Creativity Meets Classics

Mondo TV is known for its many successes as a producer or co-producer – and with MeteoHeroes that success is set to continue. But a new role for Mondo – as third party licensor – is about to enhance the presence in three key markets of a major property: The Gruffalo.

WHERE CUTTING EDGE CREATIVITY MEETS CLASSIC CHARACTERS

Mondo TV is best-known as one of the largest European producers and distributors of animated content. However, it’s also a growing force in third-party licensing. Both facets of this diverse and fast-changing company are clearly evident in two major recent projects: its co-production of

the new cutting-edge environmentally themed kids’ show MeteoHeroes and its representation of a bona fide classic of modern children’s literature – The Gruffalo. If you live in Italy you may already have seen MeteoHeroes – an animated series in which six amazing kids use their superpowers to protect the planet from extreme weather events and pollution. It premiered in Italy with a special four-episode sneak preview in April on the free-to-air channel Cartoonito, a leading DTTV and satellite channel for pre-schoolers operated by Boing. The premiere date – the 22nd of April – was carefully chosen to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. MondoTV also participated in the #OnePeopleOnePlanet multimedia marathon organized by Earth Day and the Focolare Movement. There was exclusive content dedicated to MeteoHeroes featuring the young stars Chiara and Mattia Fabiano, who voice the characters of Nubess and Thermo, in a clip streamed immediately before a memorable concert at the Colosseum by the world-famous Italian singer Zucchero. Obviously there is no shortage of offerings for kids based around various ‘green’ and ‘eco-friendly’ themes. But MeteoHeroes genuinely stands out. A Mondo TV co-production with Meteo Expert Center, a leading Italian weather forecasting group, the series addresses issues like climate change,

ecology and respect for nature but in a fun, engaging way in a series full of action and comedy. The four opening episodes will again appear in July, followed by 14 brandnew episodes. Many digital initiatives will herald the July launch, leveraging the multi-tasking skills of the techsavvy and environmentally aware kids that are MeteoHeroes’ main target audience. MeteoHeroes’ enormous potential has already attracted a number of major licensees. The first licensed products will be on shelves by October 2020 – and, in the spirit of the series and its message, they will be designed and developed in compliance with sustainable best practices using recyclable material. When MeteoHeroes was first proposed by Meteo Expert Center, Mondo TV was keen to take the concept to the next level. Similarly, when licensor Magic Light Pictures asked

Mondo to develop a licensing programme for The Gruffalo in Italy, Spain and Portugal, there was no hesitation. This story – of a mouse who outwits a creature intent on eating him – is after all, a book and an animated film greatly loved by children and their parents in many countries. However, so far the Gruffalo brand is mainly a publishing hit in Italy, Spain and Portugal. Thus, Mondo TV has looked at the success of the licensing programme outside those three territories and seen huge potential to translate the world of The Gruffalo into consumer products. Mondo is planning to grow the market presence of the brand, working together with regional publishers, and support the presence of books in store with special retail promotions that will embrace different categories. To begin with, Mondo will be focusing on toys, arts and crafts, audio stories, apparel and fashion accessories. Over the coming year Mondo will grow the roll-out plan to other categories such as confectionery, gifts and novelties, and housewares. Promotional initiatives and brand partnerships are also part of the company’s planning. Two very different properties, two highly original concepts – both with strong licensing potential. In both production partnerships and third party representation, Mondo TV is yet again showing its ability to align itself with winning brands.

Etermax, the international technology company founded in Argentina, has appointed Caravanserai Partners, a recently created agency managed by a team with more than 30 years of experience in the licensing business focused on brands and evergreen properties, to become its licensing agent in Iberia for its top brand: Trivia Crack. Caravanserai Partners will work together with the Etermax team in developing a solid licensing, promotional and retail strategy that will allow to expand the brand Trivia Crack in Spain, Portugal and Europe. With its Gaming division, Etermax is one of the top mobile games developer in the world with proven successful titles like Aworded Crack, Word Crack and specially Trivia Crack, the nº 1 trivia game in more than 125 countries. To to date, Trivia Crack is about to reach 500m downloads, 150m annual active users, almost 840m games played in the last year and more than 170.000m answered questions. Based in Barcelona, with a team with more than 40 years of licensing, retail and marketing experience Caravanserai Partners operates internationally within a net of “best in class” independent agents in each territory. Representing some of the best known licensors in the world like King Features, Sogex, Mercis or LMI among others, Caravanserai is the response to the challenging environment with a new approach to the licensing world.

