guests enjoyed a range of illustrate the key aspects of our guiding represent books and toys from all Ravens- new range of products for the digital audio contribution to the growth in Ravensburger’s new attractions in its anniversary year. principle in more detail. The article is ac- 6 7 Between the beginning and the future: BASIC EMOTION NEUTRAL Playful development as our guiding principle ↑ NEUTRAL 70 % “Playful development” has been the guid- This makes it all the more important for us SCIENTIFIC ing principle of the Ravensburger Group to have a clear, memorable and unique po- since 2013. It defines the framework that sitioning. A positioning that is rooted in our METHODS AND guides our actions. To put it in more detail: own history, that provides orientation for The Ravensburger Group provides meaning- the present and that shows the way to the THE FUN OF OPEN ful products for playful development. future. A guiding principle that applies to all of the brands and companies in our PLAYFUL This principle is no coincidence. It builds on group. the aspiration that the publishing house DISCOVERY adopted for its products shortly after it was After all, taking social responsibility and founded: “They provide excellent entertain- making a promise to educate in an increas- "Sogar meine französischen ment, promote a wide range of knowledge ingly complex world requires a credible and ↑ Freundinnen haben and encourage a sense of the practical.” clear message. “Playful development” de- Labyrinth gekannt." Taken further, “playful development” re- scribes who we are and the benefit we seek ↑ flects the overarching responsibility of the to achieve with our products. Ravensburger Group. OPEN HAPPY On the following pages, we will look at OPEN We have evolved since 1883. In the last five what lies behind our principle. With scien- years in particular, the Ravensburger Group tific methods* and the fun of playful dis- has become more international and more covery. digital. It has acquired a number of compa- nies, operates in more global markets and Methode GESICHTSTEXTUR & ↑ 6 deals with consumers who are more in- EXPRESSION INTENSITY CHART formed and more connected. * The games and books were tested with SpielMethod LABYRINTHFACIAL TEXTURE JUNIOR AND EXPRESSION INTENSITY CHART1 students in their fifth semester as part of Gespielt von MIA | 8 JAHRE ALT Game LABYRINTH JUNIOR the “Applied Communications Research” Aus Bewegungen des menschlichen Gesichts lässt teaching project in February and March sichPlayed auf by bestimmteNOAH Emotionen | 8 YEARS schließen. OLD Über die 2019. Institution: Centre for Empirical ModellierungMovements in einer the face künstlichen are indicative Gesichtstextur, of certain die BASISEMOTION BEI 1:06:45 mitemotions. Hilfe von A piece „Key of Points“ software im Gesichtcalculated beschrieben emotional Communications Research (ZEK), wird,facial hatexpressions eine Software by modelling die emotionalen an artificial Gesichts facial - Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State ausdrücketexture. A pieberechnet. chart shows Ein Balkendiagramm the degree of expression zeigt University (DHBW) Ravensburg. Director: dieof the Ausdrucksstärke respective basic der emotion. jeweiligen Basisemotion. Prof. Simon Ottler. HAPPY DieThe ermitteltebasic emotion Basisemotion: identified: Happy. 0% 100% Genauer:More precisely: 70% Freude 70 % enjoyment 8 9 How is playful How can playful Turning test results development development into unusual expressed? be visualised? pictures In the progress made by a child from their Instead of showing people engaging in Depending on the method used, the results first day of life, in shining eyes, a smile, a these activities, we used scientific methods were presented as curves, diagrams, heat sudden moment of discovery, getting lost to research what actually happens when maps, coded facial expressions or quotes. FOUND IT! in a picture book, working out how the children play, read, do puzzles and solve Combining seriousness and fun, we then pieces of a puzzle fit together, finding tasks. For example, we used eye tracking to playfully crafted these into collages show- memory® pairs, constructing tracks with see how the user’s eyes glide over a hidden- ing the precise results as well as illustrative Rush-hour, finding a logical way out of a object book to find a certain motif. The re- elements. Each of the images invites the START rush-hour traffic jam. What it always in- sults show how attentively and intensively reader to playfully decode it. The caption volves is imperceptible learning with enjoy- the person was searching: The bigger the shows the product, the test method and ment, excitement and fun. circles, the longer the time spent looking at the name and age of the test subject. The one spot. This way, the test becomes a words “Greta, 13 years old” conjure up an visualisation of deep immersion, searching image of a girl sitting on the floor, lost in and ultimately finding – in other words: a hidden-object book.