With Funko nearing its 25th anniversary, the worldwide toy and collectible brand is taking a look toward its future and appears to have fan experiences at the focal point of it. Among the announcements made by Funko this week were the Fun on the Run tour (a cross-country trip with interactive stops on the way to San Diego Comic-Con), a Snoop Homeboy-themed retail location coming to California, and an organization outing to Brazil’s massive Comic-Con occasion known as CCXP. Then, there’s Pop! Candy which will convey sweets with collectibles, and puzzles to keep collectors busy, and the brand is also stepping into the computerized space by offering NFTs.

“I think moving out of the pandemic, we gleaned some significant knowledge about engaging a computerized audience,” Dave Beré, Funko’s VP of Brand and Marketing, told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview. “As we move back in person, first of all, we need to be back together with our fans in person that’s important. So that’s actually the driver, yet how might we be inclusive? Bring this virtual component along and couple that with the in-person experience and we just believe should accomplish more of that. We believe it should be more than just the item that individuals are going to purchase.” At San Diego Comic-Con, Funko went enormous with their Funkoville setup which dominated a huge corner of the San Diego Convention Center and their Funko Fun Nights occasion. Fun Nights two or three thousand fans into a dance hall for partying, cheering, collecting, and more.

“We continue need to push the boundaries and set the new standard,” Beré said, speaking on in-person experiences with Funko. The Snoop Home slice store, formally named Tha Home slice House, will offer collectors across the street from SoFi Stadium an opportunity at exclusive items in the Pop! and Gold lines from Funko, as well as products from their standard massive factory of licenses. However, this does not mean more Funko stores will start popping up around the nation any time soon. Beré said there is, “nothing imminent,” with regards to expanding the altogether Funko stores. “You see where we have our stores today,” he said. “We have the HQ and presently we’ll have two with this in Southern California. I think that we need to give that experience to more fans.” Still, he is optimistic about the prospect of more stores opening up in the future.

After all, Funko is much more than Pop! figures many know them for. The brand as of late took charge of Loungefly and Mondo which were both vigorously featured in their FunkoVille setup at Comic-Con over the summer. The setup seems indicative of the future for the brands, a scene that saw one massive structure housing the entirety of the Pop! figures sat in what was designed as being across the street from Mondo’s building and Loungefly’s building. Both separate shops maintained the energy of the respective brands housed inside. While they are very much in the same vein as Funko and the famous Pop! figures, both Loungefly and Mondo will continue to stand on their own while benefitting from the compass and licenses Funko has to offer.

“At the point when we started off our consumer research, it was truly, we know our collector. We know the fanatic, we realize that segment, we know how to market to them. All of that,” Beré said. “This was truly focused on the more extensive mainstream society, understanding that. And I think assuming you understand how huge and sizable that market is for the number of individuals that draw in with mainstream society, you’ll find that there’s various products outside of just figures that individuals connect with that they’ll purchase and represent their personality and all of that. And I think that’s where it gets truly interesting as you start to think about Mondo and Loungefly in our portfolio, because I think we were genuinely creating item for everyone.”

It’s seen as a two-way street, too. “Mondo is so great at music. I think they can truly help us out there,” Beré explained. “Loungefly has a generally female customer base. I think we glean some significant experience from that and we join forces with the marketers there to understand that, to see, distinguish connection points back to the Funko brand and we’re connected as a marketing bunch. So we’re always talking about what we’re seeing, however it’s always under the wide umbrella of mainstream society.”

With more than 1,100 licenses and three major brands, Funko is good to go to celebrate its 25th anniversary its with eyes on the not so distant future. “We’re planning out, we’re in ’24 at this moment,” Beré said. “So, I’d say from a base level that’s important and, for Funko, that’s further out than we’ve at any point arranged. Yet, that doesn’t mean we stay away from the wizardry of… Squid Game dropped on Netflix. Everyone’s going insane. We still have a pipeline that we keep open that mainstream society’s steadily evolving, when Squid Game drops, we can pivot fast and have something to showcase in six months. So, do we design? Yes. Part attached to content? Yes. Parcel attached to Evergreen? Yes. However, we always keep that pipeline open to be all set, to give fans the latest and greatest of mainstream society.”