BRIGITTE BARDOT APPOINTS V2D GROUP

After the promising success of the Brigitte Bardot lingerie developed by V2D, the renowned actress is now entrusting her master license agreement to the family-owned group. A partnership with wide-ranging potential, since it covers numerous types of products including ready to wear, beachwear, eyewear and jewellery, will expand the Brigitte Bardot brand through France and across the world. The previous rights holder, Légende Events, welcomes the transition, which consolidates the partnership between Brigitte Bardot and the northern group V2D. “Our work on the Brigitte Bardot brand, expanding it to a global master license, bears witness to a mutual trust. Our aim is to recreate the world of Brigitte Bardot with a huge range of fashionable and accessible products” commented Tanguy Toulemonde, CEO of V2D.

His brother Quentin Toulemonde, co-director of the company, explains: “The Brigitte Bardot brand is inspired by her years in public life. B.B embodies the strong, still very relevant values of those times: her joyous sensuality and ultra-femininity, at once natural and daring, are resolutely modern. BB was and remains a fascinating icon of French beauty.” The northern group V2D specialises in developing underwear brands; it has been successfully operating under this license for 6 years (lingerie, bath and homewear) as well as its own brands Steffy, Pomm’Poire and another licensed line, Morgan. It created the Family Trademark company TLM to accommodate this new development.

LMI BECOMES GLOBAL AGENTS FOR FABERGE

Licensing Management International (LMI) has been apthe Russian Imperial Court; the house created exquisite pointed as the global licensing agent for Fabergé, one of jewels and objects including the legendary series of lavish the world’s most iconic artist jeweller. and ingenious Imperial Easter Eggs. Fabergé today creates Founded in 1842, Fabergé has long been a revered name extraordinary jewellery, timepieces and objets d’art, as in jewellery. LMI will be seeking collaborations that reflect well as bespoke commissions for a discerning internal technical mastery and exceptional craftsmanship, with a clientele. focus on a few key products categories to kick start the Antony Lindsay, MD at Fabergé said, “We are delighted to programme. commence our partnership with LMI. We are excited to In 1842 Peter Carl Fabergé became official goldsmith to explore this new venture to expand our product offering.”

HEY DUGGEE ONLINE TRAFFIC GROWS 24 hours and had parents praising it Popular preschool series Hey Duggee has seen a significant increase in traffic and engagement across all of its social channels and website since lockdown began. Monthly views for the official YouTube channel have grown by over 40% compared to the average. Meanwhile, heyduggee.com has seen unique visitors increase by 90%, with parents taking full advantage of the resources to help with family activities at home. BBC Studios also launched its official Hey Duggee Pinterest page recently, which includes fun activities, arts and crafts and baking recipes. Learning content has performed particularly well on the Hey Duggee YouTube channel with a range of videos providing support to parents that are home schooling. The ‘Science With Duggee’ video for example, has seen a surge in views, rising to 7 million at last count. Hey Duggee social media channels are also playing a supporting role, sharing a range of relevant content that understands family life during lockdown and uses the show’s popular characters to celebrate the positive moments during these times. For instance, The Hey Duggee Stay At Home Badge video formed part of a series of shorts featured in the BBC’s ‘Staying Home’ campaign and was edited together by Studio AKA using existing animation and new voiceover recorded by Alexander Armstrong. This was followed by The Handwashing Badge, which adapted the notoriously catchy ‘Stick Song’ from the show, to inspire little ones to wash their hands. The video posted across all the Duggee digital channels, achieved an impressive 97k views in the first for helping to get their kids washing hands. Downloadable bespoke templates and colouring sheets have proved popular with parents and children as well. A heartfelt post on the Facebook channel which encouraged families to use a Hey Duggee-themed template card and send it to their grandparents in isolation was well-received by audiences. Viewers have also taken to the Hey Duggee rainbow colouring sheets using them to create artwork at home, and Hey Duggee is part of The Design Museum’s Young Design Museum strand, with fun activity sheets featuring Duggee and the Squirrels updated each week. Harriet Newby-Hill, Global Brand Director – Children’s at BBC Studios commented, “It’s been incredibly rewarding for the team to see such fantastic levels of engagement from our Hey Duggee fan community. We’ve loved all the fabulous creations from our young fans and seen a great deal of positive comments from parents in response to the inspiring and fun activities we’ve curated for our digital channels.”

