TOTAL LICENSING
Total Licensing takes a look at a few of the companies involved in Canadian licensing - both with home grown properties and international favorites. Nelvana’s highly attractive library of approximately 4,000 children’s titles has received more than 70 major international program awards including Emmys and Geminis. Nelvana produces a stable of award-winning and globally renowned brands as well as ancillary consumer product programs. The company’s world-class properties include Babar and Franklin as well as Little Charmers, Mike the Knight, Max & Ruby, and Beyblade. With headquarters in Toronto and an office in Paris, France, Nelvana’s merchandising division operates as a full service agency in addition to licensing its own brands. As an agency, Nelvana offers strategic brand management, licensing services, and retail marketing for top consumer product brands around the world. In Canada, Nelvana represents many top-selling and recognizable brands such as Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, Sesame Street and most recently, Thomas & Friends. Nelvana’s in-house expertise and Corus assets help our clients build successful and profitable brand extension programs. From a Canadian perspective, Nelvana is the only agency with the ability to optimize broadcast schedules to align with a consumer products program. Recent activity includes Ranger Rob, Beyblade, Peppa Pig and PJ Masks. Ranger Rob follows 10-year-old Ranger Rob as he ziplines, swing, and snowboards his way around Big Sky Park! The series airs on Treehouse and
licenses include toys (ID Toys), books (Chouette), DVDs (Elevation Pictures) and apparel (JCorp) in Canada. In this third generation of Beyblade, Valt Aoi, an energetic and optimistic fifth-grader, and his best friend, Shu Kurenai, take on the challenge to become the ultimate blader! Beyblade is a global toy phenomenon. In Summer 2018, Hasbro ran The Road to the National Championships in Canada. Peppa Pig and PJ Masks from Entertainment One are two top-selling brands with a robust group of licensees developing and selling products across Canada. 9 Story launched its dedicated consumer products division, 9 Story Brands, at Licensing Expo last year. 9 Story Brands represents a portfolio of top properties in kids entertainment, including Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Super Why!, Peg + Cat, Wild Kratts, Colorforms and more. Since its initial debut, the newly created group has been focused on expanding existing properties as well as securing new properties for distribution around the world. Two new properties of note include Moon and Me and Dr. Panda. Moon and Me is Sutikki’s new preschool series from Andy Davenport, the creator of Teletubbies and In the Night
Garden. The series is set to launch on BBC in the UK and on NBC Universal in the U.S. in 2019, with news on Canadian broadcast partners to be announced in the coming months. Moon and Me has a robust consumer products plan in the works including global partnerships with Hasbro and Scholastic, along with 35+ licensees in the UK. Once Canadian broadcast is locked, the 9 Story Brands team will be pursuing new partnership in the territory. 9 Story Brands is also excited to build a consumer products program around
Dr. Panda, a popular children’s app franchise (with over 95 million download!) which has been recently developed into a 3D television series. The show was unveiled by 9 Story Distribution at Mipcom in the fall, and there are now ongoing discussions with several potential broadcast partners expected to result in placement shortly, including in Canada. As an established brand, they expect to secure consumer products partnerships soon after broadcast partners are solidified. Canada’s Boat Rocker Media has enjoyed incredible growth over the past few years, positioning it to centre stage as a significant new global player. Born from Toronto-based independent Temple Street Productionskp, the company acquired several more Canadian production houses – including Radical Sheep, Proper Television, Jam Filled Entertainment, an investment in Industrial Brothers, and a majority stake in Insight Productions – as it began to embark on its ambitious expansion.
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