Total Licensing Winter 22

Winter 2022

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Regular Features

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Comment.......................................................................... 6 Global news...................................................................... 8 *New Column* Sustainability.......................................62 Legally Speaking.............................................................64 What’s On......................................................................66

Europe Interview: Greg Childs OBE.......................................16 Interview: Jeremy Padawar, Jazwares.........................24 Talking Supermasked - unmasking the heroes........26 Brave Bunnies - a Ukranian export...........................28 Moonbug - Creating something special for kids....30 Rachael Hale...................................................................32 Funky Friends.................................................................33 Germany - Peter Hollo’s Groundhog Day!.............34 Kiddinx to rep Pippi Longstocking............................35 The German Marketplace...........................................37

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UK 18 16

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Artistory launches artist collab programme...........44 Eco-protection from Studio 100...............................50 Focus on The Nordics..................................................51 Gaming with Help for Heroes...................................57

North America Canada - the facts.........................................................45 Canadian market spotlight..................................46

Asia Hong Kong Licensing Show Set for April....................................................................58

Global Popeye and Olive Oyl in food collabs......................20 The Design Experience Framwork...........................42 Licensing and the Metaverse.......................................56 Lego reaches record heights......................................60

Co-Publisher Francesca Ash francesca@totallicensing.com

Co-Publisher Jerry Wooldridge jerry@totallicensing.com

Editorial Director Rebecca Ash becky@totallicensing.com

Office Manager Helen Bowerman helen@totallicensing.com

Japan Agent Roger Berman, ZenWorks rmb@zenworks.jp

TOTAL LICENSING LTD 4 Wadhurst Business Park Faircrouch Lane, Wadhurst, East Sussex TN5 6PT UK Tel: +44 (0) 1892 782220 Fax: +44 (0) 1892 782226 www.totallicensing.com enquiries@totallicensing.com

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© 2022 Total Licensing Ltd All illustrations are reproduced by permission of their owners. No part of this magazine may be copied or quoted without permission from the Publishers first. Total Licensing Ltd does not warrant or assume any legal liability for the accuracy or legality of contents, images or advertisements submitted to the magazine. Opinions of the contributing writers are their own and do not reflect the opinion of Total Licensing Ltd. Printed in England

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When we wrote this column a year ago for our Winter 21 issue, we talked about emerging from the pandemic to a world nearer the ‘good old days’ of 2018/9.

Well, twelve months on, and we’re still in the grip of Covid-19 though, finally, the signs are there that we are heading in the right direction.

November last saw the much-heralded return of a physical show for our industry – Brand Licensing Europe – an excellent opportunity to see and interact with people we hadn’t seen for nearly two years.

And this is gradual but tentative reopening is continuing as we manoeuvre our way through the first few months of 2022. As we go to press, the toy fairs in London and Melbourne are still scheduled to take place live (fingers crossed).

New York and Nuremberg have been cancelled and Kidscreen has become a hybrid event with a digital element in March and the physical show moved to July. Of course being able to go to Vegas in May will be a highlight of the year.

The last two years have been exemplified by all our abilities to adapt to a continuously changing world. A perfect example of this is the meteoric rise of online retail. Yes it was a necessity when stores were shut during the various lockdowns.

But the rise has continued as shops began to reopen. Consumers found a different way of buying products and, for many, this will become the norm in our brave new world.

Imagine if the pandemic had happened thirty years ago – no email, no internet and definitely no Zoom. In many ways, we’re lucky it happened when it did. We’ve had the technology to carry on communicating, buying, selling and more.

What we’ve missing in human interaction has been partly mitigated by endless Zoom, Skype and Teams meetings. And again, whilst we will all enjoy getting together, we’ll still use Zoom and the rest at times.

The digital and online world, including the many expanded streaming services have really been saviours during these strange months. And these have led to more and more creativity. Look at Apple’s animated series that was produced entirely by animators at home using iPhone 11s.

And, contrary to fears that 2020’s lockdown boom in streaming was a one-off, digital streams and sales continued to grow through 2021 with

music revenues up another 8.7% and video up 13.3%. Interestingly, this growth was independent of new release activity. The vast majority of the growth was driven by digital services making entertainment more accessible and convenient than ever before.

In terms of licensing, more properties and brands and new sectors emerged from the digital world.

And none more talked about than NFTs which are booming with enormous amounts of money involved. The founder of Twitter sold an autographed tweet for just under $3 million. Anything digital can, technically, be sold as an NFT – William Shatner sold Shatner-themed trading cards (one of which was apparently an X-ray of his teeth).

NFTs are hard to get your head around but

clearly appear to be here to stay for the moment.

And the returns can be stratospheric. Digital artist Mike Winkelmann (Beeple) sold ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ – a collage – for $69 million! The art now features on housewares, mugs, framed prints, computer accessories and more.

The digital ownership log, which is facilitated by Blockchain, keeps track of every previous owner of the NFT – thus at least protecting the owner.

But before you all race out to purchase an NFT, there’s a downside. NFT’s like all cryptocurrencies have a large impact on the environment. NFT transactions must be verified through Blockchain to guarantee the encryption is valid, which consumes enormous amounts of energy. In fact, the creation of an average NFT has a carbon footprint of over 200kg – about the same as driving 500 miles in a typical gasoline-powered car!

Something to think about...

Francesca Ash Jerry Wooldridge Co-Publisher Co-Publisher

With Thanks to this Issue’s Contributing Writers: Gregory Battersby Peter Hollo

Rob Hutchins Helena Mansell-Stopher Jeff Norton

Gary Pope Utku Tansel

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POKÉMON CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY WITH RETAIL SUCCESS

The Pokémon Company International is celebrating a fantastic 2021 at retail as the year-long activity surrounding its 25th anniversary approaches a conclusion.

Exciting pop-ups in world-renowned UK store Selfridges and in Berlin’s iconic KaDeWe have consolidated the strength of its retail activations with high-end department stores, while sales of toys and its trading card game are soaring.

Pokémon is currently taking over part of Selfridges’ toy space in three UK stores – its historic Oxford Street flagship in London, Birmingham Bullring and Manchester’s Trafford Centre – for a vibrant pop-up activation running from December 13th until the end of January. Meanwhile, a hugely successful pop-up installation in KaDeWe in the autumn has led to the launch of a permanent Pokémon space in Berlin’s foremost department store.

In both stores, special branded areas have been created to promote the Pokémon range while also offering in-store entertainment to provide a fun and immersive experience for fans of all ages. A wide selection of Pokémon toys, licensed merchandise, special 25th anniversary lines and Pokémon trading card game products are available at all locations.

Named Best Gaming Licensed Property at the 2021 Licensing Awards, Pokémon has also proved a winner at retail with sales of toys and TCG soaring higher than ever in the UK this year. The brand – the 6th biggest property in the UK – has seen overall toy sales rise by an incredible 91% on 2020 (source: NPD data YTD November 21.) In Germany TCG sales are also up by 81% YTD. Building on this momentum, Jazwares have extended their master toy rights for Pokémon to include new direct distribution territories in the UK and Ireland and GAS from January. The company has exciting new lines coming for 2022, which they will be showcasing at the various major toy fairs in the new year.

Next year also sees another first for Pokémon as its World Championships comes to London – the first-ever time the Championships will be held outside North America. The pinnacle of competitive Pokémon play.

NHL SURF AND SKATE SITE LAUNCHES Calhoun Sportswear has launched its NHL Surf and Skate consumer website. This site will feature NHL products from their NHL Surf and Skate brand.

The new product range is a category extension of the NHL license that Calhoun has held since 2008. It features premium retro styles reflective of the Calhoun brand experience since 1973.

Featured items include specialty finished sweatshirts and t-shirts with premium printing and cresting. These products will be sold by Calhoun’s e-commerce partners and Calhoun’s various e-commerce sites.

A retail pop-up shop will be featured in the Calhoun factory’s historicallythemed store located in the heart of the Design District of St Catharines.

Although Calhoun is very focused on NHL Products they have worked with some key entertainment and beverage licenses including Game of Thrones, Sons of Anarchy, Simpsons, Rick and Morty, Corona, Anheuser

Busch, Molson Coors, Harry Potter, DC Comics, Bob Ross, General Motors. Calhoun has been located in St Catharines since 1973. The company continues to cut, sew, print, embroider from the 40,000 sq. location and its US warehouse near Buffalo, New York.

KIDSCREEN POSTPONED TO JULY As a result of the ongoing pandemic, Kidscreen Summit 2022, which was set to take place live in Miami from February 14 to 17 has now been postponed to July 18 to 21. The location and venue will remain the same.

Kidscreen Summit Virtual will still take place as planned from March 7 to 11 and all attendees registered for the live event will have access to the digital companion event. All existing live event registrations and sponsorships will be transferred to the rescheduled event in July.

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NEWS

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MARTY BROCHSTEIN LEAVES LICENSING INTERNATIONAL After a successful, decades-long career that had a major impact on the licensing industry, Licensing International recently announced the retirement of Marty Brochstein, SVP, Industry Relations & Information.

Marty has long been a voice in the industry and a mentor to many, but first and foremost – as he’d tell you – he is a journalist. After a storied stint at Television Digest, Marty soon made his way to become Executive Editor of The Licensing Letter. Through his time at The Licensing Letter, Marty developed a passion for the industry, joining Licensing International (formerly LIMA) and remaining a force there for over 13 years.

His work with Licensing International afforded him opportunities to meet so many professionals as well as travel

across the globe, but what all who know him professionally will take away most is how Marty’s tenacity and wealth of knowledge have inspired so many. In his tenure, Marty’s been a champion for bringing people into the licensing industry and sharing his years of institutional knowledge, contributing to significant growth within the industry at large. And he’s done it all with humor and heart.

Whilst he plans to devote more time to his passion for golf, Marty has also said he won’t stray far from the industry, taking on some project work both for Licensing International and others.

As a long-time friend of Total Licensing, and a very valued regular columnist, we wish Marty nothing but good things - and many rounds of golf - in this new chapter in his life.

PULL&BEAR SIGN DEAL WITH THE SMURFS Pull&Bear, the young fashion chain belonging to the Inditex Group has signed a Direct-to-Retail agreement with DeAPlaneta Entertainment for the global launch of The Smurfs collection, featuring the iconic little blue characters.

The men´s collection includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, bomber jackets and jeans along with shorts, shirts, and caps which are now available from the online store worldwide. DeAPlaneta Entertainment coordinates the brand’s licensing program in Spain, Portugal, and Central and Eastern Europe.

The brand is based on the characters and universe created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo in 1958.The brand is more alive than ever thanks to its latest releases, including CGI animated and live action films, and the new CGI TV series for 5–12 -year-olds, which launched on Nickelodeon on 10 September and has already screened on TF1 in France.This new series combines comedy, adventure and action and will soon screen on national TV stations including RAI YOYO in Italy, KIKA in Germany, and Milkshake! on Channel 5 in the UK. The Smurfs are about to launch a new line of toys with master toy license holder, Jazwares, in addition to new videogames, fashion collections, health and beauty lines, audiobooks and other entertainment products and experiences.

ANIMACCORD LAUNCHES FIRST MASHA E-SHOP Animaccord has launched its first brand new Masha and the Bear e-shop - an online shop created and operated by Star Editions features a collection of branded merchandise inspired by the preschool series.

Personalized giftware company Star Editions has announced the opening of the first stand-alone online store for Masha and the Bear that features an exclusive range of print-on-demand merchandise and products from existing licensees.

The available assortment now contains 10 product categories of the POD line, including T-shirts, mugs, puzzles, bottles, and more, in addition to the master toy licensee collection from Simba Toys.

According to Animaccord, the variety of e-store products under the Masha and the Bear branding will be increased later next year. The site - shop.mashabear.com - is now live.

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NEWS

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CARE BEARS ON AIR IN CHINA Cloudco Entertainment, owner of entertainment property Care Bears, has launched its new Care Bears: Unlock The Magic animated series on China’s CCTV14 public broadcasting network and French free-to-air television channel, Gulli. These content launches come in tandem with new toy deals in both territories that will support the new TV series as well as the Care Bears’ forthcoming 40th anniversary in 2022. Following the immense success experienced in the US, Europe, and APAC, CCTV14 Children’s Channel in China started streaming Care Bears: Unlock the Magic across the country in October. The all-new 2D animated series produced by Cloudco Entertainment includes 48 x 11’ episodes and 2 x 22’ shorts. In September 2021, Lagardere Active started airing Care Bears: Unlock the Magic on the French free-to-air television channel, Gulli, after the initial launch on Tiji, where the series also continues to air.

This October, Cloudco also relaunched Care Bears toys with new master toy partner, Splash Toys, in France. The toy line emulates the new character art style seen in Care Bears: Unlock the Magic and is rolling out successfully at mass and specialty as well as a number of other online and brick and mortar retailers across the country.

Early next year, Care Bears will introduce a new line of toys and collectibles with POP MART, in China. The deal was brokered by IMG China and will feature a range of figurines, blind boxes, and novelties for teens and young adults. The toy line will debut at POP MART and rollout to online and brick and mortar retailers across the country.

3D RANGE FOR SELFIES Howard Robinson reports that Selfies has been working with UK based 3D design studios, PopHeads who are now set to introduce an eco-3D range for craft toys, wall-art and gifting. The pop-out craft creations will launch initially in January 2022, exclusively in the UK. Part of the StackaWraps Global network, PopHeads has responded to increasing demand for craft toys, gifts and creative partnerships With the environment at the forefront of its innovations, PopHeads sourced FSC materials and sustainability minded UK manufactures to support the evolution of its latest craft toy and gifting designs.

Ralph Collins head of design innovations, commented: “PopHeads has been in the incubator for a while now, and we have perfected our unique technology specifically for these fun 3D kits. We wanted to create something with maximum engagement by pairing up with exciting artists. The Howard Robinson 3D collaboration is the first to launch with the ‘Selfie’ range of cheeky creatures. Howard has a huge following globally – and iconic status in some countries – and his amazing designs are leading the way with games and collectibles”.

Other new Selfie agreements include stitch kits with Art Needlepoint Co in the USA and a range of Selfie activity books with Kidsbooks Publishing in the USA and a recently completed range of card games for Masterpieces in the US. CEA Ltd has become the exclusive publisher of puzzles within India and Howard is now looking to team up for games. An agreement has been reached in a new territory for wooden puzzles with Decolaser in Argentina.

Further licenses include Zuty for a range of paint by numbers in Europe with the first 79 designs now in production and agreed further territory licenses with Hinkler in Australia and Paintbynumbers.Shop in the US. Diamond painting kits remain very popular and the offering has been enlarge with both Diamond Painting Deutschland and Dozelf in the Netherlands.

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BRAINBASE AND NISSAN Brainbase and Nissan Motor Corporation recently announced a partnership whereby Nissan will unify their global licensing operations on Brainbase’s modern, intuitive brand licensing platform.

“Nissan has a rich history of ingenuity and innovation in the auto industry not only in their home country of Japan, but across the globe,” said Nate Cavanaugh, co-founder and CEO of Brainbase. “Our companies’ combined commitments to excellence and disrupting the status quo brought us together, and the Brainbase team is excited to support their high-growth licensing business with our industry-leading technology.”

“In a space of seemingly many software vendors, Brainbase is in league of its own in the intellectual property licensing industry,” said the Licensing Business Group, IP Promotion Department at Nissan. “By partnering with Brainbase, we are setting up our licensing team for success in the present and in the future for years to come.”

Brainbase brings together every feature required to run a global licensing business at scale so licensing teams can make smarter, faster decisions. With the help of Brainbase, IP owners are able to unify their global operations into a single software platform – from deals, product approvals, royalty reporting, digital asset management, and dashboard analytics.

Nissan aims to establish a winwin relationship with its customers through the automotive brand licensing business. From toys to apparel, Nissan will bring licensed product to market even faster to the fans of Nissan vehicles such as Skyline, Z and many more.

Nissan joins a Brainbase customer roster with leading global brands including BBC Studios, BuzzFeed, Chefclub, Crayola, kathy ireland® Worldwide, Moose Toys, Penske Media Corporation, SYBO Games and the Van Gogh Museum, among others.

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VIACOM APPOINT TLG IN INDONESIA ViacomCBS Consumer Products recently announced that it has appointed PT.TLG, a brand management and licensing agency, as its strategic partner for the Indonesia market for a period of three years. Effective January 1, 2022, the TLG team in Jakarta, led by industry veteran Mochtar Sarman, will take charge of all existing VCP businesses for various properties from ViacomCBS’s kids entertainment brand Nickelodeon, global youth media brand MTV, and entertainment destination Paramount Network.

Drawing from ViacomCBS’ wide portfolio that caters to all audiences and demographics, properties and franchises available for licensing under this appointment include pop culture icons SpongeBob SquarePants and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; fan-favorite Avatar: The Last Airbender; preschool hits PAW Patrol, Blaze and the Monster Machines,

Dora the Explorer; and comedy sensation Emily in Paris, .

Masakazu Soeda, Vice President, ViacomCBS Consumer Products, Japan, SEA, India said, “We recognize the immense potential that Indonesia holds for the consumer products business. With the strong appeal of our properties and the TLG team’s deep market expertise, we believe that we will be able to better address local trends and needs, and take advantage of the many opportunities available to deepen the viewing experience and fuel fandom through our products.”