RAINBOW APPOINTS VERTICAL LICENSING FOR 44 CATS IN BRAZIL

Rainbow and Vertical Licensing have joined together to market response. promote 44 Cats in Brazil! Rainbow’s Sales Director Global CP Matteo Olivetti comRainbow has recently announced its global hit 44 Cats will mented the deal enthusiastically: “We are proud to be add to the partnership with Vertical Licensing for the disworking with Vertical Licensing and look forward to bringtribution of the preschool success across Brazil. ing the enthralling energy of our brand to Brazil.” 44 Cats, with record-breaking TV ratings, is already enjoy“We are thrilled to be working with 44 Cats in Brazil. We ing tremendous popularity throughout the world and is have been representing Rainbow properties since 2017, ready to launch a second season. The 52 x 13’ animated and we are now very excited about this new opportunity. series is an mix of music and cuteness that deals with cenThe TV series is already a hit among Brazilian children and, tral themes such as tolerance, diversity and altruism, comwith the second season to be released this year, the brand bining positive values, action and comedy in a sophisticated will be even more relevant for the kids target. We are conCGI production. The show follows the daily adventures of fident that we will build a strong program for 44 Cats in Lampo, Milady, Pilou, and Meatball – four kittens who are our territory. Our plan is to have the licensed products part of a music band named The Buffycats - helping others hitting the shelves at the end of this year and beginning of and always finding creative solutions to everyday hitches. 2021,” added Alexandre Volpi, CEO of Vertical Licensing. Rainbow and Vertical Licensing have been partnering since 2017 for girls classic Winx Club, the renowned brand that comprises eight series, four TV movies and three theatrical releases plus an upcoming Netflix Original six-episode show. The collaboration has contributed to establish the solid brand in Brazil so far, appealing to girls across all categories, promoting key values such as friendship, empowerment and feelings with a magic touch and fairy style. Vertical Licensing is the latest in a number of partners that put Rainbow’s 44 Cats in the spotlight with excellent

CLOUDCO SIGNS WITH BAVARIA MEDIA

Cloudco Entertainment, home of brands such as Care Bears, Holly Hobbie, and Madballs has signed an agency deal with Bavaria Media GmbH and its licensing division, Bavaria Sonor Licensing to manage the Care Bears brand across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Named “Licensing Agency of the Year 2019” at the Licensing International Awards in Germany, Bavaria Sonor Licensing will manage all Care Bears consumer products and licensing initiatives, inclusive of brand collaborations, across these German-speaking territories. Introduced in 1982, Care Bears is one of the most popular and endearing children’s properties in the world. The Care Bears are known for using their belly badge powers to spread messages of sharing, caring, friendship and courage while making sure to have lots of laughs along the way. In 2019, Cloudco introduced Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, a 2D animated series featuring an all-new look and mission for the bears. Care Bears: Unlock the Magic launched on Tiny Pop in the UK and Boomerang and Cartoon Network in the US. Bavaria Sonor Licensing will support the classic Care Bears style as well as the new look. “Care Bears is a cult brand that fits perfectly into Bavaria Media’s licensing portfolio and we are thrilled to be representing the brand. GAS is a market with significant growth opportunity for Care Bears and we look forward to working closely with the team at Cloudco,” said Ivica Maracic, Licensing & Sales Director der Bavaria Sonor Licensing “Bavaria Sonor Licensing is one of the leaders in the German speaking licensing market, and together, we are confident that we will be able to expand the brand’s presence and bring messages of positivity to Germany, Austria and Switzerland,” said Roubina Tchoboian, Vice President of International Licensing at Cloudco Entertainment

PAW PATROL T-SHIRTS SUPPORT THE NHS

ViacomCBS’s Nick Jr. UK recently announced the launch of a limited edition PAW Patrol pups t-shirt, the profits of which will go to NHS Charities Together, which supports NHS staff and volunteers caring for COVID-19 patients. The limited-edition t-shirt has been created in partnership with online retailer Character.com and apparel partner Bioworld International. They are now available on Character.com and will be promoted across Nick Jr.’s

Facebook and Instagram accounts, in addition to key influencers’ social accounts.

The t-shirt design features the PAW Patrol pups alongside the words ‘Thank you Heroes’ and a rainbow made out of colourful dog paws. The rainbow has become an emblem of hope during the COVID-19 pandemic, with children placing rainbow pictures in their windows as a symbol of solidarity with the NHS. Venetia Davie, VP Consumer Products for ViacomCBS Networks UK said “Paw Patrol is our leading pre-school property and we’re thrilled to be able to use its success to help support the UK’s frontline health workers, to whom we are incredibly grateful.” PAW Patrol has been the #1 preschool property since 2016 and started the year on a high with the January launch of PAW Patrol: Ready Race Rescue in cinemas, following the success of PAW Patrol: Mighty Pups in 2019. As PAW Patrol enters its seventh series a new theme titled Dino Rescue will be introduced, which will launch on Nick Jr. from the end of August and in December on Channel 5’s pre-school strand Milkshake!

