Brand Building

Monkey Music’s book deal is bringing the company to the attention of a wider audience

Since 1998, Angie Coates has led the way as one of the first female franchisors in the UK and has developed Monkey Music into a highly successful business model.

It’s been 24 years since she turned her passion into a premium brand of music classes, which brings music into the lives of nearly 12,000 babies and young children at classes each week. It has also nurtured the business and teaching careers of hundreds of women.

Having created the original fourstage progressive musical curricula of over 500 songs and musical activities for use in classes, Angie has continued to use her creativity and experience to find innovative ways to develop the Monkey Music brand.

Lifelong dream

Her lifelong dream of finding a publisher to produce a series of Monkey Music books finally became a reality when Angie found the perfect partner in Campbell Books.

Work began in earnest in March 2015 with the first book, Let’s Sing and Play!, aimed at toddlers from 18 months, was released in July 2016. A second book for babies from 6-18 months is currently underway, with a release date of June 2017.

Angie knew that by producing books that featured the Monkey Music characters and some songs, she would not only be offering something new and exciting to existing customers, but that as the books would be sold across the country in local bookshops, it was possible young families who may not currently attend their local class may be encouraged to do so.

Having strategically grown her franchise sales team with the aim of promoting the franchise opportunity to more people, she was also aware that the books would inevitably bring Monkey Music to the attention of business people who may make good franchisees in a new area of the country.

Net profit

Monkey Music’s top franchisees have sales that exceed £200,000 and some franchisees report a net profit before tax in excess of 50 per cent of turnover. The average turnover per franchise has increased by 50 per cent over the last five years, demonstrating that growth emanates from growth of individual franchises and not just from an expanding network.

Over the last five years, the company’s combined network turnover has similarly increased significantly and saw network sales in excess of £3 million for the first time.

Perfect answer

It’s no coincidence that Monkey Music attracts mainly women to its team. For many of the franchise business owners, Monkey Music is the perfect answer to their desire for a change of career.

They are all motivated by the exceptional high standards and musical integrity behind the company and also the fact that they earn an excellent return on their own time and any personal financial investment.

So quite apart from bringing music into the lives of thousands of children, Angie Coates and Monkey Music’s hardworking team of creative people are now building a famous brand while enjoying a wonderful working life.