Mochtar Sarman, CEO of TLG, added, “The TLG team is excited to leverage our combined decades of experience to supercharge the delivery of exciting new products and experiences for fans in Indonesia. We look forward to working closely with ViacomCBS and local partners.”

KAPPA AND UBISOFT Renowned Italian sportswear brand Kappa and Ubisoft®, developer and publisher of the video game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, are delighted to announce the launch of a compelling capsule collection for win-

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ter 2021-2022. The agreement was brokered by Ubisoft’s licensing agency IMG. The two brands have teamed up to offer an exclusive collection that blends contemporary fashion with the gaming world, while integrating the Rainbow Six Siege DNA into these iconic products. The collection is composed of three ranges: Banda, Logo and R6.

This capsule collection includes 8 pieces including hoodies, casual tshirts, a jacket and a tracksuit, all in black, grey and blue tones taken from the Rainbow Six Siege universe. Each product features instantly recogniz-

able details such as the combination of the iconic Kappa Omini logo with the Rainbow Six logo to create a unique “banda” that runs along the sleeves of the jacket and the sides of the sweatpants.

The collection is made using delicately crafted materials perfectly timed for the winter season. This collaboration is built on Kappa and Rainbow Six Siege’s mission to satisfy the most passionate gamers, as well as fashion and lifestyle lovers.

All 21-22 Kappa x Rainbow Six products are now available on www.kappastore.fr.

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Greg Childs, OBE The Children’s Media Conference (CMC) Editorial Director Greg Childs has been awarded an OBE for Services to International Trade and the Children’s Media Sector in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List.

The award has been presented to Greg in recognition of his considerable contribution to children’s media throughout his career, which started at the BBC where he worked for 27 years primarily as a director, producer and executive producer of children’s programmes.

Total Licensing chatted to Greg to find out more.

Congratulations on your recent honour! What does this mean for you, personally and professionally?

Personally, it’s a fantastic cheer-up for the start of what looks like another difficult year for everyone. I have to admit that my inboxes on all platforms are packed with congratulations messages – some

from people I haven’t seen for years – that is really cheering!

Professionally, apart from people now having to stand up whenever I enter a room – I think the main difference is not for me, but for the kids’ media industry. I’m not the first in the kids’ sector to be honoured. In the UK people like the amazing Anna Home

and Brian Cosgrove of Cosgrove Hall have the same award (which is humbling to say the least). Anne Wood has a CBE and animation campaigner Oli Hyatt an MBE. However, it’s been a while since the industry has been recognised in this way and that is important.

The award is partly for “services to international trade” – that reflects the phenomenal powerhouse that is the UK children’s creative sector pursuing international sales and coproduction. The award citation also mentions “services to the children’s media sector,” which I think is really about what all those creators, makers and distributors of children’s TV and other media have done for the kids’ audience in the UK itself – by providing great content.

Can you give us some highlights of your career to date?

Being a floor assistant on the 1979 General Election programme at The BBC – amazing to work for an organisation that was part of the making of history. (And yes, it was me who gave David Dimbleby the Mars bar he was caught eating live on national television).

When the light went on in my head as a trainee Assistant Producer on “Play School” and I realised how fantastic the children’s audience were compared to mere adults.

Almost weekly on “Record Breakers” – appreciating the opportunity and responsibility of being given a great budget (compared to anything we’d see today) to take on a much-loved brand, breathe new life into it, and steer it through ten years “in sickness and in health,” doing some of the weirdest things you’d see on TV but sticking to public service values throughout.

Launching the first ever game on a BBC website – it was like a moon landing back then.

Nearly breaking the British internet

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NEWS

TOTAL LICENSING (according to the Guardian) when we ran the first ever live TV show in which kids could participate online.

We thought maybe a few hundred would get involved. We were wrong!

Seeing CBeebies and CBBC channels on air on their first day – that was a job well done.

Working on interactivity for Winnie the Pooh for Disney – a surreal mashup of my favourite children’s book and my new passion to let kids join in.

Watching the first ever session at CMC on “The Coming of Broadband” and realising we were at the start of something important and valuable and that people in the kids’ sector would share!

Seeing the Young Audiences Content Fund launched – nine years after the Children’ Media Foundation first suggested something very like it.

You must have seen a lot of change in the children’s media industry – how do you think this is a reflection of the changing way children consume and enjoy media?

A while back, as I’ve mentioned above, ‘interactivity’ was the buzzword. It soon became clear that was only part of the equation.

Children love to play and to play with their favourite brands, characters and stories. However, stories remain at the heart of it and the way the industry has changed over the last ten years or so, to offer media content on many different platforms in appropriate forms that allow children to sit back and enjoy, or on other platforms sit forward and engage – and when it works really well to influence, co-create, and make media of their own.

I think we have come through a transitional period when sometimes the tech didn’t meet up to the most innovative audience engagement ambitions, and now we have reached a place where brands understand the

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need to be ubiquitous – and I include licensed merchandise in this equation – and at best to deliver the right type of content with the appropriate form of technology.

It’s also important never to underestimate how kids will take that technology, if they can get their hands on it, and do something surprising with it. That’s why it’s important to effectively research what they are up to, how things are changing – and they change rapidly now.

Where an organisation like the Children’s Media Conference sits in this equation is we help the industry to keep ahead of the game (though I suspect we’ll never be ahead of the most adventurous kids). We encourage people to share what they know and to pursue and demonstrate innovation – and of course for the last 19 years, we’ve brought as much research as possible to the Conference audience. Listening to kids is far more prevalent now than it was years ago.

That’s one of the frustrations for the Children’s Media Foundation – that politicians and some of our regulators are not listening anything like enough to young people so that they better understand the way media is influencing, and the way they’re using it, coping with it – or sometimes not.

What are the plans for the Children’s Media Conference this year?

All being well, CMC will return inperson in July and we’ll be in Sheffield

once again with a strong programme of sessions and great in-person networking. At the same time, we’ll deliver the core Conference content as a live stream for delegates who are unable to be in Sheffield.

That means Keynotes, Commissioner sessions, our Question Time to dig into policy issues, the pitch competition “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” and special sessions for the animation and writing communities.

It will include content for all our usual sectors – film, audio, publishing, licensing, interactive and educational media, and even theatre and live events. Additionally, the muchappreciated video content we started to make during lockdown will continue to enhance the entire conference offering – videos on a huge range of topics that delegates can watch in their own time.

For those who missed CMC 2021 and our events since, I can recommend subscribing to our YouTube channel.

Because all our content from the past few years is there. It’s an invaluable resource and all the product of the industry sharing what it knows for the greater good. https://www.youtube.com/c/ TheChildren’sMediaConference.

On the whole I think the OBE is a way of saying it’s been worth it and for anyone who’s in children’s media – in any capacity – it’s certainly worth taking a look at the uniquely informative content, discussion and debate that the industry has presented at CMC.

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NEW FOOD LICENSES FOR POPEYE AND OLIVE OYL

www.popeye.com 20 10

King Features Syndicate recently announced that it is growing its global licensing programs for Popeye and Olive Oyl with a slate of new innovative partnerships. The expansion extends across the promotions, food and beverage categories and includes new territories, partners and product lines that honor King Features’ classic characters from the extensive Popeye universe, including Olive Oyl and Wimpy.

Popeye is well-established in the food space. In the 1930s, spinach growers credited Popeye with increasing the US consumption of spinach by 33% and his spinach partners are some of his longest standing consumer products relationships, lasting close to 30 to 40 years. Olive Oyl has recently been given a refresh by King Features who unveiled a new look and brand positioning for the character. Olive is dynamic, relatable, and real. She also has a history in the consumables space, partnering with brands across the category from Prego to Kerrygold to Lindt. Building on the success of these launches, King Features has shifted its licensing focus to the expansion of the promotion/ food categories to grow the brands globally and build upon their footprints in Asia and North America.

In Asia, Popeye and Olive Oyl have starring roles in several key promotions such as a renewal of their deal with Manga Coordinate Co., Ltd. and JOYL to produce an advertising campaign starring the pair, played by local celebrities, to promote the popular Ajinomoto Olive Oil in the Japanese market for the second year. In 2020, Popeye was played by pop-star Satoshi Ohno, and in the 2021 campaign, the role of Olive Oyl was played by Ayami Nakajo. Each campaign included print that includes print ads as well

as TV commercials.

In addition, Japanese video producer, AOI Pro, Inc. and their AI technology client, Laboro.AI Inc are tapping into the tale of Popeye and Olive’s love story to emphasize the innovation of AI technology by creating stateof-the-art clips for a Valentine’s Day commercial, set to run through Summer 2022. Japanese soft drink manufacturer, Ito En, Ltd. is featuring Popeye in a promotional campaign for its Aojiru vegetable drinks, while Runival Sdn Bhd is reaching audiences in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia via a promotional Popeye Virtual Run campaign.

In China, Popeye will take part in a promotional campaign featuring glass cups, recycling bags, brooches, face masks, t-shirts and stickers, which will be sold across the territory by Guangzhou Circleplus Culture Co., Ltd. And Sunwoo & Company out of Korea began a worldwide launch of limitededition Popeye theme packs for the Android, version 9.0 and higher, via the Samsung Galaxy store in 2021. Additional theme packs will be released in 2022. The new partnerships in Japan were brokered by King Features’ agent in the territory, Copyrights Asia, while Medialink Animation Ltd brokered the deals in China, Singapore and Indonesia.

Popeye is also expanding globally into the food and beverage category, with several new deals this past year debuting around the globe.

Popeye continues to be a favorite in Japan, with multiple new deals debuting throughout the year, including Shogakukan Shueisha Productions,

Co., Ltd. for various Popeye-inspired housewares, apparel, accessories, spinach from Rainbowworks Co. Ltd., and custom Popeye desserts and houseware products from Baobab, Inc. “The characters from the Popeye universe deeply resonate with fans around the world, and it’s thrilling to see one of our fan favorites experiencing continued growth,” said Carla Silva, vice president and general manager, global head of licensing at King Features. “And fans should stay tuned, because we’re kicking off the new year with even more exciting promotions and products!”

In North America, Popeye is also making his mark in promotions by starring in Accenture’s global ad campaign advertising the transformational power of their intelligent ops services, and his burger loving friend Wimpy was featured in an advertisement for GPay. And most recently, artist Jeff Koons released Popeye Skateboard, a reinterpretation of his 2008 oil painting, Triple Popeye as part of The Skateroom collection. Proceeds from the charitable launch, in collaboration with Qatar Museums, aid children in need.

In the food category, Popeye has expanded his partnership with Taylor Farms by introducing new product lines. And in a deal negotiated by King Features’ Canadian agent, Segal Licensing, Jade City Foods has launched an online Popeye Foods shop offering a variety of new consumables including coffee, hot cocoa, hot sauces and more inspired by Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, Wimpy and Swee’pea.

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tonies® at The Toy Fair With global audiobook revenues set to surpass £3.51bn in 2021, it’s no wonder the Toniebox has emerged as the new must-have toy for young children, dominating the screen-free kids’ audio category. tonies® is revolutionising storytelling in the digital age, opening up a world of audio adventure for little listeners aged 3 to 8 years old, thanks to the playability and multifaceted nature of the Toniebox.

Combining audio, play and tech to get kids reading What makes the softly padded, shockproof speaker unique and completely irresistible to kids is that it cleverly combines the concept of audio and the wonder of narrative with every child’s fascination with technology.

The result? A colourful and interactive audio system that fosters imagination and encourages independent active play while inspiring a love for stories and books in a fun and educational way.

Available in every favourite colour, the Toniebox plays popular songs and stories via ‘Tonie’ characters. These beautiful hand-painted figurines bring your chosen audio to life, as well as having a collectible play value all of their own.

Designed to replace bright and overstimulating screens, this portable storytime companion is perfect for little hands and wild imaginations. With simple tactile controls, and a battery life of 7 hours once charged, children can immerse themselves in music and storytime wherever they go, enjoying access to hundreds of adventures at their fingertips.

Kids will also love the ‘Creative-Tonies’. A troop of super-cute characters that arrive blank for you to record and upload 90 minutes of your very own audio. Whether it’s a story or a song, it’s a chance for you to get creative.

Brand partnerships with Disney, Peppa Pig and more…

Brand partnerships with the likes of Disney, Peppa Pig and favourite CBeebies programmes have helped propel the Toniebox into every child’s orbit as the most coveted toy to get their

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hands on. The ever-expanding Tonies’ library includes well-known fairy tales, nursery rhymes and modern classics by the likes of Julia Donaldson, as well as a growing variety of engaging educational content.

The Toniebox is brilliant at transforming into the perfect sleepy-time friend, with a whole host of content to choose from. This season’s Christmastime collaboration with plush toy brand Steiff on Soft Cuddly Friends saw the creation of adorable soft toy Tonies that play lullabies and stories, making the Toniebox an even bigger hit at bedtime.

The rise of educational toys Following two years of school closures and national lockdowns, the pandemic has definitely left its mark on the dynamic of toy selling. There’s been a huge consumer shift and emphasis on finding tech-based toys that

offer educational value as well as promoting independent play.

“People are gravitating towards that ‘big present’ moment, and there are more higher-priced toys that offer greater playability and longevity like a Toniebox. It’s a beautiful thing because you can buy a main present, then other people can buy lots of other little presents (figurines) to build on it. We’re definitely seeing a move towards that ‘big gift’ moment rather than lots of tat,” explains toy expert Peter Jenkinson of Toyology.

Jenkinson also highlights the “shelfworthiness” quality of the Toniebox.

Sophisticated and stylish in design, and available in six eye catching colours, this is a product that will look the part in any playroom, nursery or bedroom.

The tonies® stand at The Toy Fair will host the launch of our new and exciting releases for January and February.

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Interview:

Jazwares’ new Chief Brand Officer Total Licensing caught up with Jeremy Padawer, who was recently appointed Chief Brand Officer at Jazwares.

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Congratulations on your role as Chief Brand Officer! What will the position involve?

Thank you. As CBO, my role will help conduct the cross-divisional symphony with a passionate, remarkable team in one of the most trend-driven categories in consumer products!

Can you tell us a little of your career history to date?

My career has been a mix of entrepreneurial and executive pursuits. I have over 20 years’ experience in toys including brand management at Mattel; EVP brand / marketing at Jakks Pacific; and Co-President / partner at Wicked Cool Toys. In October 2019, we sold Wicked Cool Toys to Jazwares and I

stayed on. Prior to the toy business, I was an internet entrepreneur, and student (The University of Texas at Austin BA ‘96, University of Tennessee JD ‘99,Vanderbilt University MBA ’01).

You must have seen many changes in the toy industry over the years. What do you think are the most significant changes/ movements of the moment?

The most significant changes I have seen have been in retail, licensing and marketing. Retail has changed tremendously from a fragmented universe of brick and mortar to a much more consolidated brick with an internet presence, to internet and brick being symbiotic - and next, a mix of digital and analog goods. Licensing has fragmented from primarily the big few kids channels to today where great ideas can come from anywhere – social, digi-

tal, and big network alike. Marketing has gone from almost all TV to a mix of social, digital, influencer and other content that’s just complex enough where there’s never been more need for experts in that field.

How do you intend to grow brand strategies at Jazwares?

To further complement our remarkable portfolio of licensed properties, with internally developed and inventor IP that we own.

Is this role covering the whole globe?

The role is global, but like any global team the true experts are in their territories.

Jazwares has some top toys in their remit. What are you looking to concentrate on in 2022?

Taking content from all platforms, from all regions, very seriously. More than ever before, content and the potential to sell toys and collectibles is not platform specific.

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Talking Supermasked...

Julien Barbier, CEO, Consumer Product Connection (CPC), unmasks the animated superhero saga for Total Licensing...

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First of all, can you give us a quick outline of Supermasked and how it came into being?

The talented Spanish Artist Javi Molner/Maya Studio, a huge fan of the classic superheroes, wanted to bring to kids his own vision of those kind of characters. After several years of brainstorming and developments, Supermasked was born.

Supermasked is an animated superhero saga that will show kids that you don’t need to be perfect to be a superhero. A mix of comedy and epic battles, the Supermasked characters have one primary defect - they don’t know how to use their superpowers.

In what format is the initial rollout? And on what platforms?

The series are released on Youtube, initially in Spanish and English, and will be dubbed to each local language before the product launches, with two seasons of 15 episodes each (4’ eps) in development. On top of that, a fighting app has been launched and is already available for IOS and GooglePlay. The studio is also developing content for TikTok and Instagram to boost awareness of the property. The concept is already generating the interest of producers to create new and

different content in the future.

What age range is Supermasked aimed at? Boys and girls?

Supermasked is a 6+ Boys property, which matches perfectly with the market as there is a lack of new IPs for that target.

Tell us about your planned product launches for 2022!

The strategic toy development partner, Eolo Toys, has secured a raft of best-in-class toy distributors in all key markets, with significant announce-

ments due shortly. The innovative toy range including Stretchy figures with sounds and sensors, Tab Launchers, Playsets and more will be launched on a global basis during 2022, supported in each territory by TV advertising, digital content, and social media.

In addition, Panini has signed on for a range of collectibles and is developing several publishing formats. As a result of a successful BLE show in 2021, we are already signing several agreements in Apparel, BTS, and more categories.

At the same time, the agents´ network is working in each territory to develop the Licensing program.

Also, as Maya Studio is now part of NoGroup Company (www.nogroup. company), we are already working on live experiences for the fans to be involved in the Supermasked world.

How many characters does the show consist of? And will these fall under the collectible category?

The property is definitely collectible.

