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REPOSITIONS, REBRANDS by Nancy Lombardi
FOR
GROWTH
he world has experienced profound economic change over the past two years. Industries and stalwart businesses have collapsed. New ones have sprung up. Yet others have shifted their model, repositioning themselves for long-term growth. One such company is Copyright Promotions Licensing Group—simply known as CPLG. Founded in the UK in 1974, its initial strategy was focusing on entertainment rights. As the licensing industry grew and evolved so did CPLG. By 1991 the company expanded across Western Europe with a network of wholly owned branch offices. By 2004, as the company celebrated its 30th anniversary, it had already diversified into sports licensing. In 2008 The Cookie Jar Company acquired CPLG along with DIC Entertainment and a onethird interest in international children’s television channel KidsCo. The acquisition doubled Cookie Jar’s library of family programming and strengthened its capabilities in global merchandising and licensing, according to a statement by Cookie Jar. CPLG was acquired by Cookie Jar Founded in 2004, Cookie Jar features a host of properties such as Caillou, Inspector Gadget, Entertainment in 2008. Cookie Jar owns Arthur, The Doodlebops, and Johnny Test. The company controls Cookie Jar TV, the weekend Richard Scarry’s Busytown (shown below) morning block on CBS. Cookie Jar Entertainment’s Jaroo.com is a destination for kids with an and Caillou (shown above). CPLG serves independent selection of full-length children’s TV series and movies online. CPLG, Cookie as the global licensing agent for the properties. Another example of what’s in Jar’s full-service international licensing agency, represents numerous brands such as Cookie Jar’s portfolio is American Greetings-owned property Strawberry Strawberry Shortcake, Richard Scarry, Lucha Libre AAA, and Skelanimals, among many othShortcake. CPLG serves as the global ers. Cookie Jar also has The Jar, which is teen and adult programming. licensing agent. All consumer products of As we enter the second half of 2010, CPLG is looking to reposition and rebrand worldwide Cookie Jar are now renamed CPLG. offices for future growth. “We made the company-wide decision that we would rename all consumer products divisions of Cookie Jar into CPLG,” says Katarina Dietrich, CEO of CPLG. The reason is “CPLG has the expertise and the heritage of being Europe’s leading licensing agency,” she says. This change was brought on as a growth step because Cookie Jar is not looking to represent only Cookie Jar properties but also to follow the wider path set forth by CPLG of third-party representation, which, as Dietrich explains, is the company’s specialty. Additional executives have been hired in existing offices in Los Angeles, Canada, and Asia. These offices are also moving to a format of managing third-party properties under the CPLG name. In Asia, for example, the group is working on It’s Happy Bunny and Star Trek as well as other CBS properties. In addition, Dietrich says that every three months the company evaluates opening offices in other parts of the world such as additional Asian territories, Australia, and/or South America. “We evaluate every three months to see where the economy is and where it is financially prudent to have an office,” she says. Stay tuned as CPLG expands its global reach.
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ROYALTIE$ JUNE 2010