Licensed publication specialist Insight Editions has announced a restructuring of its editorial, sales, and marketing departments.
Insight Editions is a publisher with a difference, as it is primarily focused on working with world-class artists and global brands (such as Warner Bros., Pokemon and Disney) on licensed publications.
For example, TLL recently covered a deal in which Insight Editions worked with the global spirits maker Diageo on a cookbook for its Guinness brand.
The staff changes are the latest move in a year of strategic hiring, innovative product development, and record breaking growth, the company says.
Insight also says the restructuring was led by Chief Operating Officer Tara Catogge, who joined Insight Editions in June after leading merchandising for Advanced Marketing Services, Levy Home Entertainment, and Readerlink, and who recently served as Vice President, Sales Director, and Chief Operating Officer for Quarto Publishing Group.
Insight Editions’ executive Vanessa Lopez has been elevated to the role of Vice President – Co-Publisher, in recognition of her role in the expansion of Insight Editions’ licensing and strategic partnerships. In almost a decade with Insight Editions, the company says Lopez has driven the company’s unparalleled portfolio of entertainment, gaming, and brand licenses, and developing unique publishing programs that align Insight Editions’ core competencies with the world’s most popular brands.
In this role, Lopez will manage the licensing program company-wide and oversee in-house divisions, each headed by a Publishing Director.
These new divisions include:
Insight Gift, Lifestyle, and Entertainment, headed by new hire Jamie Thompson. Thompson was previously an Executive Editor at Chronicle Books overseeing the gift product lines across all divisions, held executive positions at Knock Knock, and was an executive and producer at Twentieth Century Fox, Castle Rock Entertainment, and other production companies.
Insight Games, Sports, and Music, headed by Mike Degler, former Vice President and General Manager of Penguin Random House’s Prima Games business unit. Degler manages content creation from world-class licenses including Pokémon, Minecraft, Final Fantasy, and World of Warcraft.
Insight Film, headed by Chris Prince, award-winning editor of deluxe art books and collectible editions in collaboration with leading filmmakers including Guillermo del Toro, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and Kevin Smith.
In conjunction with these shifts in corporate structure, Vicki Jaeger has assumed the role of Vice President – Group Managing Editor. Jaeger joined insight Editions as Editorial Director in 2021 and was promoted to Vice President in April 2022. Previously she was the Development Editor for Readerlink and in licensing with Mattel.
“This new structure positions Insight Editions to build on the success we’ve experienced over the last year,” said Catogge. “We continue to experience remarkable growth, with POS up 12%, vs. the industry down 5.6%, and net sales growing by 34% YTD.”
Catogge says cornerstone of Insight Editions’ success is a robust and distinctive licensed publishing program.
“We hold more licenses than any other publisher,” said Catogge, “Marquee brands from Disney to Warner Bros. to Netflix trust us to be creative, innovative partners with deep knowledge of the fandoms we represent. In making these changes, we have positioned ourselves to significantly expand the work that we do on behalf of our licenses and brands and to both diversify the scope of our offerings and scale the number of content partners we bring to market.”
In 2022, Insight Editions announced a major partnership with New Regency to co-create deluxe art books inspired by their acclaimed and award-winning films such as The Northman, Heat, and Fight Club; created a new imprint, Reinhart Pop-Up Studios, with New York Times bestselling author and paper engineer, Matthew Reinhart; and launched an extensive program with Pokėmon for a collection of stationery, gift books, and the first official cookbook for fans of all ages.
In conjunction with the editorial restructure, the domestic sales and marketing teams have been streamlined under Chris Bauerle, who has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing, with a focus on stronger alignment on lead titles, deeper collaboration with content partners, and aggressive growth in POS.
Bauerle joined Insight Editions earlier this year from Sourcebooks, where he oversaw rapid sales growth as well as managed marketing and publicity teams. He will partner with Rachel Kempster Barry, Vice President of Marketing, who joined Insight Editions in 2021 with a breadth of experience creating marketing campaigns for bestselling publishing at DK.
“The opportunities for Insight Editions books, licensors, and creativity are truly endless,” said Bauerle, “Our new team structure puts a lightning focus on what matters to us most as publishers; putting books in the hands of readers and fans. Our aspirations for the coming years in business development, publishing, and expansion are massive, and this structure will allow us to scale effectively in response.”