As is tradition at this time of year, we here at AAGC have been reflecting on the past 12 months and what a whirlwind of activity it has been! Our team grew to even greater strengths, with members based in the UK, central Europe and North America.
Here's what the team had to say about the challenges they overcame and the projects they're excited for in 2025!
Cedric Delobelle - CEO
What did you enjoy the most this year?
This year, the most enjoyable aspect was the expansion of our services into new areas, such as creative design for Kickstarter campaigns and enhancing our sales expertise with new team members like Robert Fort. It was exciting to see how these initiatives helped our partners succeed and allowed us to offer more comprehensive support. Additionally, the surge in demand for our services and the positive outcomes from Black Friday and holiday sales made the year especially fulfilling.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
The economic challenges of 2024, including the cost-of-living crisis and changes in US distribution patterns, tested the resilience of many businesses. AAGC addressed these obstacles by innovating with solutions like consolidating stock in a single US warehouse, reducing risk for distributors and opening opportunities for international publishers. The year also brought challenges from shifts in consumer crowdfunding confidence, but we successfully navigated these by supporting revival projects like Village Attacks: Grim Dynasty Reborn.
What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
In 2025, AAGC aims to leverage opportunities amidst industry changes, such as new import tariffs, by expanding international sales services and strengthening localisation efforts. We’re also excited to grow our team, attend more industry events, and collaborate on game creation projects with larger companies. With a focus on fostering partnerships, supporting innovative projects, and building on our expertise, we anticipate a year of growth and new opportunities in the board game industry.
Philip Hatch - Head of Marketing and Events
What did you enjoy the most this year?
One of my highlights of they year was our booth party at UK Games Expo and Essen SPIEL. Events are non-stop for me and I'm usually bouncing from meeting to meeting while the demo team is keeping the crowds happy on our booths so our booth party is great because it's a chance for me to sit down and catch up over a drink with the demonstrators.
I've known some of these folks for 8 years or more and our Store Demo & Experiential Marketing service wouldn't be possible without them. They're tremendous people, with such a friendly and professional approach but they're based all over the country so seeing them all at events feels like a big family reunion in a lot of ways.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
There's been some pretty high profile projects on crowdfunding that have failed in the last year, and with it a couple of publishers have sadly disappeared too.
There was some real noise in the consumer forums and social media that could have rattled confidence in crowdfunding as a medium. I'm really proud of the work our Crowdfunding team did to support publishers this year. We offered a complete marketing strategy and campaign management service but also looked at production schedules and margins to make sure that these projects were feasible and projects that backers could confidently support.
What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
I'm excited to see some of the amazing crowdfunding projects that we've worked on reach fulfilment. i was a backer myself on a lot of them so I'm eager to have them in my hands and ready to play!
We also have some new events that we'll be attending and exhibiting at thanks to the efforts of our events team so it's going to be a busy but exciting year!
Evangelos Foskolos - Crowdfunding and Marketing Specialist
What did you enjoy the most this year?
2024 was a very interesting year during which we were more successful through our crowdfunding efforts, helping new partners, both experienced and new in crowdfunding.
We successfully ran out biggest campaign to date, helping Raybox almost quadruple the results from their previous campaign.
I enjoyed reconnecting with the AAGC team in the conventions we attended, combining a professional showing with the pleasure of meeting my remote coworkers.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
Helping publishers of various sizes find the right way to pitch their new games, even to completely new audiences. It's always an interesting challenge that we enjoy overcoming as a team, helping showcase our partner's passion and finding the way to make their unique games stand out.
.What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
2025 looks bright, with almost the whole year booked out with interesting projects, with some from partners returning to work with us. I embrace the challenge and look forward to help bring new and interesting games to gamer's hand across the world through the magic of crowdfunding.
Stephan Brissaud - Senior Business Development Executive North America
What did you enjoy the most this year?