BABY SIMON’S CAT CAMPAIGN

Endemol Shine Group has announced a brand-new multi-category campaign for hit animated series Simon’s Cat. The all-new Baby Simon’s Cat campaign incorporates new product, gaming and content strands over the coming months. Recently it was announced that voice solutions specialists Voice Interactive have developed two Simon’s Cat voice skills for global distribution through Amazon’s smart assistant. Talk to Simon’s Cat, enables users to listen to hundreds of neverbefore-heard Simon’s Cat sounds and Play with Simon’s Cat, allows users to adopt and play with their very own Simon’s Cat. Accompanying the release of the recently announced voice skills will be a brand new Baby Simon’s Cat plush from leading social commerce platform Teespring. Building on the sell-out success of the first run of plushies with Teespring last year, the new product will be available for preorder shortly. The new plushie is Simon’s Cat as a kitten which also ties into a new digital series launching on YouTube. Origins is a three-part black and white strand which will take audiences back for the very first time, to show the beginnings of showing how Simon and his infamous cat first became acquainted. And later this year, a full-colour special of the Origins films will be released to tie-in with the delivery of the plushie orders.

POKEMON DEBUT NEW EXPANSION

The Pokémon Company International has unveiled the newest expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Sword & Shield—Darkness Ablaze, arriving around the world on August 14, 2020. Sword & Shield—Darkness Ablaze introduces highly collectible cards including Charizard VMAX, as the fan favorite Charizard makes its Gigantamax form debut in the Pokémon TCG - just like in the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield video games. In addition, Trainers will be able to pull more Pokémon from the Galar region as Pokémon VMAX, such as Centiskorch VMAX and Grimmsnarl VMAX in their Gigantamax forms, and the Legendary Pokémon Eternatus VMAX in its unique Eternamax form. The full expansion includes seven Pokémon VMAX, 14 powerful Pokémon V - plus nine full-art Pokémon V, 17 Trainer cards and four full-art Supporter cards and three new Special Energy cards Fans interested in playing with cards from the expansion before launch can do so by picking up the Sword & Shield - Darkness Ablaze Build & Battle Box, available through their local participating Pokémon TCG retailer starting August 1. Each box contains four Sword & Shield - Darkness Ablaze booster packs; a 23-card Evolution pack featuring key cards from current and prior sets, including one of four alternate-art promo cards; and a deck-building tip sheet.

EMOJI CARDS

CARD Corporation, the lifestyle mobile banking company, has partnered with emoji The Iconic Brand to expand its offering of prepaid cards. The deal was brokered by Retail Monster, LLC, the emoji company’s North American licensing agent. The collection, which launched its first wave in April 2020, includes over 100 different designs to choose from. “CARD.com offers its customers a variety of designs to choose from, which allows for more of a personal touch to prepaid cards. By adding the emoji brand and its official emoji icons, they are adding a new and more expressive flair to the current offering. To us, this was a very natural alliance,” said Marco Hüsges, CEO and Founder, the emoji company.

GURU STUDIO INKS MULTIPLE NEW BROADCAST DEALS

Toronto-based children’s content producer Guru Studio The show has very quickly built a dedicated global fanbase has recently announced it has signed a number of new with its timely and important message of empowering chilinternational broadcast deals for its hit preschool series dren to be mindful, compassionate and respectful of all livTrue and the Rainbow Kingdom and its two-time Emmy ing things. On AVOD platforms such as YouTube and Younominated series Justin Time. Tube Kids, True and the Rainbow Kingdom has amassed a The strong lineup of new broadcast partners for True and sizeable audience with over 260 million views. The show’s the Rainbow Kingdom include Tiny Pop (UK), Discovery Giphy page now boasts over 2 billion shares. Consumer Family (US), TV Azteca (Mexico), Canal Panda (Portugal products for True and the Rainbow Kingdom including a & Spain) and NET (Indonesia). Following the successful line of plush, Halloween costumes, activity books and stolaunch of season one and two on DR (Denmark), Discovrybooks are also now available across North America. ery Frisbee (Italy) and RTS (Switzerland), the three netJustin Time has aired in more than 138 countries worldworks have quickly acquired the next two seasons. CBC wide and has been recognized with multiple award nomiin Canada which already aired the first three seasons has nations including six Annie’s and two Emmys. The series also acquired the fourth season which is set to air later centers on the adventurous Justin and his imaginary pals this year. Olive and Squidgy. Together they travel to every corner Key broadcast deals for Justin Time include top partners of the world, as Justin’s imagination catapults them into in Asia such as Tencent (China), Youku (China), and TVB larger-than-life adventures set in different points in history. (Hong Kong). AFRTS (US Armed Forces) has also picked The series draws on the timeless themes of fun, friendship up all three seasons. and adventure. “Guru is known for great storytelling and for creating shows that deeply resonate with kids and families, and True and the Rainbow Kingdom is no exception.” said Jonathan Abraham, VP of Sales and Business Development at Guru Studio. “The show is performing extremely well around the world, both on commercial and public broadcast, and it’s exciting to see such strong enthusiasm from broadcasters.” As part of True and the Rainbow Kingdom’s global roll out on linear television, Guru is building a full 360-degree marketing program in each territory.