The main characters are seven Supermasked leaded by the great Pepper Man, and five Antimasked lead by the evil Whispers.

Additionally, we have developed up to 108 different characters, divided in academies (as they all need to understand how their super powers work).

The new characters will first appear in the fighting app and then in the second season on YouTube.

And what are the general themes of Supermasked ? How do the episodes play out?

The first season is based on the main 12 characters attacking and defending Masked Ville, at the same time they are discovering and training their super powers, which will trigger lots of hilarious situations.The second season will be focused on the different academies and new characters. The twelve most famous ones will remain being the center of the action, but the appearance of the academies will bring more fun. As each Supermasked & Antimasked has his own superpower based on his personality, we can promise lots of fun!

TOTAL LICENSING Total Licensing caught up with Olga Cherepanova, Creator and Creative Producer at Glowberry, the producers of successful Ukrainian export Brave Bunnies, to hear more about the plans surrounding the brand.

The Bravest of Bunnies!

Can you give some history to Brave Bunnies?

Brave Bunnies has a brave and dynamic beginning. Soon after the first presentation of the Brave Bunnies project – at Cartoon Forum Festival in Toulouse in 2019 – we found a co-production partner – Anima Kitchen from Spain, global licensing partners – Spin Master as our global Master-toy licensee and our content distributor – the Oscarnominated studio Aardman from the UK. Those international partnerships catalyzed exciting creative and production pingpong between 5 countries and 3 continents! My original idea to encourage kids to respect the diversity of their world in a language they could understand turned into a huge, global project with a large team of unbelievably talented people working together on it.

Just one year ago, Brave Bunnies successfully premiered on the biggest Ukrainian kids’ TV channel (PLUSPLUS). So far, kids from 63 different countries have become friends with our Brave Bunnies. Excellent broadcasting results continue to inspire our team to engage and entertain our young viewers even more.

To help expand the Brave Bunnies brand beyond the show, we are working on its merchandising partnerships. Among our partners for the show are such leaders of the industry as Spin Master, DeAgostini and Penguin Random House along with our Licensing Master-Agents in Big Picture Licensing and La Panaderia who manage the consumer products business.

Can you tell us a little about yourself!

I started my career as a writer and presenter for radio and TV shows. .

Developing an illustrated book series for kids paved the way for me to work in kids’ content production.

Twelve years ago, together with partners we opened a children’s publishing house in Ukraine. I created ideas

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and wrote by myself, invited talented young authors and illustrators to work together. Soon after, our books became prominent in Ukraine. Our apps repeatedly made it to the top of their categories in the AppStore and Google Play in multiple countries. This success and accumulated experience gave us the courage to create the first animation concept based on our most successful book – a series Mom Hurries Home. We took it to all the renowned animation festivals all over Europe. We made the finals of all of them! (MIFA pitching on Animation festival in Annecy, Cartoon Forum in Toulouse, Cartoon 360, Animation Production Day in Stuttgart, and others). Thanks to that experience, I had a chance to explore the state of this huge international industry and came up with a new original idea for a brand-new show,. My second degree is Psychology. And due to many years experiencing psychology education and research groups, I know that essential habits are set at a very early stage, when kids face making their first decisions and other challenges of socialization.

Every day in our Brave Bunnies creative team, we practice talking about big values in a language of play and fun that children all over the world can understand.

Do you see animation growing as strong export from the Ukraine?

The modern Ukrainian animation industry started conquering international markets from around 2010, when the kids’ animation series Eskimo Girl (produced by Animagrad Animation Studio and Hanzhonkov Film Studio) became the first animated series from Ukraine, which became available to American and Canadian audiences.

Some time later in Ukraine, many other animation projects were created, and those projects became famous in the world. For example, in 2018, The Stolen Princes cartoon (produced by Animagrad) became the first Ukrainian film released in Chinese cinemas and was generally licensed to more

than 50 territories and it continues its international voyage.

The Ukrainian animation industry gets more government support, and this fact encourages it to create more interesting projects.

Can you outline some of the licensing plans, and which categories you look to explore?

From the beginning of the Brave Bunnies’ IP development, we have taken great care to ensure broadcasting of the show and licensing programs launch simultaneously.

This is a challenging task that requires many strategic decisions at the very beginning of brand products development. We’re grateful for the support and the broad positive response from our partners.

Since the premiere, we have published the first books and started the development of toys. The first collection of books published by DeAgostini and their Publishing house Planeta Libri appeared on the shelves of Italian bookstores this September.

Currently, together with Ladybird, part of Penguin Random House Children’s UK, we are already hard at work on the first series of books about the journey and adventures of Brave Bunnies. The first Ladybird products to hit the shelves will be picture books, board books and little libraries which will be available in early 2022.

At the same time together with Spin Master we are working on the launch of a Brave Bunnies plush and plastic toy line. We are delighted that the initial, major toy launch will happen in Q1 2022 in European countries.

In December we signed agreements with four new partners for a range of products that will expand the offerings for the hit kids’ brand. We are sure that licensing partnerships will enable us to implement the Brave Bunnies’ themes and ideas in educational toys, books, art, and other spheres of life of our young viewers.

We’re really gaining momentum and preparing to mark the next exciting achievements for our Brave Bunnies Family!

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Exploring the CoComelon Phenomenon Becky Ash sat down with Katie Nahab, Creative Executive and Lizzy Easterday, Creative Executive, CoComelon YouTube to find out more about the phenomenal popularity of JJ and friends.

Katie Nahab

Lizzy Easterday

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What makes CoComelon so special?

Lizzy: Creatively, CoComelon and Moonbug are all about celebrating life’s small and special moments, great storytelling and music.

Katie: In the show, the camera always stays at the point of view of the kids’ characters to show how the world looks and feels from their point of view. Everything is done with the audience in mind – the music is at an intentionally slower pace, with simple lyrics for one to three-year-olds to understand.

Lizzy: CoComelon offers ease and comfort to the little ones.

Is music a big part of the show?

Katie: Absolutely! Nursery rhymes are our foundation and when you look into the research as to why so many generations sing the same nursery rhymes, you see that they are the

building blocks of language, easy for your brain to pick up and digest it and repeat.

Lizzy: Our aim is to make the world relatable and whimsical – a safe and welcoming place that families want to live in. We take those everyday moments – brushing teeth, eating vegetables, those hum drum routines, and try and make them fun and encouraging for both children and their caretakers.

Tell us about the storytelling.

Lizzy: We sometimes forget as adults that everyday children are laying the foundations of how they will evolve, by playing, early words and so on.

Katie: CoComelon is like baby food – building a healthy and happy beginning.

Lizzy: Every story has an impact on young impressionable minds, so we carefully craft our episodes to be relatable, universal experiences. What

do these little ones care about and what do they think about this scenario and that scenario is really the core of the show.

How many countries is it airing in?

Lizzy: 140 countries now!

Is there anywhere in the world you have noticed a particular surge in popularity?

Lizzy: We have a high index of Latin American and African American audiences. As we look into the new year and as always, we are taking in that data and making sure our storytelling is inclusive.

How do you account for cultural sensibilities around the globe?

Katie: We did a lot of development on JJ and his friends within the melon-patch – they have different family background and structures. The stories are universally relatable, for

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example, being the middle-sibling or becoming an older brother. Nina Rodriguez is another character who we are leaning into and exploring all the multi-generational dynamics.

How do you reflect all the different types of family situations and nuances?

Lizzy: We make sure all of our content is vetted through a child development expert and educational consultant, and also we have cultural consultants for each character, so when we have a story that represents their heritage, we work with a consultant, show them

the script and then as it goes into production, we have touch points with them.

Katie: The representation is coming from the talent behind the camera as well, we have an incredible team who love the preschool audience, and when we bring someone on to the team we want their unique perspective!

How do you translate the ethos of the show and the authenticity into the licensing program?

Katie: We focus on what is best for our audience and work closely with our consumer products team, we have wonderful partners who create the worlds that our audience will recognise, and can continue to play in those worlds once they have turned off the screen!

In the next year we will continue to peruse new high-quality episodes for YouTube, we also recently partnered with Netflix for original content. The global audience has a real appetite for CoComelon!

For licensing information, please contact: North America joan.grasso@moonbug.com International adam.steel@moonbug.com

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TOTAL LICENSING The World’s Most Loveable Animals Transcending age, language and culture, Rachael Hale is a globally licensed, $900 million brand that continues to bring joy, emotionally engage, and give back. Its adorable photography, universal appeal, charitable collaborations, trend-forward seasonal style guides, and longstanding partnerships have kept the brand fresh and meaningful to audiences around the world.

Rachael Hale’s appeal is especially meaningful now in the UK, and other regions, as pet ownership has exploded since the Pandemic, with 3.2 million households in the UK alone acquiring a pet (many of whom are young people). With those staggering numbers, along with the trust and goodwill that the brand has built for more than 2 decades, it’s no surprise that retailers and customers alike are enthusiastic about Rachael Hale.

The brand has historically enjoyed great success with back-to-school programs, gifts, dated & stationery goods, and other categories. In 2022, Rachael Hale will be expanding into rapidly growing sectors including pet products as well as having its own branded page on Amazon.com.

In addition to growing its healthy base of licensees, the brand is passionate about giving back.

It recently forged a meaningful collaboration with the Humane Society International and the Humane Society of the United States (HS) to license a specially curated collection of images with 50% of net wholesale proceeds from these licensed products going to the HS and its ongoing fight to end animal cruelty.

This collection is available for licensing around the world.

For more information on this exciting opportunity please contact: denise@edutainmentlicensing.com (+44 7976 242949) edutainmentlicensing.com

xx

TOTAL LICENSING Funky Friends returns to the licensing arena for all the 90s girls out there who were slightly obsessed…….!

The 1990s is now the go-to decade for fashion inspiration and trend-led creativity and there is a strong and engaged following in their 20s, right through into their 30s. Many of this demographic will remember this 90s licence first-hand and appreciate the nostalgic appeal.

Originally drawn for use on greetings cards, the Funky Friends, Jessie, Kate and Zoe first appeared on products in 1996 and over the following ten years became the top UK girl brand for the 7- 12 age group.

Funky Friends stationery, bags, giftware, greetings, party, craft, apparel, footwear, cosmetics and bath care sold through retailers including Tesco, Argos, WH Smith, Woolworths, New Look, Superdrug as well as many independent retailers and by 2006 had a value at retail of £40 million.

As the millennial woman has grown older, she has become more reflective of who she once was and of times past and it appears that she is now rushing to get her hands on some nostalgia.

She is thinking back to when she was younger and enjoys reminiscing about her adolescence because we always think of it as ‘simpler’ times devoid of adult responsibilities.

Friends help you celebrate good times and provide support during bad times - they increase your sense of belonging and purpose and recent events have proved, perhaps more than ever before, how empty life can feel without them.

The original fans of Funky Friends are genuinely excited for the return of the brand - the bright, hand drawn, colourful illustrations evoke happy memories and yet the designs look fresh and appealing on loungewear and nightwear, as well as bags, t-shirts and sweats.

For more information on this exciting opportunity please contact: denise@edutainmentlicensing.com (+44 7976 242949) edutainmentlicensing.com

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Germany is the fifth largest economy in the world with GDP per capita of over $50,000 and a population of around 83 million.

Without doubt, the pandemic has impacted on consumer spending and behaviour and, of course, this has impacted the licensing industry.

On the following pages, we take a look at the German market and highlight some of the companies and properties involved..

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GERMANY

As we did last year, Total Licensing spoke to Peter Hollo, who is running Licensing International in Germany and is owner of the TOYS & GAMES Report, a high profiled management consultant and a true insider to the business. Peter gave us some very personal comments… and not only about the industry.

It´s Groundhog Day …again!

The easiest way to say something (about licensing) in Germany and beyond, would be to copy and paste my last year‘s comments! 2021 basically was like 2020, only with a shot. And to make myself perfectly clear, I´m neither talking of alcoholic beverages of questionable content, nor of the use of weaponry. It´s the vaccination that makes the difference.

In more ways than just the true sense of the word.

Unlike in the 1993 movie, mentioned in the headline, we are trapped in a time loop without any hope of catharsis and personal or societal

development, so it seems.

Governments, including the old and the new German government, are over and over repeating the same mistakes without any signs of a learning curve. And social groups of questionable political abilities and cognitive resources with special needs dominate the scene. The louder, the more public attention.

It seems to me, it´s not only the pandemic, that makes people retreat into the idyllic world of the family and their own four walls. A place where they feel safe and protected from a world outside, that is perceived as being increasingly hostile and obscure. A significant trend, that goes along with rediscovery of old values, like the family or the increase of regressive behavior – everything was better in the past… even us!

So it´s no surprise, that exactly these brands, companies or whole sectors, that satisfy these demands, are the winners of 2021. In licensing and in almost any other business field.

Board games, puzzles, home-decor, furnishing, garden products and many more. And even if the customers were facing some financial setbacks, there were still free resources. Coming from the travel industry or the automotive sector, that suffered from massive drops in sales.

Brands, franchises or properties with a positive heritage in 2021 very often outmatched the rookies. A trend

additionally fuelled by retail buyers, who in times of a crisis concentrated on things they knew, instead of giving novelties a fair chance. Regressive behaviour is no stranger to business decisions too.

I wish I could say, I see sunny skies in 2022. Actually I don´t. The pandemic is not over yet, China is demonstrating its will to power and Russia is continuing working on the destabilization of the European idea.

But instead of complaining about the darkness, it´s time for our industry and probably for our western model to turn on the light and face what it shows us. With courage and with inventiveness, with perseverance and with a vision. Instead of downheartedness and lament. And with giving up false tolerance towards certain societal and political powers.

We can no longer accept, that the smart are discouraged and the stupid determine public perception.

Because if there is only one upside in any crisis, it´s the opportunity to shape our future. Licensing is a worldwide multibillion industry.

There´s so much we can do – for our business and for a society we want to live in.

TOP 10 RETAILERS IN GERMANY Turnover generated in Million Euros Retailer Turnover Edeka 55,700 Schwarz (Lidl and Kaufland) 39,500 Rewe 34,532 Aldi (Nord & Sud)

29,500

Amazon.de (pick up lockers) 19,850 Media Markt-Saturn Otto Group

10,492 8,622

Dm-Drogeriemarkt 8,370 Rossmann 7,000 Ikea 5,278

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The German marketplace KIDDINX MEDIA SIGN TO REPRESENT PIPPI LONGSTOCKING 76 years “young” and as up-to-date as ever! Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim’s Daughter Longstocking, or Pippi Longstocking for short is at the core of the brand and, from now on, this adventurous girl will strengthen the licensing portfolio of Kiddinx Media. The licensing agreement between the Astrid Lindgren Company and the Berlinbased licensing company covers the German-speaking region and applies to all categories – except for the publishing sector, which has been the responsibility of the Oetinger publishing group since 1949.

Thomas Puchert, Head of Licensing Kiddinx Media said, “I’m a huge Pippi fan myself and am delighted that we can now market this world reknown brand. Pippi Longstocking is the embodiment of strong women who don’t let things get them down and who confidently go their own way. These values are as important in the past as they are today. Even my three teenage children Linda, Luisa and Jakob identify with Pippi Longstocking. To be able to experience the world of Pippi, to bring the brand closer to fans throughout the GSA region and to be able to offer fans something suitable across all platforms, is something very special for me and the entire Kiddinx team.”

Cilla Nergårdh, CEO Astrid Lindgren Company: “Ever since the first Pippi Longstocking book was published in Germany back in 1949, the popularity of the character and its famous author has remained intact.

“Germany has always been, and remains, one of the key markets for The Astrid Lindgren Company. We are very happy to be able to continue to strengthen our presence in the GSA region and to promote the strong values of the Pippi Longstocking brand together with one of the most renowned licensing agents for the market, Kiddinx Media.”

First published in Sweden in 1945, Pippi represented a completely new and different kind of girl character. Not only does she have her own horse, is extraordinarily brave and the strongest girl in the world. She is also selfconfident, funny, spontaneous, helpful, incredibly generous and above all independent. True to the motto: “I’ll make the world as I like it!” Meanwhile, the stories have been translated into more than 70 languages and more than 66 million book titles have been sold worldwide.

A new live-action cinema film is currently in development - produced for

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the first time by Heyday Films and Studiocanal – The cinema premier is planned for 2024.

When developing the licensing pro-

gram and selecting partners, Kiddinx Media and the Astrid Lindgren Company place great emphasis on sustainability and a “perfect fit” with the brand’s core values. Three licensing programmes are available to partners: Original illustrations by Thomas Puchert

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Ingrid Van Nyman, live-action style from the films and TV series with actress Inger Nilsson, and artwork from the new feature film.

Initial licensees include Schmidt Spiele (puzzles, cardgames), INKICKS (customized converse chucks) and Athesia Kalenderverlag (family calendar) On a different note, after the box office successes of the four Bibi & Tina films in German-speaking countries and the soundtracks at the top of the music charts, the newest movie adventure is about to begin.

With the cast of actors from the Amazon Original Series, directed by Detlev Buck, Bibi & Tina – Simply Different began filming in July and was successfully completed in September 9.

The nationwide theatrical release is on July 21, 2022

through DCM. In October 2021, Kiddinx started the next big radio play series for children aged 8 to 12 with Kira Kolumna. The main protagonist of the series is the 16-year-old blogger Kira, a distant relative of the famous roving reporter Carla Caramaba.The passionate young reporter Kira reports on her adventures in the series. In her blog, she reports on big and small experiences in which she sometimes gets into dangerous situations.