Witnessing and being part of the remarkable cohesion and efficiency of the AAGC team has been an absolute highlight. It’s truly inspiring to see a group of talented and dedicated professionals coming together, not just to meet challenges but to excel under Cedric's leadership.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
Providing solutions to sourcing from international publishers and connecting them with our US partners through proble-solving and collaboration.
What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
Looking ahead, I’m excited to build on this momentum by refining our supply chain processes to ensure an even smoother flow from our diverse international clients to our valued local partners. Of course, the upcoming year wouldn’t be complete without the promise of exciting new games and plenty of camaraderie to keep the journey rewarding and fun!
Lucas Ferguson - Events Executive
What did you enjoy the most this year?
Facilitating an oversize Hues and Cues for The Op Games at UK Games Expo 2024 was a brilliant opportunity to provide a unique play experience to the attendees. We had fantastic feedback about the experience as our amazing demonstrators helped to bring this classic game to both new and familiar players, and even secured a prime slot at the on-site streaming providers to bring it to a live audience which drew massive crowds and some great audience participation.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
When we first ran the All About Games Consulting Business Lounge at SPIEL Essen 2023, although we planned it well the space was slightly bigger than we were expecting and left some options on the table. With this knowledge in hand for SPIEL Essen 2024, we investigated and sourced new logistics and customs solutions to bring dedicated equipment over from the UK, allowing us to properly fill the space and create the premium experience that we always strive to give our partners. The perception of their brands was elevated due to our efforts and improved presentation, including placing their branding in the windows that overlooked the main hall for expert gaming, perfectly targeting one of the key audiences for the show.
What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
One of the things I’m most excited for in 2025 is helping partners with experiential marketing opportunities. We’ve got some really exciting plans already in the pipeline for 2025 to help propel brands and products into mainstream attention through immersive and unique experiences, engaging both key decision-makers and the public in specific targeted ways. Through these we hope to establish partners on these programs as influential and leading figures within their key demographics.
Outside of AAGC, I’m looking forward to a few crowdfunding projects fulfilling in 2025 – one that’s been a source of great excitement for me is Luthier by Paverson Games as I’m also a violinist in my spare time, so I’m always looking out for games that combine these passions like Ovation and Philharmonix. Having spoken to Dave from Paverson Games and had a look at the game myself, I’m looking forward to bringing it to the table and being able to bring some of my more musically-inclined friends into the world of tabletop gaming!
Emma Welford - Graphic Designer
What did you enjoy the most this year?
Having started with AAGC in late 2023, it has been wonderful to witness a full calendar year of projects and activities. My main focus in those initial months was to develop a brand around our logo and set the tone for our visual communications moving forward, so it’s been lovely to put those philosophies into practice across our online and event presence this year.
We have built a really robust collection of service decks and company literature this year which we can now iterate on as our offering develops. In particular, it has been a joy to work alongside our dear friend and colleague Rob Fort, who joined us this year, on the launch of our mass market pitching service. The project generated lots of design opportunities that allowed me to get really in-depth with some key products and work closely with our partners which has certainly been a highlight.
Perhaps my most exciting project of the year, though, has been the visual development of Fart of War. It has been so rewarding working alongside the team at Fried Pickle Games as their Art Director and Graphic Designer. I’m thrilled that, through the project, we established our potential to offer creative services to partners in future and reached a really strong outcome for the product.
The project included an assessment of the existing assets, consultation on the art development process and timeline, project management, art direction of the cover illustration, logo design, product design and print file production.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
The biggest and most exciting overhaul for me this year has been our sell sheet process. When I joined, the process was long-winded and required a lot of manual input and design.
With the help of our new Sales Executive, Jacob Button, who has tirelessly catalogued all of our product and partner data into a series of interlinked dashboards, we now have a much more reliable, and scalable process in place. This means we can now refresh the sell sheets weekly to make sure they are always up to date, without having to start from scratch each time.
Once I had this project working successfully, I then started investigating other recurring functions that could benefit from the automations utilised by our new sell sheets process– our portfolio document, for instance. While there’s a lot more moving parts, my current plan will significantly cut the design lead time down- so we can be sure to have the most up-to-date list of our partner’s products each time we submit a portfolio print run.
