Meet the Team

Carlos Candal

Carlos founded Global Marketing Group in 1989. At the time, it was the only business focused exclusively on the development and manufacture of Theatrical Merchandise in the world. GMG has become a world class merchandise company dealing with all areas of merchandise from events to concerts, both corporate and promotional, but specifically the world leader in theatrical merchandise, theme park and novelty toy exports. Over 30 years, Carlos has expanded the group into other core areas and has set up global group businesses, now dividing his time between Europe and Asia. GMG’s client list proves that the world’s biggest names trust and rely on Carlos and the GMG team to protect, promote and respect their brands.

In addition Carlos has been a steady producer, co-producer and investor in numerous events and theatrical shows Globally including The Bodyguard, Sunset Boulevard, On Your Feet, Annie, Flashdance, Peppa Pig, American Idiot, Gypsy, Jolson, Rock of Ages, The Last Confession, Dreamscape, National Adventure Sports and the Art of Banksy to name a few.  Carlos is the local presenter in Asia-Pacific for the highest calibre International productions with his GMG Productions company, most recently CATS in Manila.

Paul Redpath

Paul joined GMG in 2015 and is now Chief Operations Officer overseeing all operational aspects of the business both in the UK and internationally. After completing an international finance and business management degree, Paul worked in corporate finance for 4 years followed by 4 years in a West End theatre overseeing front of house operations and managing customer experience standards. The combination of these fields of business has been instrumental in aligning the GMG team with its vision for quality products and high standards of customer service whilst building lasting relationships with clients and maximizing revenues on retail opportunities across the UK and abroad.

Cristina Gimenez, Lorraine Brooks

At the centre of GMG, our finance department controls the flow of all financial aspects of the business, headed by Lorraine and managed day to day by Cristina who joined the company in 2014 after completing a degree in business management. The team operate the business’ finances efficiently and to the highest statutory standards ensuring deadlines are met and reporting is accurate. They keep everything in continuous motion, from paying our manufacturers to accounting for our partner’s and theatre’s profit shares, their support is essential for all our daily operations. In addition to the UK business, Cristina and the team manage the companies international accounts for our subsidiary companies based in Dubai, China and Manila.

Frankie Deacon,
Hayley Birchley

The adaptable office team are the first point of call at Global Head Office and are responsible for overseeing all operations, with their organisational and administrative skills seeing that we are operating at max performance with nothing going amiss. Frankie acts as Office Manager and PA to Carlos Candal, with firm control over the day to day business activities that demonstrate her proficiencies in staff management, logistics and communication between departments. She is supported by Hayley, the face of our dependable customer services team, alongside managing purchasing and supplier relationships, and providing organisational support company-wide.

Kim Jones, Jayson Aglubat

Our in-house design studio is a steadily growing group of creative individuals who all share a similar passion for exploring the mythology behind our clients’ shows and brands. Their strengths lie in lateral thinking and innovative problem solving. Whilst Kim, Jayson all bring their own unique talents to the team, they are all highly adaptable and capable of working across a multitude of historical and emerging design disciplines to create print, merchandise and web based solutions to your needs. From keyrings to kiosks; they strive to envisage tangible concepts that click with the target audience and help bring the show to life away from the stage.

Amy Pearson

Both of our Merchandise Managers have a strong background in theatre, having previously worked in foyers and auditoriums, with plenty of hands on experience in the West End. Their extensive knowledge of musicals and theatre make them the ideal candidates when it comes to fully understanding merchandise ranges and their respective audiences across all genres. Amy take our products from concept and manufacturing, through to venue setup and sales. Their dedicated involvement in each stage, along with their ability to analyse trends and opportunities ensure each new show we take on is a success.

Mike Dukes
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Mike is the primary contact for the Novelty side of the business, specialising in light-up toys, glowsticks and party accessories. Over 20 years of service have granted him an invaluable expertise on our novelty products that he has used to build and maintain strong client relationships with countless renowned holiday parks, theatres and golf clubs across the UK. He also keeps our range of products fresh, investing into new and upcoming trends in light-up and character toys by keeping in constant communication with our factories in China.

Russ Deacon

Managed by Russ for over 15 years, our warehouse is home to our entire catalogue of theatre merchandise and novelty products. All goods that are received and dispatched here, undertake a thorough checking and packing process. The logistics team focus on the planning of airtight shipping methods and solutions. They have a wealth of experience shipping daily to our touring shows in UK as well as internationally, providing options for large freight by air and sea, dedicated vehicles and more to guarantee that even the tightest deadlines are always met. All deliveries are thoroughly scheduled and monitored from dispatch, during transit, customs and finally the safe arrival.

Michael George

Michael joined GMG in 2012 as Client Services Consultant. He has worked in the consumer products industry since the early 90’s, with over 15 of those years as Head of Merchandise and Licensing for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company, Really Useful Group, and several years working with a Sales Promotion and Marketing agency supporting the needs of a diverse client base including blue chip corporates, government departments, sporting associations, event/film/theatre companies and household brand names.

Brian Thomas

Brian is most familiar with seeing-through the extremely popular Panto season that we are heavily involved with each year. Numerous well-established theatres in the UK require careful planning and understanding to guarantee the flashing toys they require can be fulfilled and delivered ahead of their performances opening, ready to delight family audiences during the festive period. This is the busiest time for the Novelty department and has been handled capably by Brian for over 20 years.

Vicky Tao, Cathy Liu

Vicky joined in August 2008 as director of Innovative Enterprises and has managed the merchandising of theatre productions throughout China and has been trained in Europe on all aspects relating to merchandising live events. For IE, Vicky and her team manage all Chinese language shows in China including MAMMA MIA!, CATS, Phantom of the Opera, Riverdance and many more.

Cathy joined GMG in November 2013 as manager of the group’s Chinese manufacturing business. Cathy is responsible for the day to day management of IE overseeing all the purchasing, manufacture, shipping and sales of products both Internationally and within China.

Eurika Wilders

Eurika heads up our Dubai operation; a new and exciting territory. GMG Dubai is the sole supplier of merchandise and printed in-house programmes for the prestigious Dubai Opera. We manage the design, manufacture, transportation, vending and reporting on all of the goods sold. We merchandised Dubai’s Redfest 2017 Festival, with an audience of 50,000, we also supplied the newly opened Coca Cola Arena in association with National Merchandise, and recently started servicing the DU arena in Abu Dhabi, starting with the merchandising of Paw Patrol Live. We are also honoured to
be involved with Dubai’s only permanent sit-down live show, Franco Dragone’s, La Perle, taking a creative lead on its equally unique and premium range of souvenirs.

Rico Cortez

Rico joined GMG Group as General Manager of Carlos Candal Asia Corporation, located in Manila, in 2011. Since then he has been responsible for the running all aspects of the merchandise operation with a team of 14, for the biggest shows to play in the Philippines including MAMMA MIA!, CATS and Wicked.