tv kids licensing & merchandising trends

MIP JUNIOR, MIPCOM& BRAND LICENSING,

SPECIAL REPORT

LICENSING & MERCHANDISING

TRENDS

www.tvkids.ws OCTOBER 2011

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Less than two weeksafter MIPCOM closesits doors, Brand Licens-

ing Europe (BLE) will open atLondon’s Olympia exhibition cen-ter, with its organizers, Advanstar,predicting that attendance willpass the 6,000 mark. The bullishforecast for this year’s eventcomes following a 16-percentattendance bump in 2010,which had 5,634 visitors.Saban Brands, among themany leading licensors that willbe at Olympia, will be showcas-ing two properties. The first isthe Power Rangers franchise,

which returned to theSaban fold when it wasacquired from The WaltDisney Company last

year. Saban has cre-ated a new series ofthis iconic kids’ classic,Power Rangers Samurai,and has already sold itinto over 150 mar-kets worldwide.Kirk Bloomgar-den, the senior

VP of international licensing, attributes this huge demandto the fact that “Power Rangers is a classic boys’ action-adventure series. There is also real appreciation out thereof the understanding Saban has for the brand.”In the U.S. as well as in numerous international mar-

kets, Saban’s broadcast partner for Power Rangers Samu-rai is Nickelodeon, although, Bloomgarden says, “thereare territories where we will also be sharing the serieswith terrestrial broadcasters.” To date, following its U.S.debut, the series has aired in Canada, the U.K., France,Germany and Benelux. Bandai has been retained as themaster toy licensee, and, according to Bloomgarden, “amajor licensing programming is gearing up to roll outbehind the broadcast launches around the world.”

BEING FRANKAlongside Power Rangers Samurai at the Saban stand will bemore than 150 characters from Paul Frank Industries,which the company acquired in August 2010. The bestknown of these character brands, which are mainly targetedat the fashion sector, is Julius the monkey. As yet, none hasmedia associated with them, but, says Bloomgarden, “all thatis about to change, as we are planning at least two holidayspecials in 2012, very much in the style of the Snoopy hol-iday specials, one for Halloween and one for Christmas.”Also pressing the flesh at BLE will be American Greet-

ings Properties. Gabrielle Oliff, the VP of brand and mar-keting at the company, reveals that they will be atOlympia with a lineup of properties that includes theevergreen Care Bears, aimed, as always, at girls aged 3

TV KIDS4

Kids’ content companies attendingBrand Licensing Europe are devising

new ways to stand out in an increasinglycrowded marketplace. By Bob Jenkins

BrandsPowering Up

Bandai action figures for Saban’s PowerRangers Samurai.

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to 7. As Oliff says, “No one makes caring cooler thanthe Care Bears.”For boys aged 5 to 8 and 15-plus, American Greet-

ings has Madballs. Oliff accepts that the property, firstreleased in 1986, was initially considered “pretty repul-sive,” but, she adds, “underneath their nauseating exte-riors, the truth is, they really are pretty nauseating!”Among the plethora of characters and brands American

Greetings will be presenting at BLE is the classic Straw-berry Shortcake.The veteran brand, which made its debut ingreeting cards in the late ’70s before expanding into enter-tainment and a slew of consumer products, attracts girlsin the 3-to-7 bracket just as strongly now as it ever did.

FROM THE HEARTPlaying to a similar base is Missy Heart from ToonzoneStudios. Konnie Kwak, the CEO of the animation stu-dio, notes that the brand is aimed at 5- to 9-year-olds,“a demo that is definitely older than Strawberry Short-cake, but, as the story of a girl who wears hearts in herhair and her heart on her sleeve, there are similarities.”Missy Heart is directed by animation veteran John Kafka,who also directed Toonzone’s Action Dad, which tellsthe story of the Ramseys. On the surface they are anormal family with two sweet and average teens, Lizand Mick, but the reality is that mum Angela and dadChuck are rival secret agents. Despite trying to kill eachother on a regular basis as part of their day job, theydecide to put on a brave face for the kids.

Meanwhile, it’s the kids that are doing the fighting inTiny Warriors, also on the Toonzone slate at BLE. Theseries, a story of four friends, each a master of a dif-ferent martial-arts discipline, with the motto “Tinybut tough,” is a co-production with Brazil’s Studio

Sumatra. Written by longtime Sponge-Bob SquarePants staff writer

Richard Pursel, and with a tar-get demo of both boys andgirls aged 6 to 10, the 26x22-minute series is slated fordelivery in 2013.