It's also important to me that all of these new processes and automations rely on 100% human generated design work and data input. We’re not using AI to automate it, instead relying on clever use of templates, data management and formatting to maximise efficiency on repetitive tasks.
What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
I’ve got lots of ideas to continue streamlining our automated sell sheet process and develop similar concepts in other areas to make more time for creative projects. I’m planning to run our first automated print portfolio in January so this will be a huge step in terms of increasing the efficiency of some of my recurring tasks.
I hope that 2025 will see us offer creative service packages to more of our partners and look forward to working with an array of publishers and products. On a personal level, I’m super excited to be working with LA Brands next year having signed them on as a partner recently. I’m a big fan of their products and can’t wait to start working with the team on some experiential
activations to extend their reach across the market.
Rob Fort - Mass Market Expert
What did you enjoy the most this year?
It’s been brilliant to be able to work with like-minded people that could see the opportunity to transcend some Hobby product into Mass Market retail. This has evolved into conversations with big players in the industry- some of which are household names in the UK and beyond. One such publisher has engaged us to present a curated selection of new games for their review each quarter to help them find their next hit products.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
The risk adverse nature of the market has been frustrating, as it’s made progress slower than I’d have liked. I’m someone who always likes to be moving forwards so it’s difficult when you feel you’re able to open doors with retailers but not walk through them! In spite of that though, we forged a way ahead for our partners, opening up new distribution lines to make sure product was in the right channels at the right times.
What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
Solving problems, opening doors and making beneficial partnerships…. So more of the same but a lot more of it!!
Tim Hitchman - Marketing Executive
What did you enjoy the most this year?
2024 offered some incredible opportunities to catch up with my colleagues in the industry at events like the UK Games Expo and even GenCon for the first time! It’s these moments face-to-face that remind me why I work in this industry and bring reignite my passion for games.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
This year had its fair share of challenges in marketing and crowdfunding tabletop games! Juggling campaign management across time zones made things a bit of a puzzle, and keeping up with changes to ad platforms on social media kept me on my toes. Throw in key tabletop industry events like UK Games Expo, Gen Con, SPIEL Essen, and it was definitely a busy year—but one full of learning and creative problem-solving!
What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
We already have some incredible crowdfunding projects coming up in 2025 that I cannot wait to get stuck into! It’s going to be a very exciting year for AAGC!
Jacob Button - Sales Executive
What did you enjoy the most this year?
As the newest member of the office sales team, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone within the business and understanding how their unique strengths help us thrive together as a company. I believe that everyone is truly talented in the role that they have, and our strength as a company comes from the people I work alongside every day.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
Upon my introduction to All About Games Consulting, I was passed over all the pre-existing sales leads and product data. The original dashboards required drastic modification to meet modern needs and make our workflow more efficient. Throughout 2024, I’ve evolved our data into a hive of interconnected business-wide and front-end CRM services; such as the Master Product List driving Automated Sell Sheets & Stock Lists, or the Master Sales Tracker integrating over 20 Partner Sales Dashboards for instant reporting.
What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
I hope to continue growing my influence as a sales representative by gaining a better understanding of standard practice, end-to-end sales processes and key members of the industry. I also hope to attend more trade shows throughout 2025 and meet my network of contacts face-to-face in a professional or more casual setting.
Emilie Bedford - Office Assistant
What did you enjoy the most this year?
Joining AAGC! I've only been with the company a few months, but It's been great being able to become part of a such an amazing team who have been really welcoming.
What were the possible challenges you overcame?
Going to SPIEL Essen on my second day with the team was a bit challenging, but I still found it very exciting! It definitely helped me quickly absorb a lot of information about the industry. A very unforgettable experience for my first week at a new job!
What are you hoping/planning for in the new year?
I'm looking forward to learning even more about the industry and playing more games!
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