Thomas Puchert, Head of Licensing Kiddinx Media: “We are delighted that we are now bringing a new Kiddinx brand to life with Kira Kolumna. Furthermore, we are really excited to see whether the fans will embrace it with the same enthusiasm as the entire Kiddinx Team has already done. The first discussions with potential license partners were already very promising.

The series is wonderful with current topics that are of great relevance to the target group. The new style guide further aids in a fresh, high-quality look. “ The first two episodes have been available in stores as well as download and streaming since October 15.

Warner Bros. Consumer Products in Germany had a great year in 2021. Looney Tunes, in particular were the star of several large licensing agreements. 2022 will be dominated by DC Comics and the Wizarding World Together with August Storck AG, a traditional family business that has been known for its sugar confectionery and chocolate specialties for over 100 years, WBCP has released a Toffifee collection with the Looney Tunes. The successful Looney Tunes edition was launched at Easter.

The Looney Tunes were also the star of a major licensing collaboration in the summer of 2021: for the cinema release of Space Jam: A New Legacy with NBA superstar LeBron James, Snipes, one of the leading companies in the area of ​​streetwear and exclusive sneaker models, released a limited collection for the whole family. All 48

items of clothing and accessories were inspired by the Looney Tunes.

The urban street style culture of Snipes was combined with the casual charisma of Looney Tunes in an unforgettable collection. Snipes initiated attention-grabbing campaigns with oversized basketballs in Paris, Milan, Madrid, Berlin and Cologne and accompanied it with basketball-inspired games for the community. The winners could win tickets for a pre-screening event in Berlin.

The successful Munich fashion designer Philipp Plein also used the popularity of the Looney Tunes for a current luxury fashion collection in 2021.

High-quality jackets, T-shirts, cell pho-

ne cases, hoodies and accessories for women, men and children have been available in over 90 stores worldwide and online since September 2021.

With the current collections, the cartoon heroes have once again proven their great potential to reach a large target group in a wide variety of product categories. For decades, Bugs Bunny, Tweety and all the other Looney Tunes characters have delighted women, men and children of all ages with charm and wit. The Looney Tunes are among the top licenses from Warner Bros. with over 90 percent brand awareness among children and adults and they enjoy continuous presence in TV, home entertainment, on the big screen and in the gaming sector.

The outlook for 2022 shows a strong presence of big blockbusters from the DC comic world and the Wizarding World and brings a reunion with one of the most popular superheroes. Fans around the world can look forward to The Batman on March 4th, with superstar Robert Pattinson in the title role. The starstudded action film also stars Colin Farrell as the Penguin, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, John Turturro and Paul Dano.

The next highlight for cinemas will follow in April 2022: in Fantastic Animals: Dumbledore’s Secrets, the magical world of Harry Potter returns to the big screen. In addition to Eddie Redmayne, superstar Mads Mikkelsen, Ezra Miller, Jude Law and many other stars play in the longawaited sequel to the series.

Black Adam begins on July 29th. The DC World superhero is played by Dwayne Johnson, with Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi and Pierce Brosnan playing alongside him. Another superhero from DC Comic World will delight fans from November 4, 2022: The Flash. The superstars who star in this action-packed film adaptation include Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton and Ezra Miller.

The Warner Bros. cinema year 2022 will end with the highly anticipated sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom starring Jason Momoa, Amber Heard

and Dolph Lundgren, which will hit German cinemas on December 16.

With Minions -The Rise of Gru (German theatrical release 30 June) and Jurassic World 3: A New Age (German theatrical release 9 June)), Universal is bringing mega-blockbusters to theaters this year.

Summer is turning yellow - because at last there‘s a reunion with the Minions! The little yellow helpers have long since achieved cult status and are now an integral part of pop culture. Universal Consumer Products is pulling out all the stops to support the new feature film with global toy partners Mattel and The Lego Group. The toy collection here includes action figures, building sets, electronics, plush, collectibles and playsets in new designs.

Schmidt Spiele is also launching plush novelties and games. Ravensburger and Undercover present puzzles and backpacks in the yellow banana look. The start-up Happybrush is thrilling visitors with its Minions collection, which includes banana-flavored toothpaste, electric toothbrushes and toothbrushes made of bamboo, and Agrarfrost‘s frozen products are also going down well. On numerous stylish textile products, e.g. from Difuzed or Nastrovje Potsdam, the Minions show their best side for the different target groups.

Universal Consumer Products supports the franchise throughout the year with campaigns such as Banana Day at Easter, Back to School or Yellow Friday in the run-up to Christmas. The highlight of the year-round campaign is undoubtedly the theatrical release of Minions - In Search of the Mini Boss on June 30, 2022, the sequel to the 2015 hit movie. The theatrical release is accompanied by an unprecedented

Market Update

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TOTAL LICENSING marketing campaign, which is one of the biggest and most comprehensive campaigns of the coming year.

In early June 2022, Universal Pictures launches the third part of the Jurassic World trilogy Jurassic World 3: A New Age and brings together the legacy of Jurassic Park and the fan community of Jurassic World with the visually stunning spectacle. „Jurassic World 3: A New Age“ is considered one of the biggest movie releases of the coming year.

The dinosaurs also inspire a wide variety of target groups on other channels. In addition to many new product collaborations with strong partners, new content also awaits in 2022: The fourth season of the series Jurassic World: New Adventures has just been successfully launched on Netflix. Further episodes are also in the pipeline for 2022. In August, Universal Consumer Products and its retail partners traditionally celebrate #JurassicDinoDays.

With E.T., probably the world‘s bestknown alien, celebrating its 40th anniversary next year. Steven Spielberg‘s feature film was then, as it is now, one of the highest-grossing movies worldwide and boasts a loyal fan base that has grown with the brand over the decades. Numerous product launches in all areas are planned around the anniversary - including toys, fashion and home & living. An EMEA-wide campaign will generate attention and visibility in 2022, culminating in the fall - to coincide with the total lunar eclipse on November 8, 2022.

Finally, the brands Spirit and Dragons, which are particularly popular with younger viewers, are bringing plenty of adventure into the new year: Extensive trade activities have already been realized for the home entertainment launch of Spirit - Frei und Ungezähmt in fall 2021 and for the TV broadcast of the new episodes of the third season of Spirit - Wild und Frei on Toggo (Super RTL), which will be continued in 2022. Dragons, as a successful heritage brand, is focusing above all on dragon-strong content in the coming year: With Dragons: The Nine Realms a new TV series from the dragon universe has been announced.

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WildBrain CPLG’s Germany team is based in Munich and oversees the agency’s activity across the Germany, Austria and Switzerland markets. Since it was first established the team has utilised its extensive knowledge and expertise to connect brands from the worlds of entertainment, lifestyle and sports with world-class partners in a wide range of categories.

The team’s representation roster features classic brands, including Peanuts, Pink Panther, Garfield and Popeye, alongside popular entertainment IP, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, emojiThe Iconic Brand, Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir and MTV. The team also represents lifestyle brands including Mentos, Chupa Chups, Kärcher and the renowned artist, Romero Britto who recently joined the agency’s growing Lifestyle portfolio. WildBrain-owned brands, such as Strawberry Shortcake, locally known as Emily Erdbeer, and Teletubbies, are also a key focus in the market. Wellknown local brands include extreme sports pioneer Jochen Schweizer.

In 2021, the agency secured a successful collaboration between PUMA and the perennial favourite brand, Peanuts, on behalf of Peanuts Worldwide, which saw two collections launch across adults and kids’ apparel. The team also continues to sign high-profile retail agreements for Peanuts, including a recent pan-European deal with Lidl for a baby collection. Existing local licensees, such as Butlers, Codello, Princess goes Hollywood and Geda Labels, continue to regularly launch new Peanuts collections and execute marketing activations, with multiple licensees gearing up to launch lines inspired by the “Take Care with Peanuts” initiative, a global enterprise encouraging everyone to take care of themselves, each other and the Earth.

Following the agency’s success with

the brand, Peanuts was named ‘Corporate/Lifestyle/Celebrity Brand of the Year’ at the Licensing International Germany Awards 2021.

WildBrain CPLG’s Germany team is also preparing a super-charged year for SEGA’s iconic Sonic the Hedgehog brand, as a movie sequel, the new Sonic Prime animated Netflix series (produced in partnership with WildBrain), and new games are all coming in 2022.The team plans to harness this fresh content, plus the rapidly growing demand from both consumers and retailers for gaming-based brands in the region, to grow the local merchandise programme across multiple categories.

Strawberry Shortcake is back with a cool new look for today’s kids in a new animated series, Berry in the Big City, locally known as Emily Erdbeer in der großen Stadt. Following its digital-first debut in September 2021 on WildBrain’s kids’ and family AVOD network, WildBrain Spark, Berry in the Big City (80 x 4’) will soon also be available on Netflix worldwide alongside four brandnew CG-animated seasonal specials (4 x 44’). The series launches on Netflix in Spring 2022, and the specials follow in 2023. Moose Toys is preparing a master toy range for the property and, as part of the brand’s extensive franchise programme spanning apparel, games, publishing, and more, WildBrain CPLG’s German team will be focused on securing new licensees for the brand in 2022 and beyond.

For Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, WildBrain CPLG’s Germany team has created a broad product offering inspired by the brand’s TV series. Ferrero is continuing its successful partnership with the brand and recently launched another iteration of its Kinder suprise promotion featuring Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.

Ravensburger is the newest licensee to join the brand’s local licensing pro-

TOTAL LICENSING gramme and will unveil its range of puzzles and games at Nuremberg Toy Fair. Bringing further new products, Deichmann is extending its footwear collection in Spring/Summer 2022 and Edel will launch new audio books, DVDs and CDs. With the upcoming animated movie, Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening, set for release in 2022, the team is now working with partners on new product ranges and marketing activations for the movie, to launch in 22/23.

The team is also expanding the consumer products offering for The World of Eric Carle. Master local publishing partner Gerstenberg has an extensive book and non-book programme for the brand, with new products regularly launching. WildBrain CPLG Germany has also secured activations with leading retailers such as Aldi and Rewe.

In the toy category, Schmidt Spiele is launching new products in early 2022, and Legler continues to celebrate great success with its range.

ViacomCBS in Germany are focusing on a number of key brands, covering multiple age groups and as varied as Baby Shark and The Godfather.

Together with creators Pinkfong, the Baby Shark television series premiered in GSA in August last year and season two, and a feature film, are said to be in development. Baby Shark’s Big Show comprises 26 x 22 minute episodes aimed at children up to six years old.

Products were launched last Autumn including toys, plush, accessories, publishing, consumer electronics, games, apparel, home and social expressions.

The Godfather celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022 and, to commemorate

this anniversary,ViacomCBS consumer products division will launch yearround partnerships and activations across key categories. These partnerships will embrace and re-imagine the timeless themes of the film and honor its enduring legacy.

The consumer product strategy covers two distinct areas: High-end collaborations with fashion icons and luxury brands; and Mass/Specialty with limited edition product lines inspired by fan art across categories such as wall art, collectibles and fast-fashion.

Of course, Paw Patrol continues to feature heavily in the ViacomCBS portfolio. There are now three seasons on Netflix, a feature film which attracted over one million viewers in Germany and Paw Patrol Live Tour which takes place this year.

Season seven of the original series is currently airing on SuperRTL and Toggolino in Germany with new episodes greenlit for 2022. In all there are over 200 episodes plus three hour-long specials which will premier later this year.

The Avatar universe is expanding its reach through Avatar the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Both series are consistently trending on Netflix in Germany.

Avatar the Last Airbender premiered in 2005 and is now in its third season.

The Legend of Korra now comprises four seasons with a total of 52 episodes.

The story picks up 70 years after Avatar The Last Airbender. Fans in GSA can watch both shows on Netflix, Prime Video, Nickelodeon, Sky and Pluto TV. Product lines include toys, collectibles, apparel, publishing, gaming

, housewares and roleplaying games.

Star Trek celebrated 55 years in 2021 and now comprises six classic series, five series in development and thirteen movies. Destination Star Trek, the live event, will take place in Dortmund in September and the TV series is available through Netflix, Prime Video, Syfy, TNT and more. There are currently nearly 300 licensees worldwide.

Finally, Blaze continues to be popular in Germany with a new toy line launched last Summer and new episodes on SuperRTL which debuted at the beginning of this year. New seasons are in production through to 2023 and a dedicated Amazon brand store launched last October.

With movie releases including Maya the Bee – The Golden Orb and Mia and Me’s The Hero of Centopia scheduled, Studio 100 report increasing activity. 2022 is also the 45th anniversary of Heidi which will be celebrated by an Influencer campaign in Q2.

Highlights for 2022 include a new brand – Vegesaurs, an action-comedy CGI-animated series comprising 20 x 5 minute episodes, produced by Australian Cheeky Little for the Australian Broadcasting Company and

France TV. Worldwide distribution will be through Studio 100 Media and the series is aimed at preschool children.

Studio 100 have a partnership with Brand Loyalty who see a perfect fit between the themes addressed by Vegesaurs and those that are current with food retailers around the globe.

Studio 100 are also beginning to look for new licensing partners for Vegesaurs in 2022.

A further new brand handled by Studio 100 is FriendZSpace. Additionally,

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TOTAL LICENSING Studio 100 look after licensing activities for a number of third parties including Sesamstrasse, NASA, Mediatoon brands including Marsupilami, Miffy, Beyblade:Burst and Tetris. Die Wilden Kerle is a top brand for toys based on a successful book franchise that will be continued by 360 Grad Verlag with new titles in 2022.

Hasbro’s mission of creating the world’s best play and entertainment experiences was never more apparent than during the past 18 months. While staying home, families wanted to play games, be creative, watch show and movies and connect with nostalgic brands. Hasbro’s portfolio includes around 1500 brands such as My Little Pony, Peppa Pig, Nerf, Transformers, Dungeons&Dragons, PJ Masks, Power Rangers, Monopoly, Magic: The Gathering and Play-Doh. In September 2021, My Little Pony introduced a new generation of ponies to a new generation of kids with the launch of a feature-length movie on Netflix, which was the #1 global movie on Netflix at launch and was awarded the Common Sense Media Seal for Families. In GSA, My little Pony – Eine neue Generation started a new chapter in the long-lasting success story of My little Pony and experienced an amazing start in Germanspeaking territories with whole new potential to be revealed in 2022.

The Hasbro toy range sold amazingly well with “Sing&Skate” Sunny being the No. 1 My little Pony item and a great gift for Christmas. Initialy My little Pony products have been launched using new characters and with a new look through licensing partners

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such as Ravensburger (Puzzle), Undercover (Stationary), Herding (Bedding, Home) and Ehapa (Magazine) with new 2022 partners coming soon. More partners in categories such as apparel, publishing, arts & crafts and role play will follow with a brand new series (following the movie content) starting in 2022. A new Amazon.de: My Little Pony shop has been launched in line with the movie.

Peppa Pig is broadcast year-round in Germany and SuperRTL is the official licensing agency for the brand.

With 84% brand awareness amongst children under six, in addition to the broadcasting of more than 300 episodes through Toggolino, Peppa has her own Germany YouTube channel with 1.43 million subscribers. Season 9 is planned for the end of this year.

Germany has a well-established fan base for Transformers and a recent collaboration from Robosen Roboticvs – Optimus Prime by Robesen Robotics – will be available in Europe this year distributed by HEO GmbH. A new roy range by JADA Toys offers a variety of products and established Transformers partners include Undercover, Herding, Joy Toy, Ravensburger and Hauck are not only offering their existing product lines but are preparing for the new movie in 2023.

VIP Entertainment report that Fredrick & Friends, one of Leo Lionni’s

bestselling pictures books for children, is being licensed for merchandise products for the first time in Europe.Hamburg-based V.I.P. has been appointed as exclusive agent for the EU and UK by Lionni´s granddaughter Annie Lionni.

Although the first Frederick book was published back in 1967 and having sold millions and millions copies around the world since, merchandising commenced only a few years ago. After a kick-start in the US it soon branched out to the Far East and Kohl´s and Uniqlo belong to the large roster of licensees.

While with Master Licensee Random House Leo Lionni’s books enjoys the backing of the market leader, V.I.P. decided to first broaden the base and licensed his books as audio stories on CD, for NFC devices, a large range of activity books and other publications before going now after toys, apparel, gift products and alike. Also for young women, since Frederick & Friends are also loved by many parents.

Backed by strong track record in licensing Lionni in German speaking markets V.I.P. is now expanding onto other key markets like France, Italy, Spain and the U.K. “The fact that we already have approved artwork for several publications and audio scripts available should ease entering these markets”, believes V.I.P.’s CEO, Michael A. Lou. Moreover, in countries like France and Italy Lionni´s very first book, “The little blue and the little yellow” is equally popular as Frederick and provides additional possibilities. Just like the other 40 books Lionni wrote.

Eric Carle, author of the worldbestseller The very hungry Caterpillar said: “Recently I was asked

TOTAL LICENSING whose picture books I could not live without. Guess what my answer was. You are right - Leo Lionni´s.“ Further properties represented by VIP include Shape, Germany´s foremost fitness and lifestyle magazines, the famous Josephine Baker and, for over 25 years the Beatles and Yellow Submarine.

With more than 25 offices around the world, IMG represents some of the world’s most prestigious corporate trademarks and institutions, sports brands, teams and federations, fashion labels, lifestyle, media, and entertainment properties, as well as major personalities.