In the spring of 2012,m4e expects to deliver Miaand Me, its brand-newhybrid show. Hans Ulrich

Stoef, the group CEO ofthe German brand-management firm, says

the co-production with Italy’sRainbow S.r.l. “is at the topof the list of properties wewill be presenting at BrandLicensing Europe. This mix-ture of live action and CGI isvery difficult to achieve—

even for the majors.” The series tells the story of theeponymous Mia, who, when her parents mysteriouslydisappear, is sent by her aunt to a boarding school inFlorence. Her aunt also presents Mia with a book anda bracelet, left for her by her parents. The book tells sto-ries of the magical kingdom of Centopia, which is pop-ulated by elves and unicorns that are under attack by theevil Munculus, who want to capture the unicorns so asto grind their horns into a powder that will keep Muncu-lus young forever. Mia discovers that by pressing a buttonon the bracelet and repeating a secret code, she is trans-ported to Centopia and transformed into an elf—the onlyone that can communicate with the unicorns. “The con-cept grew from our realization that unicorns are every-where in design and sell very well, yet no one had everturned them into a brand,” Stoef notes.Also being presented at BLE by m4e, and again due

for delivery in 2012, is Connie, a short preschoolseries based on the bestselling books of the samename published by Carlsen Verlag. The show aims tointroduce kids to events that will happen in theireveryday lives, such as a trip to the dentist.Cyber Group Studios is also showcasing a book-

based brand: Zou. Like the books, which won a Parents’Choice Award in the U.S., the series follows the adven-tures of a lovable 5-year-old zebra and explores theworld as seen through the eyes of its target audienceof 3- to 6-year-olds. Disney Junior will begin trans-mitting the series across Europe in September 2012.“We have appointed leading licensees for activity

TV KIDS6

Showing your stripes: Cyber Group has already appointedseveral licensees for the preschool property Zou.

Playing a newtune: Developing agirl-targeted L&Mstrategy for Miaand Me is a top priority for m4e.

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books, plush and DVDs, and products are scheduled tobe on the shelf by the end of 2012,” says Pierre Siss-mann, Cyber Group’s chairman and CEO.Another series from Cyber Group Studios that will

be presented at BLE is Fish ‘n Chips. Due to premierethis autumn on Gulli in France, the co-productionwith Timoon, which is aimed at both boys and girlsaged 6 to 10, tells of the exciting adventures of twofriends, a cat and a fish. It has already been sold to Car-toon Network in Australia and New Zealand, ATVin Turkey and extensively throughout the Middle East.Joining Zou and Fish ‘n Chips on the Cyber Group

stand will be Tales of Tatonka. This HD animationseries, which also contains live-action wildlife footage,is aimed at 4- to 8-year-olds, focusing on four wolfcubs living with their parents in the plains and forestsof North America. The series begins transmission thisfall on RAI Due in Italy, and next year on France 5and a number of other major European broadcasters,including TV2 Norway and YLE Finland. Citel willrelease the DVDs in France in 2012.

BEING GREENAnother brand with a strong environmental theme thatwill be on offer at BLE is Trash Pack, a brand-new 52x13-minute series from Italy’s Mondo TV S.p.A. MichelineAzoury, the head of international sales and brand man-ager at Mondo TV, says that Trash Pack is “a unique and

hilariously funny edu-environment show.”The master toy licensee for Europe, the Mid-dle East and Africa (EMEA) is Giochi Preziosi,and for the rest of the world it is Australia’sMoose Toys.Giochi Preziosi is also the EMEA master

toy licensee for two other Mondo TV series:Puppy in My Pocket and Virus Attack. Puppy inMy Pocket, aimed at girls and boys aged 4 to8, debuted on Boomerang and CartoonNetwork EMEA in July and will move tofree-to-air television in almost all Europeancountries in September. Virus Attack, mean-while, is strictly a boys’ action-adventureseries, for 5- to 11-year-olds. It recentlydebuted to excellent ratings on CartoonNetwork, and will soon be going free to airon Boing, Cartoon Network’s DTT channelin Italy and Spain.Family adventure is on offer from Your

Family Entertainment (YFE), which will beat BLE with Heroes of the City. “This seriesfocuses on cars used to rescue and help peo-ple in cities,” says Stefan Piëch, YFE’s CEO.“As cars are a fascination for most of us,Heroes of the City should be an enjoyableviewing experience for the whole family,

and, furthermore, it teaches kids that teamwork is excit-ing and that it is fun working together to solve eventhe most challenging problems.”Another key brand for YFE is Oscar the Balloonist,

which features Oscar, a wildlife-loving boy who trav-els the world with his friend Spike the cactus meetingall kinds of animals and learning all about their familylife. A co-production by YFE and ZDF, Oscar the Bal-loonist, debuted last December on KI.KA, where it hasregularly gained a 30-percent share. Piëch reports that“publishing, merchandising and radio plays are all avail-able for Oscar the Balloonist.”

