Special feature: Meet the team who work with Disney to promote Star Wars, Avengers and Frozen

We are at Palatine Industrial Estate, just off Wilderspool Causeway, and are about to meet the man behind one of the UK's most lucrative licensing deals.

Norman Thompson's studio Imagine8 is Disney's main promotional partner outside of the United States but you would not know it from the unimposing entrance to his headquarters.

That is until you walk through the door and see a full-sized Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc.

So while you may have not heard of Norman's Causeway Avenue company you are more than likely to be familiar with some of his 'clients' – Star Wars, Avengers, Mickey Mouse, Frozen and Big Hero 6.

The 47-year-old and his team design much of Disney's toys and merchandise that you see in supermarkets and stores everywhere.

"I enjoy coming to work," said the former Stockton Heath Primary School pupil, whose meeting room looks like a Disney store.

"Let’s face it, I get to work with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck every day. I’m fortunate. I get to live the life of an eight-year-old. Of course, it's business but it's fun."

One of the highlights for film fan Norman has been working on the new series of Star Wars films – and it comes with its perks.

"I’ve just signed a contract for the new Star Was film, Rogue One," the 47-year-old added.

"It gets released in December but I saw it in January. I’m working on it behind the scenes. I’ve seen the costumes close up.

"I’m really lucky and I’m a film fan so I’m in a really fortunate position.

"Because I work with Disney that also means I’m invited to the premieres in London. The last one I was at was for Captain America: Civil War."

In fact, Norman knows most of the films that are going to be coming out long before we do. He often works on films that will be out in a year or two to stay ahead of the game.

Norman, who also does promotions for Odeon cinemas, said: "Even if you look at Star Wars alone, every year for the next five years there’s going to be a new Star Wars film.

"Every Star Wars film that’s coming up we’re either working on it with the cinemas, our promotional partners or with the displays. I count my lucky stars."

Imagine8 was established 17 years ago but the company's big opportunity came about two years ago when Norman and the team were asked to put together product displays for the hit film, Frozen, to be sold in supermarkets and stores.

Norman, who lives in Grappenhall Heys with his wife Julie and kids Jack, 11, and Eve, 15, added: "In the UK our first big retailer was Tesco.

"The first order was for 700 of its stores and they sold more than 300,000 products in four weeks.

"That gave Tesco the confidence to work with us on Big Zero 6, Cinderella, Olaf’s Summer, Avengers and the list goes on."

Before Norman knew it he was Disney's 'preferred promotional supplier' for cinema and DVD releases.

The former Broomfields pupil said: "It’s not a preferred supplier that’s here, that’s local. It’s across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"We’re the only company they approached to do these displays and here we are in an industrial estate in Warrington where you wouldn’t know this type of business goes on.

"You will have seen loads of our things before, you just wouldn’t have known it was us."

The team design the products which are then made in China and sold all over the world.

Teaming up with Disney – the company that is said to take up 52 per cent of the merchandise licensing industry – also opened up a lot of doors.

Norman added: "Off the strength of that relationship I started talking to Universal about Minions. Last summer it was the biggest movie. They called it a ‘yellow summer’.

"In my world everyone knows each other and so when some of the Disney guys moved to Warner Bros they took me with them and I started to work on Batman vs Superman.

"Some guys went to DreamWorks too and I started to work on some new films that are coming out like DreamWorks' Trolls and Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets.

"We started to get approached rather than me saying to them: ‘Look at what we’re doing, isn’t it cool?’ "Nickelodeon started talking to me about the SpongeBob movie last year.

"But we’re also expanding. We’ve now gone into the gaming world so I’m working on the next Call of Duty in November."

Norman said that one of his favourite licensing deals was the one that greets you as soon as you visit Imagine8 – Monsters Inc.

Asda ordered 234 full-sized Mike and Sulley sets for the DVD promotion.

He said: "We were given that opportunity six weeks in advance. It was quite a challenge as it normally takes 30 to 45 days to manufacture anything and 35 days to ship it.

"It would have almost been cheaper to charter our own flight for them but it was worth it."

As well as keeping an eye on the movie release schedule, Norman also has to be mindful of other factors like award season and word-of-mouth that makes people interested in films all over again.

Frozen has been keeping him particularly busy.

Norman added: "Here we are at least two years after the movie and there’s still a demand and a clamour for it. Frozen hasn’t gone anywhere.

"It's about changing the look and style of the merchandise of popular films to keep it fresh."

Imagine8 must be doing something right having sold 17,000 merchandise displays since April 2014. That equates to more than 4.2million products.

Norman said: "They’re being sold to every major retailer around the world. It’s somehow become normal. With Disney we’ve pioneered something and proved that it works."