The agency globally represents a number of Germany’s leading brands such as Volkswagen, Haribo, Bugatti, and the Bundesliga German football league, and its German-based team also works with a significant number of other top international brands as well as talent from sister agency WME to expand their footprint in the region through strategic licensing partnerships.

Munich and Frankfurt-based VP of Licensing at IMG, Sven Thierhoff, said: “Germany, like many markets has changed significantly since the pandemic began. Retail outlets with strong e-commerce and ability to sell large volumes of product through many retail outlets have become the driving force in the licensing industry here.

“Traditional food retailers are making in-roads into fashion, and doing more with brands and storytelling, so we have seen strong growth in the market for both high-end and mass-market food retail brands. Additionally, the trend of creating capsule collections with new storylines is everywhere in Germany right now, so there is less mid-to-long-term brand development and more short-term statements being made.

“Sports and automotive licensing continue to be popular in Germany.We’ve seen this through our work with the Bundesliga and Bugatti, as well as the 2016 and 2020 editions of the UEFA European Football Championship.

The world‘s oldest active sports car endurance race, 24 Hours of Le Mans,

celebrates its centenary in 2023. The legendary event takes place in France and is extremely popular in Germany given the dominance in the race of German auto brands including all-time victory leader Porsche. This will be a key focus for us and IMG’s central European offices next year, with development opportunities for key categories including apparel, toys and games, collectibles, publishing, homeware and accessories.”

Ahead of the Haribo Goldbear’s 100th anniversary in 2022, this year, the confectionary brand has rolled out a suite of toys, apparel, footwear and homeware to help fans celebrate the world of Haribo. Haribo’s consumer products programme, created through collaborations facilitated by IMG, includes the worldwide launch of Puma’s footwear and apparel collection which takes inspiration from the classic Haribo Goldbears. Other product launches include toys, collectibles and plush with leading U.S. toymaker JAKKS Pacific, Inc. With more than 70 years of heritage and its iconic Kombi, Beetle and Golf GTI, VW is the world‘s #1 car manufacturer selling more than 10 million cars annually.

The brand has a successful ongoing toy programme with Playmobil and LEGO, created through deals brokered by IMG. Latest products include Playmobil limited-editions of the T1 Camping Bus and Beetle as well as the LEGO T2 campervan. IMG is seeking partners in kitchen appliances, following its

successful partnership with Gorenje to create award-winning Volkswagenbranded designer refrigerators. 2022 will see the launch of the I.D. Buzz, an electric vehicle designed to recall the original Type 2 Microbus. This is in line with an increased awareness and demand for a sustainable lifestyle in the German market but also globally.

For the Bundesliga, the world’s mostattended football league, IMG has helped launch a variety of board and card games such as the popular game classics Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and Top Trumps with Winning Moves. The Monopoly in the Bundesliga edition gives players the opportunity to think like a top manager when buying clubs and investing in grandstands and stadiums.

The card games Trivial Pursuit and Top Trumps in the Bundesliga Edition allow players to gain even more knowledge about their favourite clubs and players Ahead of the Bundesliga’s 60-year anniversary at the beginning of the 2023/24 season, 2022 will be an exciting time for the licensing program.

Bugatti has recently bolstered its licensing programme with IMG through several new partnerships. The brand’s newest collaboration is a premium scooter range in partnership with ByTech, with the first products launching at CES in January. Additionally, GilletteLabs, the premium innovation division of Gillette (NYSE: PG) launched a Special Edition Heated Razor which combines the technological and design attributes of two world-class innovators to create a product of physical beauty and enhanced performance.

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Going into 2022, Gary Pope, co-founder and CEO, Kids Industries, outlines what retailers and brands need to consider when creating a retail experience in order to create a purchase...

“It doesn’t matter how good your thinking is, if you don’t execute with magnificence, it’s all a waste of time.”

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The Experience Design Framework

In space of just one generation, that is the last 15 years, online retail sales as a percentage of total retail sales have grown from 2.8% (Nov 2006 ONS) to 26.3% (Oct 2021 ONS), peaking at 37.6% in January when the UK went back into lockdown and non-essential stores were shuttered once again.

This rise is phenomenal and, powered

by Covid, which drove a huge migration to online shopping, it shows little sign of declining. With the likes of Debenhams,Top Shop, Gap and the entire Intu shopping centre portfolio now gone from our High Streets, headlines predictably continue to forecast the death of ‘bricks and mortar’.

After all, if customers can buy practically anything they want from Amazon, probably for less than if they hopped on a bus and headed into town, without the hassle of struggling home with armfuls of bags, the cost of the bus fare or the battle against the winter wind and rain, why would they go instore again?

And therein lies the $64 million question. Why indeed would they? The answer is – and can only be – to get something they can’t get on the Internet, which may be a limited edition, a special discount, customer service or – more likely – an experience. A physi-

cal, non-Metaverse, IRL, warm blooded, emotional, haptic experience.

The experience economy During my presentation to retailers at BLE last month, I quoted Joseph Pine (author of The Experience Economy) who said, “In the new experience economy, companies must realise that they make memories, not goods.”

Where the service economy is all about convenience and time saved, the experience economy is about the val-

ue we place on how consumer spend their time and crucially the amount they are willing to pay for it. People continue to crave the experience they can’t replicate at home and experiences can’t be delivered by Amazon.Yet. An experience has the power to make memories, memories that drive recall, and recall drives purchase (up to 30% higher value in some cases). And it’s no surprise that positive memories also power brand affinity, which creates

TOTAL LICENSING loyalty, leading to repeat purchases and word of mouth recommendations.

In the (not so new) experience economy only by providing experiences can bricks and mortar differentiate themselves from online retailers and begin to make a visit to store a routine part of our daily lives once more.

Who’s experienced at experiences?

Creating great retail experience is nothing new – although if we are honest with ourselves there is a lot of talk and not much actual experiential action happening on the shop floor. But there are some that totally get it.When it opened in Westfield White City, John Lewis launched a whole timetable of free instore masterclasses and demos.

Nike launched its Nike run clubs and Sweaty Betty its yoga classes. Harvey Nichols introduced instore wellbeing treatments like facial acupuncture.

LEGO has a fantastic digital immersive experience in its New York store (rolling out globally from now, apparently) with its brick labs, tree of discovery and storytelling table.

In the licensing space, Primark collaborates with brands to create unique instore experiences like the Disney and Friends cafes, Harry Potter stores within stores, and the Peaky Blinders activation in its Birmingham store, the home of the original peaky blinders.

Situ Live – a brand new retail concept in Westfield London – is ALL about experience, so much so it calls itself a discovery playhouse and doesn’t even sell products, but rather connects the customer to the brand using a QR code.

Delivering the experience So how do retailers go about creating and delivering an experience that will resonate with their customers? Over the years, Kids Industries has built what we call our ‘Experience Evaluation Framework’ based on hundreds

“In space of just one generation, online retail sales have grown from 2.8% to 26.3%...”

of pieces of insight and our own analysis and expertise.

Over the years we at Kids Industries have built a lot of experiences – we’ve built hotels, the interior of cruise ships, designed theme parks and of course built retail experiences. Because we’re insight driven, we’ve codified how we do this into what we call The Experience Design Framework. I thought it might be helpful to share a little.

No surprise that we start with The Fundamentals of the experience.What is it? Who is it for? What are the needs of that audience? Need states vary wildly with families so really knowing them is super important. Then we move on to The Proposition - what is it you’re actually selling? – and this breaks down into three elements: targeting and engagement (getting the consumer profile right and giving them what they want at the right time), making sure the purchasing drivers are there (giving them the signals to buy stuff), and expectation and anticipation (building the emotional resonance that delivers heightened excitement and unlocks all those lovely positive emotions – if you get it right.)

The executioner It doesn’t matter how good your thinking is, if you don’t execute with magnificence, it’s all a waste of time.

We split execution into two categories: hardware and software, with the hardware covering the things that are locked in, things you can’t change, like the threshold (the entrance to an experience needs to trigger our brain into thinking it’s in a new (and wonderful) space), sensorial cues and

atmosphere to make the experience more immersive and memorable, the layout and how consumers will navigate the physical space, and facilities and organisation (hygiene factors and crowd management, for example).

The software are the things you can change and be reactive with; the softer, fluffier things that can make or break an experience, including the narrative, activities, staff and service (the number one thing kids want when they are taken shopping), and F&B (Pikachu burger anyone?) and retail opportunities.

“In the new experience economy, companies must realise that they make memories, not goods.”

Importantly, to create an experience that will really resonate with the consumer, we must engage all five senses because we use our senses to create a connection with a brand and decide whether we feel loyalty towards it, often within milliseconds. If we do feel a connection, we attend to it and make a deliberate choice to engage and make a memory that will eventually become a mental representation, which can be recalled and fuel a request. For children, this means pester mum or dad to buy that thing for you.

For retailers, this means a sale and mission accomplished.

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ARTiSTORY Launches Artist Collaborations Programme

Art and Cultural IP specialist ARTiSTORY has taken the next step in its innovative licensing model by launching its artist collaborations programme.

The partnerships with living artists will see three-way co-branding between

brands, artists and museums and gives established and emerging artists the chance to draw inspiration from the rich cultural and artistic treasures of the archives of ARTiSTORY’s museum partners, and create fresh, contemporary artwork in their own unique personal style.

By bringing together cultural IP, international artists and global brands, ARTiSTORY will further expand museums’ licensing programmes and service the rapid increase in demand for art and cultural IP through its “Artefacts to Merchandise” and digital storytelling model.

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“This is a win-win for everyone.” says Alicia Chen, Country Manager of ARTiSTORY’s Singapore Office who is managing the artists programme. “Artists get the opportunity to be associated with the world’s top museums, brands can provide consumers with access to their favourite artists via uniquely designed products endorsed by museums, and museums can engage new audiences, particularly a younger demographic who follow and support their favourite designers on social media”.

Two famous international artists, Ukrainian artist Sveta Dorosheva and British artist Laura Greenan are working on new artwork inspired by ARTiSTORY’s museum partner Dunhuang.

Dunhuang was an essential meeting point on the Silk Road for travellers passing between East and West one thousand years ago and this gathering of diverse people and cultures led to the creation of great legacies such as the world-famous stucco sculptures and the murals of Mogao Caves which are now providing rich inspiration for artists to continue the cultural creativity of Dunhuang for a new era.

Originally from Ukraine and currently based in Israel, Sveta’s narrative art and detailed illustration reveals her fascination for myth and fairytales.

Sveta has published best-selling books

and has been shortlisted twice for the World Illustration Awards. For ARTiSTORY’s artist programme, Sveta is creating canopies, murals, and flying images of Dunhuang taking inspiration from the murals of the Mogao Caves.

Laura Greenan’s style has been described as “Jelly Candy Pop Art”. Her vibrant, joyful illustrations include elements of psychedelia, Art Deco and fantasy and she takes influences from the 1960s as well as current popular culture including computer games and films. Laura has previously worked with Vogue Japan, Francis Wren Candle and The Wall Street Journal. She is currently working on creations inspired by Dunhuang’s architecture, canopies and Mojing patterns which will be licensed by ARTiSTORY for cobranded products.

CANADA With a population of just under 38 million, Canada’s economy is highly developed and one of the largest in the world. In 2020, the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) was $1.64 USD, according to the latest available World Bank data.

That made Canada the world›s ninthlargest economy. GDP per capita stands at $45,900 USD. Canada’s economy is highly dependent on international trade with exports and imports of goods and services each comprising about one-third of GDP. The country’s three largest trading partners are the US, China, and the UK. The COVID-19 pandemic caused Canada’s economy to pull back sharply in the first half of 2020 before rebounding in the latter half of the year.

Canadians are said to be one of the heaviest internet users in the world, with 96.3 percent of its population currently online.

With such widespread internet usage, it is unsurprising that the Canadian e-commerce sector has experienced rapid growth in recent years. Following similar global patterns, traditional retail sales have slowed in Canada in the last decade. Still, the retail sector as a whole is growing, with e-commerce gradually making up a more significant percentage.

According to Statista and export.gov, Canadian e-commerce retail trade sales amounted to almost 1.6 billion Canadian dollars in 2018, with 19.8 million Canadians making purchases

online. By 2022, the number of online consumers is expected to increase to 28.3 million — translating to 76.36 percent of the population.

Despite the obvious appetite for online shopping in Canada, Canadian businesses were relatively slow to shift toward e-commerce. As a result, the majority of top e-commerce platforms in Canada are US-founded businesses that have capitalized on the gap to give local consumers the convenience they so desire.

Canadian businesses have been quick to course-correct, and the local e-commerce space is picking up, with bricks and mortar retailers investing more in their e-commerce presence, and new, purely online players entering the market.

TOP RETAILERS IN CANADA 1

George Weston Ltd

2 Costco 3 Empire Co Ltd 4 Walmart Stores Inc 5 Metro Inc 6 Canadian Tire 7 McKesson Corp 8 Lowe’s 9 Home Depot 10 Home Hardware

TOP 10 ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS IN CANADA

1

Amazon Canada

2 Kijiji

Monthly Visits 160.45m 55.81m

3 Walmart Canada

33.00m

4 eBay Canada

28.22m

5 Best Buy Canada

31.96m

6 Canadian Tire

25.50m

7 Costco Canada

22.67m

8 Hudson’s Bay

14.95m

9 Home Depot Canada

11.67m

10 Newegg Canada

3.07m

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The Canadian Marketplace A look at some of Canada’s key players 9 Story reports that their content has reached over 2.5M streams on Kidoodle.TV. The Safe Streaming platform is home to a selection of series from the 9 Story distribution catalog, such as the iconic hit shows Barney and Friends and Angelina Ballerina. Also streaming now on Kidoodle.TV are three series produced by 9 Story’s award-winning animation studio Brown Bag Films, including the animated comedies Almost Naked Animals and Camp Lakebottom, and the co-production

with the Kratt Brothers, Wild Kratts.

Kidoodle.TV is a Safe Streaming platform with shows and music handpicked by caring people, previewed to ensure all content is age-appropriate and represents the very best in educational, entertaining, and inspiring stories.Available in over 160 countries, Kidoodle.TV is accessible on over 1000 devices including iOS devices, Android devices, MACs, PCs, and streaming media boxes such as Roku, Apple TV, and Fire TV. On a different note, Plan International, a global organization dedicated to advancing children’s rights and equality for girls, has announced a new partnership with 9 Story Media Group. The two global leaders will bring together their collective resources and expertise to empower girls around the world to become fearless changemakers within their communities.

The new partnership kicked off in Canada this past holiday season with

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9 Story Media Group rallying behind Plan International Canada’s Gifts of Hope campaign, an ethical gift giving program that brings tangible goods and vital services to children and families around the world who need them most. Aligned with the organization’s mission to effect positive change for children around the world, 9 Story Media Group will support Plan International’s Girl Power Gift of Hope, which provides girls with nourishment, education and protection as they harness their unique power to shape their own future. The organization has made an initial contribution of $25,000 and has engaged its global employee base of more than 1,000 to join in supporting girls globally.

“Joining forces with 9 Story Media Group, who shares our vision of equality for girls so they can reach their full potential, is a powerful way for us to create meaningful, positive change,” said Lindsay Glassco, President & CEO, Plan International Canada. “We’re thrilled to be launching this partnership in a meaningful way, starting with a Gift of Hope and expanding the relationship with a series of impactful initiatives in 2022.”

In the new year, Plan International will team up with 9 Story Media Group’s newest hit show Karma’s World, which premiered in 190 countries on Netflix on October 15. Karma’s World – based on a concept devised by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and inspired by his own daughter – follows Karma Grant, a 10-year-old girl who dreams of

becoming an artist and changing the world with her music. Karma is set to become Plan International’s first-ever animated Celebrated Ambassador and – with a focus on diversity, leadership, creativity and the importance of community – she is well-positioned to engage people, young and old, to become global changemakers.

“At 9 Story Media Group, we see it as our responsibility to give back to the global community, particularly when it comes to kids,” said Natalie Osborne, Chief Strategy Officer, 9 Story Media Group. “With Plan International, we share a very similar mission, which is to have a positive impact on the lives of children. We are thrilled to be partnering with Plan International to advocate for girls’ rights and help create real change for children across the globe.”

Egeez (egeez.com) is a brand new platform founded during lockdown in Toronto and headed up by founder Nathen Mazri, Pascal Haider and Rutika Malaviya.

Nathen explains, “We set out to help cartoons and IPs worldwide disrupt the licensing industry by creating a platform where officially licensed products can be sold directly to fans by licensors and licensees. Basically companies listed on the Egeez platform will only have to ship products – we take care of everything else. As a Nickelodeon licensee, I recognised the pain of licensees suffering from overstock and decided to help reduce their

TOTAL LICENSING storage fees and, importantly, connect them to billions of fans.

Egeez becomes the Amazon and UberEATS for entertainment brands.

We onboard vendors and curate the licensed products internally at Egeez by our Happiness Account Managers in every continent.They simply receive an automated order confirmation and they ship directly. Egeez can integrate with their ecommerce solutions such as shopify, woocommerce, magento and much more for seamless fulfillment.”

To connect billions of fans with global entertainment brands, Egeez needed geolocation at the forefront of their technology stack. As Nathen continued, “We have developed a geolocation feature within our mobile app and web marketplace — that enables great benefits for our vendors and customers. Our geolocation feature allows vendors to sell globally or to specific, targeted regions of the world. Our vendors can manage where they sell — with just a simple click. More importantly, our customers are all geolocated from the moment they interact with Egeez.