MAKING AN IMPACTThis is just a small selection of the titles on offer atBLE, and, with more companies expected to attendthan ever before, the question becomes: How does aproperty make itself stand out from the throng of rivals,and what gives it licensing’s “X factor”?“Some of the evergreen properties, such as Care Bears

and Strawberry Shortcake, were popular with today’smums when they were kids, and that does help,” saysAmerican Greetings’ Oliff. New or old, she adds, “it’simportant for brands to have 360-degree consumertouch points, on air, online, consumer products;basically, the more ways a property has of reachingits target audience, the more effective and efficientis its communication with its consumers and the

Sweet sales: First launched in the ’70s on greeting cards, Strawberry Shortcakeremains one of American Greetings’most popular brandswith young girls.


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greater the chance it has of cutting through the clut-ter. It is the power of our on-air and online presence,and this 360-degree consumer touch-point strategy,that creates pent-up post-launch demand for con-sumer products, which in turn will trigger interestfrom retailers.” This 360-degree approach is also cited by Toon-

zone’s Kwak as being of vital importance. “You haveto be on every platform,” she insists. “You have tohave a TV series, and games, and, of course, an Inter-net presence. The reality is that TV’s penetration isn’twhat it used to be, and love it as we still do, andimportant as it still is, you have to design your prop-erty to work on all platforms.”Cyber Studios’ Sissmann agrees, noting, “Our series

are created from the beginning to become strong brands.The licensing program is designed at the very begin-ning along with the design of the characters and thewriting of the scripts. But we only launch our merchan-dising program when we have securedTV exposure.”

PLATFORM AGNOSTICThe importance of designing the seriesfor multiplatform success is somethingthat m4e’s Stoef is keen to stress. “Mer-chandising potential has to be built intothe series. The truth is, 99 percent of theshows on television don’t really havemerchandising potential. We design allour shows with 360-degree potential,and we also always work closely withretailers from the start so that we knowwhat they want and can ensure that wehave a large enough product line to meettheir needs.” Stoef does not think televi-sion exposure is always necessary tolaunch a property, suggesting, “Some ofthe other ways of launching a property,such as games and the Internet, are a lotcheaper than television, and, if it works

there, you can always move it to television later whenit is established.” Bloomgarden at Saban Brands, however, says that

it is “always best to allow your property to gainexposure on television before introducing proper-ties at retail.” Although “the market is very muchmore fragmented than it was a few years ago,” hepoints out that “there are some very powerful play-ers within that fragmented market, and we think it isimportant to take the long view, allow your propertyto grow its popularity and connection with its audi-ence before launching your products at retail.” Bloomgarden also firmly believes that “a property

must be able to work 360 degrees; it is vital that youhave a strategy worked out for social media in generaland Facebook and Twitter in particular. You must alsohave a forensic focus on retail. We meet regularly withour key retailers. You must be able to demonstrate yoursupport for your brand with exclusives and DTR—direct to retail—where necessary.”In order to stand out in a cluttered marketplace,

YFE’s Piëch says, “It is necessary to be consistent inwhat you do, and to focus on long-term, universal val-ues. We like to concentrate on series with long-lasting,classic appeal, and also we pride ourselves on provid-ing our clients with consumer products that match ourhigh quality standards.”Mondo’s Azoury, meanwhile, goes back to the

basics: “In order to grab attention in a cluttered mar-ketplace, a property needs cute, catchy characters,good production values and great TV exposure, anda strong master toy licensee capable of driving strongretail sales.”

Pet projects: Mondo TV is working with Giochi Preziosi on the EMEA roll-out of Puppy in My Pocket, which targets kids aged 4 to 8.

Driving brands:YFE will be atBrand Licensingwith the new family-friendlyproperty Heroes of the City.


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Launched a decade ago, Zinkia Entertain-ment has become one of Spain’s most well-known animation outfits thanks to its globalhit Pocoyo. Zinkia recently reclaimed allrights to the brand after a long affiliationwith ITV Studios Global Entertainment andis now working hard to extend Pocoyo’slicensing-and-merchandising campaign, en -com passing video games, apps, music andmore. With an eye toward growth, Zinkiathis year acquired a 51-percent interest inthe U.K.-based kids’ entertainment outfitCAKE, which represents hits like the TotalDrama franchise and Angelo Rules. JoséMaría Castillejo, Zinkia Entertainment’spresident, explains to TV Kids the rationalebehind the CAKE investment and discussesthe company’s strategy for becoming knownas a global brand creator.