BOATROCKER PARTNERS WITH CBC

Boat Rocker Studios and CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, have announced their partnership on the forthcoming new CBC original preschool animations Dino Ranch and Remy & Boo (both also produced in association with Radio-Canada). The titles were announced as part of CBC’s 2020-21 programming slate and are set to launch on CBC and CBC Gem soon. CBC has also acquired a further raft of Boat Rocker’s leading children’s titles. CBC Gem now offers more than 400 hours of ad-free programming for young audiences. Jon Rutherford, Managing Director, Kids & Family and President, Rights, Boat Rocker Studios, said: “We are excited to continue to grow our partnership with CBC across these stellar shows, hot off the heels of the launch of The Next Step series 7 on CBC Gem. We are sure they will follow the success of TNS and become firm favourites with kids and families across Canada. These shows are key to our growing kids & family portfolio, which offers a wealth of compelling viewing for audiences globally.” Marie McCann, Senior Director, Children’s Content, CBC Kids, said: “We think kids will be captivated with the jaw-dropping design and great storytelling coming from Matt Fernandes and the amazing creative teams at Industrial Brothers and Boat Rocker. Building on the success of last year’s Kingdom Force, this partnership will help us grow our library of best-inclass content for kids of all ages.”

IMG AND UBISOFT

Ubisoft has chosen IMG to be the first exclusive licensing agency for its blockbuster game franchises Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege in Europe and Asia. With more than 100 million unique players and 16 games released over the past 10 years, Assassin’s Creed is an iconic brand with a robust licensing programme, which IMG will look to expand into new territories and categories. With more than 55 million players worldwide and 145 million hours of esports content watched since the launch of the first Rainbow Six Pro League four years ago, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege shows an increasingly strong esports scene, with events organised every year around the world attracting huge viewership and fan engagement. Categories being targeted for both Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six Siege consumer product licensing will initially include apparel, tech items, accessories, toys, home decor, stationery and experiences.

BEANO HAS A BUSY 2020!

Beano is one of the most recognisable British brands of all time and has become firmly established as a national treasure since its launch over 80 years ago. It’s been a busy 2020 so far, as Beano continues to bring licensed products to more fans, young and old across the globe. The brand has recently announced five new licensing deals for the UK and Ireland. Smiffy’s are on board for a fun new range of paper partyware, Rachel Lowe are creating a collection of puzzles, board games and card games for Dennis and his Beanotown friends. Beano confectionery in personalised packaging will also be created by Great Gifts and health and beauty experts H&A are developing a creative range of Beano products to include everyday essentials, play cosmetics, health and beauty accessories and hair care. In apparel, Park Agencies have currently developing adult and kids tees and sweats. All products will launch into retail later this year.

Beano has continued to keep the nation’s spirits raised as it searches for Britain’s Funniest Family with comedian Romesh Ranganathan and charity YoungMinds, creating fun activities for families to join in with as they stay at home. As well as a partnership with Save the Children to create a blamtastic Lockdown Birthday kit to make sure children still have fun birthdays in lockdown whilst raising vital funds for vulnerable children. The hit TV show Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! is currently in production for a second series following the successful debut on CBBC in the UK. The International Emmy-nominated show has been sold globally to over 90 countries; including prime time slots on free-to-air public service broadcasters such as Super RTL in Germany, RAI in Italy and France Télévision and is now available on Netflix in the UK and US. Beano’s global reach has led to a roster of agents being appointed in the UK, and across Europe with more to be announced very soon. Finally, looking ahead to 2021 it’s the one and only Dennis’ 70th birthday and celebrations and more partners will be announced soon.