This ensures they receive the best content, products and marketing materials, tailored to their city, country, or region. This feature also empowers our vendors to track and engage with their customers on a deeper level.

Our customers are able to search for products in their area, and our vendors are able to sell specific products to our customers per region. Our geolocation feature — geographically locates our customers, depending on which device or system they are using by routing addresses or internal GPS of those devices to determine their location.”

Egeez’s have Happiness Account Managers in every continent today onboarding official licensed products around the clock from North America to India, Europe, Asia and Middle East. Licensees can control their own licensed products wherever, whenever.

The dashboard provides vendors with advanced reporting tools, including full orders and offers access to statistics on fans and reporting tools to impress their licensor.

Clearly, Egeez has big ambitions. As Nathen continued, “Our target is to onboard over 100,000 retailers and licensees globally so watch this space. Egeez was built by licensees for licensees because we understood their pain.”

a line of storybooks, board books, early readers, and look & find books.

Since its launch in 2018, Chouette has continued to launch new SKUs every year! This past Halloween, costume partner Spirit Halloween also continued to add to its collection,

Guru Studio’s award-winning preschool True and the Rainbow Kingdom continues to be a breakout hit in Canada, with four seasons streaming on Netflix, and weekly episodes airing on national broadcaster CBC Kids.

The company recently announced the expansion of its M&L program, signing United Smile as master toy partner for the hit series. In Canada, toy distribution is being handled by leading toy & game distributor Imports Dragon with a full line of toys hitting retail this Spring. Retailers already on board include Amazon and Toys R Us who will be carrying the line of figures, play sets, vehicles, plush and musical dolls based on the popular animated series.

In addition to toys, the brand has found tremendous success with its publishing partner Chouette Publishing launching

rolling out new costumes last year that included Zee, Bartleby and a RideAlong Cumulo.

Commenting, Jonathan Abraham,VP of Sales & Business Development, said, “As a Canadian studio, Canada has always been an important launching pad for us to grow our global audience.

CBC has been an incredible partner for TRUE, and together with Netflix and our successful YouTube channel, there’s been no shortage of ways for kids to discover and fall in love with the series. We’re seeing really strong demand for TRUE products in Canada, and we’re excited to continue to support and build the brand with so many great Canadian partners.”

Headquartered in Canada, Boat Rocker is the home for creative visionaries.

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TOTAL LICENSING An independent, integrated global entertainment company, Boat Rocker tells stories and builds iconic brands across all genres and mediums, with robust licensing plans in place for its portfolio of properties.

As a rapidly expanding company, Boat Rocker has offices around the world and its creative and commercial capabilities include production, distribution, brand and franchise management, a world-class animation studio, and talent management through Untitled Entertainment.

Boat Rocker has enjoyed another stellar year in 2021. January saw the hugely successful launch of its actionpacked preschool animation Dino Ranch – the first major franchise to be developed from an original Boat Rocker IP. Following its debut on Disney Junior in the US and CBC Kids in Canada, the show has been distributed to over 150 territories, including key regions France, Italy and LatAm who premiered the series in Q3, and Germany where it launches in February 2022. Series two will launch in Q3 2022 on Disney Junior in the US. Boat Rocker has developed a broad licensing programme for the show.

Toys from master toy partner Jazwares started rolling out in in Q3 in the US and Australia, with product quickly selling out online.

In Canada, the toys launched exclusively in Toys”R”Us at the end of 2021 and the retailer is preparing a special retail promotion in midJanuary that includes instore activities, photo opps, product demos, and premium giveaways.

Other licensees will start rolling out products at retail from 2022 with publishing partner Scholastic launching their first title in February.

With other licensees across apparel, puzzles and games and bedding following suit across key markets

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with robust territory specific Dinodriven marketing campaigns planned to support the retail roll out.

There has been a fantastic response to the series, which topped Disney Junior ratings at launch and has secured a strong fanbase, with its YouTube channel gaining over 66 million views and a loyal following on social media.

Engagement and discoverability has been driven by additional media spend targeted at Facebook advertising, YouTube media spend and Smart TV ads. On the PR front two satellite media tours were secured in the US: Hot Toys for their Holiday Satellite Media Tour and Cyber Monday Satellite Media Tour, while influencer campaigns have been instigated across three continents.

The second series of heart-warming 2D animated comedy Love Monster is due to premiere in January on CBeebies following a top-rated double-length Christmas special with Rosamund Pike.

The lovable huggable hairy hero is teaming up with Comic Relief to help with fundraising efforts for Red Nose Day 2022 (Friday 18 March). Love Monster features on early years downloadable fundraising packs, which have a wide and farreaching distribution and are supported by a host of paid and organic marketing from Comic Relief.

Love Monster also airs on Cartoonito and HBOMax in the US, along with major broadcasters in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, Middle East, Ireland, Finland and Spain.

Toys from Golden Bear and lines from a number of other licensees, including dress up, day wear and night wear, have

launched at retail.

Global hit The Next Step, the phenomenally successful tween reality dance drama, is pirouetting into stores.

Building on its successful partnership with Pineapple Dance Studios covering The Next Step themed workshops and co-branded apparel, new licensees have stepped up for product including nightwear and a 2022 calendar. The new year will see more exciting activity with a brand-new range – including nightwear, dancewear and loungewear – set to launch with a major UK grocer.

Centura Brands Inc. specializes in turnkey marketing and sales services for global brands, integrating manufacturing, licensing and distribution in Canada since 1989.

As brand owners, they have built a diverse portfolio of innovative product lines which include: Dippity do (Dippity do Gels, GIRLS with Curls, Dippity do Men), LaCoupe (LaCoupe Orgnx), and

Funcare (licensed children’s personal care) and Little Critters. Their value proposition, quality, efficacy, and iconic brands are being rediscovered and loved by all generations globally.

Centura is ranked Canada’s leading licensee of children’s personal care products due to long standing partnerships with the world’s leading licensed properties.

“Making bathtime, funtime” is the motto that propels

TOTAL LICENSING their creativity. Their manufacturing capabilities and in-house graphics team bring these ideas to life.

Children’s licensed properties include: Crayola, Paw Patrol, Baby Shark, Nickelodeon Slime, Blues Clues, LOL, Minions, Trolls, Captain Underpants, Gabby’s Dollhouse, Jurassic and Emoji with over 30 years with various Disney and Marvel properties.

The LaCoupe and Dippity brands are sold globally across all retail banners, while the licensed properties have been offered and sold exclusively throughout Canada at all retail banners, including the major retailers Walmart, Loblaw and Shopper’s Drug Mart.

Segal Licensing’s long-term success is driven by their relationships and their passion for results. Their strong retail relationships, coupled with a diverse and deep licensee network, sets their partners up for growth.

Their retail marketing capabilities have made Segal Licensing the destination for companies looking to grow their licensing revenue within the Canadian marketplace.

A division of the Interpublic Group of Companies Inc, Segal Licensing’s clients are the majority of Tier 1 Brands in North America.

As the agent for licensors such as Crayola, Dr Seuss Enterprises and Kevin Smith, they have built a longterm reputation for outstanding service and business-building programs for this wide portfolio of brands. In addition to their global partners, Segal has excelled working with Canadian brands to maximize success in their own country.

To build the business for these properties, Segal Licensing has established relationships with key licensees in the marketplace across all categories from soft and hard lines to publishing and everything in between.

Segal Licensing’s retail partners are critical to license program development and they have long standing relationships with all Canadi-

an retail channels from mass retailers through to specialty, grocery and drug store.

In recent news, Segal Licensing and Jade City have teamed up on food collaborations with Kevin Smith, Godzilla and Popeye.

Jade City foods was founded in 2021

by Cliff Wiener and Alex Kenny - they strive to bring the best in unique foods to the world of pop culture. The company is dedicated to responsibly sourcing the finest food from all over the world. Their Company upholds its ethical and quality standards by making sure these environmentally friendly farms are paid fair wages so they can continue to grow exceptional crops. Jade City provides a fan-friendly atmosphere that shifts the way they think about food.

Bedrock Collectibles is a licensed producer of high-end, limited edition resin collectibles for pop culture brands. The company produces collectible statues and figures in all sizes. They could even produce dioramas, 1/2 scale to life-sized busts to truly capture every detail with lifelike precision.

Based in Toronto, Canada, Bedrock Collectibles is 100% Canadian owned and operated.

Founded by Chief Creative Officer, Dennis Lauchengco (CCO) and Shawn Karawaju (CEO), the duo is determined to bring a new perspective and innovative approach to the collectibles industry.

The team’s vision goes beyond creative statue ideas; it extends to personalized service, crosscollaborations with multiple industries and a new digital collectibles initiative to bring a new wave of interest to the growing industry.

Further, by adopting a collector’s mindset as well a technological focus, Bedrock intends to not only bring added value to consumers but also offer creative ways to generate additional licensing revenue streams for licensors.

With over 5+ years industry experience and multiple unannounced licenses, Bedrock Collectibles is set to take the statue industry by storm in 2022.

Both founders have an intimate understanding of the current market and knew there were large gaps in what statues were available and what fans truly wanted.

Therefore, the team sought out to produce licensed statues for fanbases that deserved high-end collectibles and fill the large void other producers chose not to pursue. Captain Canuck is one such example.

In early 2022 Bedrock Collectibles will be launching its premier 1/6 scale statue, Captain Canuck.

This statue is a limited edition with only 150 pieces. A more exclusive version, the 45th Anniversary Edition is being launched with only 45 pieces made and comes with an original signature on the base from the creator, Richard Comely. The statue stands approximately 18 inches tall sculpted in solid polystone resin. Each statue is also master painted by hand to elevate them to a museum quality presentation.

Captain Canuck is Canada’s iconic superhero originally created by Richard Comley and launched an independent comic in 1975.

The character has seen an emergence in recent years as licensor, Lev Gleason, has reintroduce the character to a new generation of fans through its critically acclaimed comic book series.

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Eco-Protection and Sustainability at the heart of Studio 100 Media There is a strong shift from bricksand-mortar retail to e-commerce and Studio 100 Media is collaborating closely with its licensees and retailers to enable a successful transition while making sure to stay present in retail to the best extent as possible despite the current challenges.

Despite the pandemic, Studio 100 Media has seen positive growth during the last 2 years with brands like Maya the Bee, Heidi, etc. One of the reasons for this is that they guarantee reliable business in certain segments, especially in retail. Studio 100 Media have also developed various initiatives for their IPs to expand into the fashion segment more extensively. They recently inked a deal with Danish sports company Hummel for Maya the

Bee with the first collection shelves in Spring 2022.

Studio 100 believes that a strong focus on protecting the environment and creating more sustainable products is absolutely necessary. Studio 100 is preparing to become a lead player in this area, starting with Maya the Bee as a brand ambassador (cooperation with NGOs).

Their strong initiative on insect protection, Maya the Bee: Project Poppy Meadow, and sustainability, is reflected in the

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cooperation with German NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) and this was extended in 2021 in Poland with the local NGO OTOP - both initiatives will be repeated in 2022. They are also currently in negotiation with a media partner for Germany and are striving to extend this initiative to other European countries.

Studio 100 Media wants to face up to the responsibility it bears through Maya the Bee as an international family and children’s brand for future generations by taking the next steps in its mission for environmental protection and sustainability. Together with Pacoon, a leading agency in Central Europe specializing in package design and sustainability, Studio 100 Media has developed an international “Maya the Bee” Eco Trend Book The aim is to inspire licensees to take the first steps towards more sustainable production and responsible use of the resources available today and for the future.

The Eco Trend Book provides licensees with background knowledge and shows innovative ways to produce their products in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way

in terms of design, packaging, and materials. Ecological packaging design is preferred by consumers, as shown

by Pacoon’s studies. The experts from Munich and Hamburg have already demonstrated many times how more sustainable packaging concepts can be communicated correctly. In addition, the experts direct and motivate consumers to adopt holistic concepts that generally offer savings potential of more than 10% across the entire process chain.

Studio 100’s activities with Maya the Bee will give the brand not only a new positioning according to the current zeitgeist, but will also prove that sustainability in licensing is not just a vision.

Their commitment to sustainability continues with SeaBelievers (52 x 11’) – the very first Ecotainment show.

Each episode leads kids on an ecoadventure to save the ocean. SeaBelievers is targeted at preschoolers and is the first ever series to represent a whole new genre of eco-tainment. On the movie side, because of the pandemic, the theatrical release of Maya the Bee – The Golden Orb was moved to 2022 by distribution partner Leonine (final release date still TBA).

All activities to promote the movie release and Maya the Bee: Project Poppy Meadow in Spring 2022 will boost licensing activities for the brand, giving Studio 100 and its licensees the chance to implement the sustainability aspects from the Maya the Bee Eco Trend Book..

Later in Q3 2022, Studio 100 will be releasing The Hero of Centopia, a movie based on the internationally popular and highly successful brand and hybrid CGI/live-action TV series Mia and me.

Focus on

The Nordics

Astrid Lindgren, Sweden’s most famous writer, wrote 34 chapter books and 41 picture books.All together, they have sold 170 million copies and have been translated into more than 100 languages. In addition, Astrid’s wellknown characters – Pippi Longstocking, Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter, Emil in Lönneberga and The Brothers Lionheart – have also been turned into 49 feature films, 22 TV-productions and countless stage performances.

The Astrid Lindgren Company’s mission is to spread and protect Astrid’s stories worldwide. Several major new projects are lined up, the first one being Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter.

Produced by NENT Group and Filmlance, this live action tv-series will premiere exclusively on NENT Group’s Viaplay streaming service in 2023 with 12 episodes across two seasons.

The original novel about Ronja is published in Norway by Cappelen Damm,

in Finland by WSOY, in Denmark by Gyldendal and in Iceland by Forlagid.

The licensing program based on the original Ronja illustrations by Ilon Wikland is represented in the Nordics

by Rights & Brands). The Astrid Lindgren Company represents all other licensing for the Ronja brand.

An international Pippi Longstocking live action movie produced by acclaimed producer David Heyman and Studiocanal is in development, planned to premiere in 2024.

Björn Ulvaeus and Pophouse in cooperation with circus company Cirkus Cirkör, Krall Entertainment and The Astrid Lindgren Company are celebrating Pippi Longstocking with the circus musical Pippi at the Circus, at the 19th century Cirkus arena in the Royal Djurgården district of Stockholm. The musical features song lyrics

by Björn Ulvaeus and music by Benny Andersson and others, performed live

by a flying circus orchestra! The show will premiere in 2022.

2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the first published Pippi Longstocking book. To commemorate this jubilee, The Astrid Lindgren Company and Save the Children launched the global campaign Pippi of Today, a collaboration to create awareness and raise money for Save the Children’s work for girls.

In the Nordics, The Astrid Lindgren Company has partners including H&M, Micki & Friends, Happy Socks, Panduro, Martinex, Muurla, Åhléns, Egmont Publishing, Kavat Shoes, Adexi, Primus, Sjöö Sandström, Design House Stockholm.

The Astrid Lindgren Company offers licensing programs for most of the famous Astrid Lindgren characters in various product categories. Another popular character, Emil in Lönneberga, will celebrate 60 years in 2023 with a new jubilee concept, ‘Mischief’s good’, with the message that being allowed to live like Emil, discovering the world in your own way, will make children wiser and happier.

Whilst often grouped together, there are five Nordic countries each with strong local licensees and retailers.

On the following pages, we take a look at the activities of some of the key companies working in the region.

Plus Licens is an independent licensing agency with HQ in Stockholm, Sweden that represents entertainment, lifestyle and design brands in Europe, the Nordics, and Central Eastern Europe, with Nordic brands being represented on a global basis. The portfolio includes entertainment brands from major studios, global icons, lifestyle, and design brands.

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2022 is looking to be a great year with multiple properties airing on free TV channels. Hit series Bluey anticipates an exciting year with product roll-out across categories including Moose’s master-toy program, storybooks and activity books from Gyldendal in Denmark, apparel, home, arts and crafts, outdoor play and meet and greet.

Petronix Defenders, Gigantosaurus, Dino Ranch, and Paddington are all placed on the Nordic state TV channels.

Care Bears continue to celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2022 and is rapidly increasing its presence at Nordic retail in the coming seasons. In November 2021, H&M’s department Divided released a special Care Bear drop. Additional partners and programs will hit shelves during 2022.

UCLA is another brand in the Plus Licens portfolio. An integral part of the California lifestyle, its mission and values emphasize diversity and excellence, which is reflected in all endeavors – from student life to licensing partners. Zara released a new collection in November 2021 under the Join Life Label part of the Organic Cotton Accelerator project. The drop includes sweaters, t-shirts and hoodies for men and kids and are available online and stores worldwide.

California based lifestyle icon Paul Frank with its namesake creator once again involved in its creative processes, are returning to shelves in Europe in 2022 with brand-new art and part-

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ners, paving the way for success. Plus Licens represents UCLA and Paul Frank in Europe.

Plus Licens represents Sanrio’s portfolio including the icon Hello Kitty, the depressed egg Gudetama, and the rageful office worker Aggretsuko. With the Gudetama collection released in October 2021, both Hello Kitty and Gudetama have presence at H&M, showcasing kawaii-style brands strengths.

The Gudetama collection includes t-shirts, hoodies, PJ, sweater and more.