TV KIDS:What led to the investmentin CAKE?CASTILLEJO: We are continually look-ing for opportunities to build Zinkia’sstanding in the marketplace. Recently, wehave been able to consider strategicavenues of investment that could furtherbolster our brand-management businessand expand our distribution opportuni-ties.Our priority was to invest in a part-nership that could leverage both Zinkiaand a partner’s assets. By joining forceswith CAKE, we are harnessing eachother’s strengths—Zinkia as a brand cre-ator and CAKE as a leading televisiondistributor. CAKE will be responsible forthe international television distribution of our flagshipproperty, Pocoyo.While we do hold a 51-percent share, CAKE and

Zinkia will operate autonomously. We understand theimportance of ensuring that we complement and do notcannibalize each other’s areas of expertise, and by bring-ing together two independent industry leaders, we are cre-ating tremendous opportunities for both on a global scale.

TV KIDS: How have you been positioning Zinkia inthe global marketplace?CASTILLEJO: We want to be recognized as global brandcreators. We’ve been carefully building the Pocoyo brand

for approximately eight years, using multiple platforms toexpand the brand awareness, instead of relying solely on TVand DVD. When we started, there was only TV and DVDavailable to deliver the content. Now there are many dif-ferent alternatives, particularly in the social-media realm. Asan example, there are more than 20 episodes of Pocoyowatched per second on YouTube. That’s more than 52 mil-lion episodes per month, and we have received over 500million hits to date. That creates tremendous exposure forthe brand and it is only one platform, which didn’t exist tenyears ago. We’re basically focused on creating our own con-cepts, our own brands and then building those brands usingall the platforms available. We’re not really interested in

Zinkia Entertainment’s

José María Castillejo

TV KIDS12

By Mansha Daswani

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growing our catalogue with many properties. Our strat -egy is to focus on a small number of properties that weknow we can support to reach their full potential.

TV KIDS: You listed on Spain’s MAB alternative stockmarket two years ago; what led you to that?CASTILLEJO: The financing. The market in Spain hasbeen quite challenging, and to finance a television seriesrequires a lot of funding. We always want to retain all therights to our properties, so it doesn’t make sense for usto enter into co-production partnerships, because it canbecome difficult down the road to exploit the rights andto grow the brand. So [the MAB listing] was a way forus to get to the financial market, get financing and thenget visibility, which I think we have accomplished.

TV KIDS: What challenges and opportunities doyou see as an independent in this economy?CASTILLEJO: People are taking less risk than before,which means it’s going to be much more difficult to

build new properties. Retailers are only taking riskson very well-established brands, which makes it a lotmore difficult to introduce new concepts. On thefinancing side, very few opportunities exist with televi-sion commissioners for preschool series. It’s a tremen-dous challenge to put together the budget.

The positive aspect of being an independent and asmall company is that you have the flexibility of mak-ing a lot of decisions. Larger organizations have theiradvantages, of course, but a small company often hasthe ability to navigate more quickly. We can makechanges, we can move with ease from one country toanother, the relationships are much more personal, andit’s a much more personal approach to your brand.

TV KIDS: What are your plans for Pocoyo’s expansion?CASTILLEJO: We are now really focused on the U.S.This holiday season we’ll have product in Walmart,Kmart, Toys “R” Us, so we are pleased to have a pres-ence at these mass retailers. The U.S. bet is a ten-yearbet; we’re not looking at it as a short-term strategy. Wehope to be here to stay. I think Pocoyo has the capacity tobecome a classic evergreen brand. In addition to theU.S., we are putting a lot of effort into Latin America,as well as [emerging markets] like India, Russia, Turkeyand across Asia. We recently recovered the worldwiderights, so we are in the midst of implementing newstrategies worldwide.

TV KIDS: How has Spain become such apowerhouse animation producer?CASTILLEJO:There is a wealth of talent in

Spain. The Mediterranean, the sun, thegood wine and the good tapas may

have something to do with it!You have Spanish animatorsworking at Pixar, Dream-Works, all the big animationcompanies, and they have atendency to return to Spain to

work. Ten years ago it was verydifficult to find animators, sowe had to look to other coun-

tries. Now there’s a hugeamount of people that have seen how good

this career can be. In Spain, there is also sup-port from the government in the form of subsi-

dies. I have to say, we have received a very smallnumber of subsidies, because of the policy we have oftrying to keep all the rights ourselves. The moment

you get the subsidies and start producing withother countries‚ then it gets more complicated.Now the Spanish government is seeing howthe animation industry really adds value to

the economy. It’s a modern industry, it’s a tech-nological industry, it really adds value.

Riding to retail:Zinkia is working toextend its preschoolbrand Pocoyo ontomultiple platforms.

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tv kids licensing & merchandising trends

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