A Nordic limited high-end Hello Kitty collab launched 202. Famed Nordic designer MaxJenny created a bespoke capsule collection with peplum jackets, long shirts, and sporty tights that is available online and in selected stores.

Embraced on a global level with 90% recognition factor, Godzilla is an Asian top property. With the movie Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and a new anime premiering worldwide and more content on the way, Godzilla is gearing up for the franchise’s 70th anniversary in 2024.

The Asian influence is palpable in Sony’s Cobra Kai. Then series has grown into a hit show with a fourth season premiering worldwide on Netflix in January 2022. Nordic licensees include Hybris and H&M for apparel. Plus Licens also represents the spunky Korean character Pucca and the very cute and lazy bear Rilakkuma from San-X. Popular book series Handbook for Superheroes is another example of the power of value-driven properties, with its idea to empower bullied kids.

Over one million copies have been sold in Sweden alone, and the books have been translated into German, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and more.

Plus Licens represents two IP’s globally from Nordic game producer Tactic Games. Lumo Stars is a plush collection that has sold over five million pieces worldwide. With plush distribution in the Nordics, Europe, and North America and a product range of +250 SKUs that includes board games, sticker books, and more, Lumo Stars is a great Finnish export that takes inspi-

ration from Nordic nature. The global hit Mölkky is a Finnish outdoor game.

It is a sustainably made skittle-throwing game which has been embraced by families. From family picnics to World and Asian Championships - Mölkky has a broad target group and great promotional opportunities

Ferly Agency is a boutique licensing agency based in Helsinki and Stockholm and part of Ferly Co., an entertainment company based out of Helsinki, Stockholm, Vancouver and LA specialising in brand development through licensing, apps, publishing, animation, film and TV. Ferly Agency consists of a licensing, publishing and Creative Studio, all based in-house. They work with partners to build IPs in the Nordics and

also globally – for example last year they had a great response to their partnership with Star Stable Entertainment and their popular online horse game with over 10 million subscribers worldwide and a heavily engaged fan base. In addition, they have also explored further the potential of the activist brand, especially important since consumer attitudes have continued to show they expect brands to help change the world. This is something they have always tried to keep at the heart of what they do. Their brands are created to educate, inspire, entertain, and help develop well-rounded individuals equipped with the emotional skills to tackle modern life, and modern issues. CupOfTherapy – their mental health focused brand - is a prime example.

TOTAL LICENSING One trend worth mentioning is the interest in the APAC region for uniquely Nordic-styled brands. This has been seen through the success of CupOfTherapy and also in the creative inspiration behind their kids’ animated series Momolu and Friends, which is inspired by Asian design but retains a distinctively Finnish look.

Momolu is Ferly’s own IP, a brand for preschoolers aged 2-4. With a shortform animation series and a game published they are now looking for partners for licensing our long-form series, Momolu & Friends, launching in 2022 in multiple territories.

In terms of the Nordics, Ferly represent Moonbug Properties including Cocomelon, Blippi, and Morphle, True and the Rainbow Kingdom, Masha and the Bear and Molang. Worldwide, the company represent Star Stable, Angry Birds, CupOfTherapy, Laine, Littlephant, Maria Trolle,Yes Nonsense.

Rights & Brands is a 360 licensing and publishing agency bringing Nordic rights and brands to a global arena, with a strategic base in literature, art and design.

Using all aspects of character representation and branding, with a worldwide network of sub-agents and over 800 clients, R&B’s international insight and business capacity is unique.

Rights & Brands represents iconic Nordic brands, artists and authors and is the worldwide master agent on behalf of Moomin Characters. Other representation includes Astrid Lindgren and Ilon Wikland, Stig Lindberg, Marius of Norway, Carl & Karin Larsson, Sara Sheppard and Mauri Kunnas.

With headquarters in Stockholm and local branches in Helsinki, Oslo, Hong Kong and Tokyo, R&B was founded in 2016 by Moomin Characters and Bulls, combining over 70 years of licensing experience.

In 2021, Rights & Brands opened Rights & Brands Asia together with Moomin Characters, Hong Kong based licensing agent PPW and Itochu, one of the largest Japanese general trading companies.

Rights & Brands and Moomin Characters also entered a strategic partnership with Fiskars and signed an exclusive mobile games deal with Rovio.

In 2022, Moomin Characters and Rights & Brands will continue to work with the new initiative Reading, Writing and the Moomins together with partners like Oxfam, The Red Cross, UNICEF, Pen International and more.

Recent collabs include Polarn O. Pyret with Sarah Sheppard’s Dino Deluxe, with retail in the Nordic and UK. In addition, Bricmate + NOTE Design Studio’s tile collection with Stig Lindberg and Finnish lifestyle brand Billebeino’s collection with the Beatles.

In terms of the Moomins, Skultuna’s collection of Moomin figurines has been a huge success and continues to grow with new characters added. Sarpaneva Watches’ second collection of watches, priced at 14,880 EUR a piece, was limited to 100 pieces and sold out within two hours after launching on S.U.F Helsinki’s webshop.

UK lifestyle brand Cath Kidston also launched Moomin range for summer 2021 Finally, Arabia’s Moomin mugs continues to break records with the Moomin’s Day mug selling out in minutes and a rare vintage mug sold for over 23 000 Euros at an auction house in Sweden.

2021 has been another exciting year for Rovio Entertainment, full of

game content, animated series and licensing programs – managed together with IMG who handles product licensing globally for Angry Birds, and Ferly taking care of publishing for the brand.

The highlights of the year included winning awards with Topgolf, a collaboration that introduced an interactive golf experience.

Also Rovio expanded its operations, establishing a new game studio in Toronto, Canada, and acquiring a studio in Izmir, Turkey.

Closer to Rovio’s home, the Angry Birds collaborated with Finnish lifestyle brand, Billebeino, who introduced a capsule collection of casual apparel featuring a custom Angry Birds character designed after Billebeino founder and former NHL player, Ville Leino. Rovio’s long-term Nordic partner, Berner, also continued to deliver delightful Angry Birds shampoos and toothpaste for kids. During the first half of 2021, Angry Birds continued to perform strongly on Storytel’s audiobook platform with an Angry Birds book in their top 10 most listened audiobooks in Finland.

The Angry Birds came crashing onto TV screens in the US when a Geico Insurance TV spot featuring the furious flock premiered on NBC during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Earlier in the year Rovio teamed up again with Burger King with a collaboration that offered Angry Birds plush toys in their King Jr. meals alongside an Angry Birds web-based augmented reality experience. Angry Birds global loyalty promotional programs continue to be managed by TCC, with the

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TOTAL LICENSING latest deal executed in Slovakia.

Angry Birds animated content continues to perform well on many platforms! Angry Birds animated series are the 2nd most watched series among kids 4-16 years old in US households with access to streaming services. The Angry Birds YouTube channel celebrated the milestones of reaching 5 million subscribers and gaining over 1 billion views during the year. It was also announced that the birds’ first ever long-form animated series Angry Birds: Summer Madness will air on Netflix starting January.

Rovio is working with their agents to build a consumer products program around the series with deals already signed across core categories including apparel, QSR and confectionery.

Rovio’s portfolio of games continues to see success as well. After a successful soft launch in 2021, Angry Birds Journey, the birds’ first new slingshot game in seven years, will receive a global release in January 2022. Answering the call of their passionate fans, Rovio announced that a re-release of the original Angry Birds game will come to app stores in the first quarter of 2022 as a premium title.

Angry Birds Reloaded also launched on Apple Arcade, the first Angry Birds game to appear in Apple’s subscription service. The year ended with the exciting release of Angry Birds Bird Island on Roblox.

Since being established in 2015, WildBrain CPLG’s Nordics team has assembled an extensive representation portfolio spanning entertainment and preschool brands, including My Little Pony, PAW Patrol, The World of Eric Carle, Little Grey Fergie, Brave Bunnies and Sesame Street, classic character brands such as Pink Panther, lifestyle brands including Chupa Chups and Mentos, and local brands such as Hatten Förlag’s Babblarna.

Following the significant success of Hatten Education´s Swedish brand Babblarna in its home market, the property is now rapidly growing in the wider Nordic region

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with the largest growth seen in Norway. The preschool series is currently airing on public broadcaster NRK and has also achieved over 5.5 million views on its local Norwegian YouTube channel. The brand’s local publishing partner, Cappelen Damm, has issued six Babblarna titles to date, with the latest being Merry Christmas with Babblarna. In 2022, further product categories will launch in the market following new deals signed with licensees including COOP, Micki Toys, Story House Egmont and Teddykompaniet.

The next focus is on growing the property and merchandise offering in Denmark and Finland.

The Nordic team is also busy working on The World of Eric Carle, following a recently expanded European representation deal with the brand’s worldwide agent, The Joester Loria Group.

The award-winning children’s author and illustrator, Eric Carle, has created over 75 picture books, with his most iconic being the timeless The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969 and with over 55 million copies sold globally. WildBrain CPLG’s Nordic team is assembling a colourful cross-category merchandise range inspired by the artwork of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Carle’s wider collection.

ViacomCBS’s brand, PAW Patrol, continues to be a key focus for WildBrain CPLG in the Nordics. The agency is

harnessing the popularity of the recent theatrical release PAW Patrol: The Movie in the region, with ranges from Skybrands and Contrast among others. The agency is also preparing for 2023 with the brand, as a second feature film, a new spin-off series and celebrations of the brand’s 10th anniversary are all in the works.

One of Norway’s most-loved characters, Little Grey Fergie (locally known as Gråtass), has recently joined WildBrain CPLG’s Nordic roster.The agency is representing Little Grey Fergie on behalf of brand owner, Farmyard Stories Ltd, and the international kids’ IP consultancy, bRAND-WARD Services. Created in Norway by Morten Myklebust, Little Grey Fergie is a preschool live action series telling the story of a tractor who is not only alive, but also secretly set on helping on the farm where he lives. The series has been a huge domestic success since its first airing in 1998 on local broadcaster NRK. As Little Grey Fergie gears up to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2023, WildBrain CPLG is building a cross-category consumer products programme.

Also in the preschool space is Glowberry’s animated property Brave Bunnies (known in Swedish as ‘Modiga Kaniner’), which tells the story of two curious bunny siblings and their family travelling in their bus and seeking adventures. The series has a strong broadcast presence in the Nordic region, with local partners including SVT, NRK and YLE. A master global toy range from Spin Master will launch in the Nordics from Autumn 2022, and WildBrain CPLG is assembling an engaging merchandise programme across wooden toys, publishing and apparel.

WildBrain CPLG has recently secured a unique collaboration for Garfield, which sees the cat take centre stage in a new collection from Danish contemporary fashion and lifestyle brand Wood Wood. The collection comprises a range of apparel and accessories, including hoodies, t-shirts, jumpers and bucket hats.

TOTAL LICENSING

Monetizing the Metaverse In the entertainment business, the adage is that “content is king”, but now IP is divine because consumers are spending real money for virtual goods and experiences. Whether it’s NFTs (non-fungible tokes), licensed skins for avatars, or access to digital events, the metaverse opens up a new revenue frontier for IP owners and licensors.

Owning and controlling intellectual property is the key to monetizing the metaverse.

Since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta Platforms Inc (or just plain “meta” for short), declaring itself to be “a metaverse company,” there’s been a widespread speculation about what’s in store for the next evolution of the internet, or “web 3.0”.

I believe we’re living in the beginning days of a metaverse world right now; and the pandemic has accelerated the transition. As I write this, my eightyear-old is attending school virtually via Google classroom, I’m due on backto-back zoom meetings with people as far flung as Tokyo and Toronto, and later with the tap of an app I can watch a Korean drama while tucked up in bed or interact with friends and strangers alike via any manner of social media.

As we increasingly interface virtually, brands will migrate to where the audience is. Fish where the fish are. For IP owners, this creates a big opportunity, Jeff Norton is the author of MetaWars: Fight For the Future (Hachette) and its three sequels, and seven other novels including the new Dino Knights series (Scallywag Press). He’s the founder of IP company Dominion of Drama, a successful film & television producer (Trucktown, Susan Hill’s The Small Hand: A Ghost Story) and was formerly a SVP at Chorion Ltd. (then owner of Enid Blyton, Mr. Men, Agatha Christie, and producer of Octonauts and Olivia). He began his career at Procter & Gamble in brand management and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. www.jeffnorton.com

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because brand equity is a valuable asset when consumers have affinity (and in some cases nostalgia) for what you own.

The first opportunity for IP owners is in unique digital assets, commonly referred to non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

These can take any shape, often digital artwork or virtual versions of real-world items. What makes them valuable is the same as original oil paintings, real estate, or limited batch wine: scarcity. NFTs can be traded but can’t be copied, so they are unique by definition and that’s what gives them perceived value, even if they have no intrinsic value. Legal copyright holders of IP can sell NFT versions of characters and artwork, but beware that you’ll likely have to defend your IP against digital knock-offs. It remains to be seen whether NFTs will become the next fine art market or Dutch tulip craze, but for now people are spending hard currency to acquire soft assets.

The second opportunity is the exact opposite: instead creating scarcity, brand owners can make money by making scarce things more accessible. For example, physical events that could normally only be attended by a few, can now be opened up to the

many. We’re already living through this business model: Netflix opens a movie across the globe in everyone’s living room or laptop, and the Master Class brand allows you to access a virtual masterclass from the likes of Chris Hadfield or Martin Scorsese. Of course, those are Web 2.0 2D experiences, and not particularly interactive, but it’s not a big leap to imagine a more immersive version with interactivity baked in. Roblox has held successful concerts in-world, and more and more games are being developed for VR, like last year’s hit Star Wars: Squadrons, which allows gamers to feel like they’re really flying an X-Wing Fighter. And consumer brands are piling in too. At CES, Procter & Gamble launched an immersive experience called BeautySphere, where users interact with its beauty brands, attend virtual panels, and take a virtual tour of Kew Gardens.

Many of the opportunities of the metaverse aren’t completely evident yet, but for IP owners and licensors, there’s an opportunity for monetization now and perhaps more importantly to test and learn their way into this new space, to connect with their fans and fish where the fish are swimming to.

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Seeking Commercial Partners for its Hero Up gaming platform Gaming is one of the newest fundraising initiatives for Help for Heroes through its Hero Up platform, providing the charity with an exciting opportunity to tap into a new, more diverse target audience and create a totally new income stream.

Since the launch of Hero Up in 2020, UK-based Help for Heroes has raised over £70,000 through a series of fundraising events and the support of several important commercial partnerships which have helped cement Hero Up as a major player in charity gaming.

For example, World of Warships partnered with the charity with a Remembrance Day Charity Bundle set. Gamers were able to purchase exclusive in-game items including a Remembrance flag and patch. One hundred percent of the sales from the bundles were donated, raising an incredible £33,373.40 across 70 countries including the UK, Germany, Australia and Canada.

What was also key, was that it created an opportunity for veterans to play together online to commemorate Remembrance at a time when Covid made it difficult for people to get together to mark the date in person.

Help for Heroes also partnered with Codemasters, a leading UK developer of console, PC and mobile games, who supported a fundraising event sent up by veterans by streaming a tournament of the new video game, F1® 2021.

Codemasters also provided veterans with

codes, meaning the tournament game, F1® 2021, was available to them at no cost.

Jonathan Bunney,VP of Codemasters Publishing at EA, explained, “Choosing to partner with Help for Heroes and their Hero Up gaming initiative was an easy decision to make. It’s an honour to collaborate with Help for Heroes, whose work not only has a profound impact on the lives of veterans but their families too.”

Following the success of partnerships like these, the charity is keen to work with more publishers and commercial organisations in the gaming sector. It is exploring opportunities for cause related marketing through things like in-app game purchases and stem bundles, help with putting on fundraising events

and pro-bono support and shared expertise to maximise the opportunities through Hero Up. Andy Johnson-Creek, Head of PR at Help for Heroes added, “Our veterans have really got behind Hero Up because, for many, gaming has become a valuable part of their social life after leaving the Armed Forces due to physical or mental illness, helping them stay connected.

It is also now a vital part of recovery for many of the veterans that we support and helps with issues such as stress, anxiety and even PTSD. “We think that this is what makes Hero Up such an exciting platform for commercial partnerships as it is about much more than just money, as important as that is. It’s also a way to get involved in something that makes a difference to veterans’ lives, gives them purpose and helps shape their recovery journey.”

To get involved visit https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/ give-support/fundraise/hero-up/

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TOTAL LICENSING

Asia’s flagship licensing events Hong Kong International Licensing Show & Asian Licensing Conference 2022 (27 - 29 April 2022) Hong Kong International Licensing Show is one of the most important exhibitions for the licensing industry in the region. It aims to: •

Assist licensors and licensing agents to outreach business partners and expand their regional licensing network in Asia, in particular in the Chinese mainland; and

•

Provide a one-stop platform for industry players (licensors, licensing agents, licensees, advertising and marketing agencies, brand owners, design professionals and legal advisors etc.) to promote and source new properties and licensing-related services, and explore licensing opportunities across animation and edutainment, arts and design, celebrities, collegiate brands, corporate brands, fashion, lifestyle and sports.

Highlights from 2021: Hong Kong International Licensing Show 2021: • Over 250 exhibitors from

10 countries and regions; • An attendance of more than 6,200

buyers from 47 countries and regions; • 1,200 online business matching

meetings; • Participation from top global

licensors and licensing agents including

Nickelodeon, Sanrio, CAA-GBG, IMG, etc.

A DLAB Hong Kong pavilion will be staged to showcase local creative force with original brands and characters to license around the globe.

Asian Licensing Conference 2021: • 40+ renowned speakers • 23,000+ viewers

While the Asian Licensing Conference will be held concurrently in online format, all the conference sessions will be available as video-on-demand. The Conference will address market overview and implications to the licensing sector under the post-COVID condition. It will also examine topical issues inclusive of non-fungible token (NFT), brand collaborations and sectoral crossovers; Arts and Culture such as Art Tech; Digital Entertainment including e-sports and gaming licensing; and Sustainability in Licensing.

Running in parallel, the Asian Licensing Conference brings together top-notch global licensing executives and Asian entrepreneurs with the aim of shaping an Asian agenda for the worldwide licensing industry.

In 2022, the Hong Kong International Licensing Show will be held in hybrid format to connect the licensing community internationally without any geographic boundary. In order to maximise the market opportunities, it will be held concurrently with a series of lifestyle fairs to achieve synergy across various business sectors.

A physical exhibition and business matching meetings will be conducted in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and available via online, to generate more participants’ engagement.

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For details, please visit: Hong Kong International Licensing Show: www.hktdc.com/hklicensingshow Asian Licensing Conference: https://portal.hktdc.com/alc

Concurrent events:

UTKU TANSEL INSIGHT

LEGO SALES AND PROFIT REACH RECORD HIGHS Cementing Its Position as one of the Biggest Winners of The COVID-19 Pandemic 2021 was an extraordinary year for LEGO. Its global sales increased by 43% to hit £2.6bn ($3.5bn) in the first six months of the year while profits rose by a whopping 140% during the same period. The company announced that its sales were up by more than 10% across all markets while online sales rose by 50%. Top performing themes included LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Harry Potter and LEGO City.

The company opened more than 60 new branded stores in the first half of 2021, over 40 of which were in China. This brought the total number of LEGO retail stores to 737 as of mid-2021, with 291 of those located in China. This is part of LEGO’s business initiative towards what it calls an

levels while consumers return to preCOVID spending habits.

‘omnichannel network’, operating in tandem with LEGO.com.

LEGO’s announcement did not come as a surprise to many in the industry as shoppers stayed at home even after lockdown continuing to spend on both for themselves as well as their kids.

After the holiday season, the growth should stabilise to more sustainable

In the UK, these news stories had come amidst rising concerns around stock shortages around the Christmas period caused by the ongoing driver shortage as well as higher transport costs. Previously, LEGO had addressed part of the threat by revealing that the company had secured enough shipping containers to keep up with the demand over the holiday season.

LEGO continues to build on its success with its ‘Retailtainment’ strategy LEGO’s first ‘Retailtainment’ flagship store in Europe was recently opened in Spain’s Barcelona.The store celebrates the architectural icon Antoni Gaudí offering engaging new play and product experiences with many unique local features, including the 3D LEGO model of the Sagrada Família as well as Park Güell.The move is part of LEGO’s global store expansion strategy which debuted at its New York shop, called ‘Retailtainment Center’ in June 2021.

The company’s new store format is being hailed as groundbreaking retail innovation offering unique immersive digital and physical shopper experiences.

LEGO’s ‘Retailtainment’ store concept roll out worldwide and its enviable financial results confirm that the high street is far from dead and as channels, online and physical are complementary

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TOTAL LICENSING What can retailers learn from LEGO’s success?

LEGO stores are a great example of retail theatre with plenty of life sized models and figurines as well as play stations. Their outlets are seen as a destination in their own right by consumers.

to each other. As I investigated in my “Retail and Ecommerce: Shopping Reinvented” Opinion piece in my Total Licensing column previously, the high street is just evolving as it always has, and inevitably, there are winners and losers. The retailers that have disappeared in recent years are the ones that had already been struggling and the pandemic just accelerated the trend. In city centres, particularly, newer and better retailers are coming in which will undoubtedly help with the footfall into the high street. Going forward, this should accelerate as life gradually goes back to full normality.

is not about countering online sales, but rather turning shops into enjoyable experiences that promote purchases - either in-store or remotely.

Shops are windows and adverts as much as places to purchase stock and they need to extend the time people spend there as well as the frequency of their visits.

Mintel Traditional Toys and Games, US, 2020 report showcases that consumers need toys and games to bring more than just fun and brands

COVID-19 and confinement measures have accentuated many consumers’ cravings for experiences and entertainment. In an era where the price can often seem like the deciding factor, a return to experiences may be more welcome than ever. To combat the stay-at-home-or-stayonline mentality, retailers must all pay heed. They need to extend their offer beyond mere retail and act as a venue, not just a shop. Investments in human resources need to deliver the differentiation of a ‘human touch’ and stores need to avoid ‘showrooming’ through initiatives like redeemable instore credits and in-store exclusives.

For consumers, a shopping day out will continue to be a leisure activity and it will increasingly be a choice rather than a necessity moving forward.

There is a huge opportunity and good retailers will continue to do well.

A shift in shopping habits

Utku Tansel LLB, MBA

Consumers are starting to visit brick-and-mortar locations again while continuing to embrace the convenience of online shopping. This shift in shopping habits is posing unprecedented challenges to retailers to diversify their in-store shopping experiences from what they offer online, engaging consumers in physical locations with social and playful activities to build an in-depth brand/ customer relationship.

As highlighted in Mintel Trend Experience Is All, consumers still value the advantages of shopping in-store, which include the ability to try products in person and to be helped by customer service associates that are also among the key USPs of LEGO. It is important to note that this trend

www.linkedin.com/in/utku-tansel-llb-mba-98231636

can connect with adults by appealing to their need for wellness. It is clear that LEGO definitely got that right during the rather stressful (and gloomy) pandemic period and should continue to recoup the benefits in the short to medium term.

Utku has 18 years of success in driving global thought leadership, project and content management, delivering strategic business intelligence and actionable insight to major international companies, retailers and financial institutions. Throughout his career, he has led many global research programs across a wide range of diverse and dynamic industries including Toys & Games, Licensed Consumer Products, Consumer Electronics, Apparel & Footwear, Homewares & Home Furnishings, and Personal Accessories & Eyewear. With a solid market research background, Utku regularly writes for leading industry publications including Total Licensing focusing on the most recent trends and developments. A sought-after speaker, he also presented at world-renowned industry events including Licensing International Mind Mix Executive Conference, Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair, PlayCon, World Congress of Play, and Walmart Global Toy Summit highlighting key findings from the latest global research studies.

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TOTAL LICENSING

In a new, regular series of columns for Total Licensing, Products of Change will outline how the industry can drive real, sustainable change, together

The Great Unwashed: How to spot a greenwash and get away from it Late last year, the UK government introduced its Green Claims Code to help end greenwashing within the marketing sphere.The problem? It’s left us more questions than answers.

Here, Products of Change offers its advice on avoiding the greenwash trap this year It was at CES in Las Vegas at the start of the month that the climate tech company, Dayrize unveiled a new piece of technology that assesses the environmental impact of a consumer product to give it a sustainability rating out of 100.

Imagine a calorie counter for your tshirt, the system is designed to make the measurement of sustainability accessible for brands and companies of all sizes, while putting the choice of shopping sustainably in the hands of the customer. It’s a piece of kit that could revolutionise the consumer products space and eradicate all known issues around greenwashing for good.

Adopting a slightly less dynamic and a wholly more ambiguous approach,

“

Do I fully understand the environmental benefit claimed, and could I defend this if called upon to do so?”

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the British government – towards the end of last year – finally issued a set of guidelines developed to help remove greenwashing from the marketing materials of companies and brands across the country. The problem with the 13step Green Claims Code is, however, it’s left us with a lot more questions than it has provided answers.

A system reliant on the interpretation of businesses and individuals all now eyeing the next ‘global megatrend’, it is, in short, an approach most fallible.

Yet, putting an end to greenwashing is simply something we must get right, and as an industry based on trust between brand, customer, and end user, nowhere is it more important that we do so, than within toys.

The Green Claims Code, to sum-

marise for anyone who has not yet had the pleasure, dictates that claims made about products must be: truthful and accurate, clear and unambiguous, must not omit or hide important, relevant information, consider the full life cycle of the product or service, and must be substantiated. If you can say yes to each of these, then please proceed to the next level.

Except, it’s not quite that simple.

According to the circular economy expert and Products of Change Advisor, Arthur Parry, there really is only one good test for anyone looking to check for greenwashing in their own communication, and it’s to ask yourself one thing: Do I fully understand the environmental benefit claimed, and could I defend this if called upon

TOTAL LICENSING to do so?

“You may claim that ‘all our plastic toys are now made with bio-sourced material from renewable resources’,” says Parry. “However, if there’s a second half of this statement that would say: ‘but since demand has now increased for the crop from which the material is derived, deforestation in the area concerned has accelerated’, then clearly we do not have a good outcome.”

At the same time, Parry urges companies heading into 2022 with a renewed vigour for delivering sustainability by the bucket load – and good on them!

– to watch out for the potential for misunderstanding of exactly what is being claimed.

“A statement like ’70 per cent recycled content’ can easily be misinterpreted,” he says. “For example, on what basis has the level of recycled content been calculated? If it’s an annualised mass balance, then it’s entirely possible that the individual item being purchased contains no recycled content at all…”

But you want to do the right thing. So, what can you do instead?

We get it, it seems like a nightmare.

How do you navigate the ambiguity that the Green Claims Code appears to have left in its wake? Well, according to Parry, the answer is far less complex than the question makes it appear.

“Key to real sustainability is to look for systematic solutions,” he says. “The kind that aim to eliminate sources of waste or emissions by design; then make your verifiable claims based on these.

“It also lies in clarity. Be clear on your transitional interventions. For example, when talking about activities to offset existing sources of waste, explain how this is something you are doing while looking for longer term solutions.

“Finally, identify areas in which you can act to ensure that materials remain in use (ideally at their highest value state) and avoid them entering

the waste stream. This could be in the form of return schemes, partnerships in the resale market, or schemes that ensure materials are returned for remanufacture.

“This sort of activity can also generate extremely compelling claims, and even lead to cost optimisation and additional sources of revenue.”

Alternatively, of course, you can always drop the Products of Change Advisors team a line on advisors@productsofchange.com and think of them as your own sustainability personal trainers. It could be your answer to counting those sustainability calories this year.

“

But you want to do the right thing. So what can you do?”

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Legally Speaking

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Tips on Drafting NDA’s By: Gregory J. Battersby A Non-Disclosure Agreement or “NDA” is a contractual agreement between two parties involving the use of one party’s “Confidential” or “Proprietary” information by the other party.

BOOK AVAILABLE! THE BUSINESS OF LICENSING The Essential Guide for Intellectual Properties Licensing has has exploded into a $250+ billion worldwide industry at retail and generates more than $7 billion in royalty income for those property owners who are savvy enough to license their properties for a wide variety of consumer products.

About 8 years ago, lawyer Gregory J Battersby and licensing veteran Danny Simon introduced the first Basics of Licensing book.

They published a revised version a couple of years later and followed it with a Licensee edition and then finally an International edition. Recognizing that there was a degree of commonality between these editions, Battersby and Simon concluded that it was time for the definitive work on licensing, hence, The Business of Licensing which combines the best of all three prior editions and takes the subject to the next level.

This book takes the reader through the nuts and bolts of how to conduct a licensing program and handle many of the problems that it might face There is a substantial amount of reference material.

They have included an expanded history of merchandising, and an extensive collection of the forms that any licensing professional may need which they intend to provide to purchasers with electronic access to the forms via Dropbox.

The Complete Business of Licensing is available at a cost of $39.95 ($34.95 for LI members). https://www. totallicensingworld.com/site/business_ of_licensing

Gregory J. Battersby Battersby Law Group, LLC 25 Poplar Plains Rd. Westport, CT 06880 (203) 454-9646 gjbattersby@gbiplaw.com www.gbiplaw.com 64

It may also be called a Confidential Disclosure Agreement. These agreements cover confidential information of various types, e.g., technical information, business and sales data, financial information, even private conversations. Politicians and executives regularly use them to shield potentially sensitive information from the public or competitors.

The party disclosing the information is usually called the Discloser or Disclosing Party, while the party receiving the information is called the Recipient or the Receiving Party. Such agreements can be “oneway,” i.e., only one party will disclose confidential information to the other party, or “mutual,” where both parties exchange confidential information.

Most companies have developed and use their own standard NDA agreements.

All NDA’s have specific standard provisions, namely: • An identification of the parties; • A description and definition of the

specific confidential information to

be covered, e.g., technical data, business

information, sales data, plans, etc.; • The purpose of the disclosure and to what

it will pertain, e.g., a potential license

agreement, a buy/sell transaction, etc.; • The type of information to be excluded

from coverage, e.g., publicly available

information, independently developed or

discovered information, etc.; • How the confidential information can….and

cannot…be used, e.g., a party may neither

use nor disclose the information; • The steps a Recipient must take to

preserve the confidentiality, e.g.,

commercially reasonable efforts, the same

degree of care the Recipient would take with

its own information, etc.; • The length or duration of the agreement, e.g.,

five years or in perpetuity; • The Recipient’s obligations upon termination,

e.g., return, destroy, etc.;

• What law will govern the agreement, e.g.,

typically the state or country of the drafting party; • How and where disputes will be resolved,

e.g., litigation or arbitration; and • An affirmative statement that no license is

granted for the use of the information.

There are two common problems with most of the NDA’s that I’ve observed, to wit: • Definition of Confidential Information.

Confidential information is frequently defined as literally anything that the Disclosing Party provides the Recipient, whether disclosed orally or in writing. That’s far too broad. Read literally, it could potentially include the lunch plans for the parties, which is crazy.

The better approach is to require that only information disclosed in writing and bearing a “confidential” or “proprietary” legend is covered.

Oral or verbal disclosures are not. Should information be inadvertently conveyed without such a legend or orally, the Disclosing Party must promptly advise the Recipient in writing that it intends to have such information covered. Without a clear delineation of what is confidential and what is not, the Recipient has no way of knowing what it must protect and refrain from using and what information it can freely use.

• Post-Termination Obligations.

Virtually all NDAs address how the Recipient must deal with the confidential information it receives after termination. In most instances, they provide that the Recipient must either return or destroy such information. The problem with such a provision is that should a dispute ever develop between the parties; the Recipient cannot adequately defend itself from a breach claim because it no longer has access to such information.

That puts the Recipient at a severe disadvantage in any litigation since it must rely on the “good faith” of the other party. The better approach is to provide that the Recipient may retain an archival copy of such confidential information and agree to hold it in confidence or allow its counsel to keep it under similar conditions.

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Sports Licensing & Tailgate Show British Toy & Hobby Fair Paperworld ISM Cologne Spring Fair Magic Las Vegas Licensing World Russia Australian Toy Fair Kidscreen Summit Virtual Bologna Children’s Bookfair New York Home Fashion Week Licensing China (Shenzhen) MIP.TV London Book Fair Brand & Lifestyle Licensign Awards Hong Kong Int. Licensing Show Annecy Festival Sustainability in Licensing Conference Licensing Expo China Kidscreen Summit The Licensing Awards Brand Licensing Europe MIP Junior MIPCOM Frankfurt Book Fair

Jan 19 - 21 Jan 25 - 27 Jan 29 - Feb 1 Jan 30 - Feb 2 Feb 6 - 9 Feb 14 - 17 March 1 - 3 March 6 - 9 March 7 - 11 March 21 - 24 March 21 - 24 March 30 - 1 April April 4 - 6 April 5 - 7 27 April April 27 - 29 June 13 - 18 June 22 July 6 - 8 July 18 - 21 Sept 13 Sept 20 - 22 Oct 15 - 16 Oct 17 - 20 Oct 19 - 23

www.sportsgailgateshow.com www.toyfair.co.uk www.paperworld.messfrankfurt.com www.ism-cologne.com www.springfair.com www.magicfashionevents.com www.licensingworld.ru www.toyfair.com.au www.summit.kidscreen.com/ www.bolognachildrensbookfair.com www.homefashionproducts.com www.licensing-china.hk.messefrankfurt.com www.miptv.com www.londonbookfair.co.uk www.brandlicensingawards.co.uk www.hktdc.com/fair/hklicensingshow-en www..annecy.org/home www.sustainabilityinlicensing.com www.en.licensingexpochina.com www.summit.kidscreen.com/ www.thelicensingawards.co.uk www.brandlicensing.eu www.mipcom.com/mipjunior www.mipcom.com https://www.buchmesse.de/en

More information? www.totallicensing.com

Asmodee..........................................................................68 Australian Toy Hobby & Licensing Fair .....................29 Beano ................................................................................. 3 Bulldog Licensing ............................................................. 9 China Licensing Expo ...................................................21 Edutainment ............................................................ 32, 33 Flowhaven ......................................................................... 7 Hong Kong Licensing Show ........................................59 Howard Robinson ........................................................68 Kiddinx Media ................................................................35 Kidscreen Summit .........................................................67 King Features ................................................................... 5

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Konami ..................................................................... 13, 15 Licensing China ..............................................................65 Licensing Expo ...............................................................19 MIPTV ..............................................................................55 Pokemon .........................................................................17 SEGA Europe .................................................................11 Tonies................................................................................23 Toy Fair (London) .........................................................25 Toy Fair Everywhere ....................................................27 ViacomCBS ....................................................................... 1 List correct at time of going to press