News Hey Duggee adds International Emmy to awards collection BBC Worldwide and Studio AKA have announced that Hey Duggee has been awarded an International Emmy Kids Award at a ceremony at MIPTV in the pre-school category. The award follows a BAFTA win for Best PreSchool Animation last November. Devised by the Oscar nominated and BAFTA award winning Studio AKA, Hey Duggee has proved popular with audiences on CBeebies channels as well as selling to over 150 territories worldwide including Nick Jr in the USA, who have acquired the second season, France Television, ABC Australia, SVT Sweden, Treehouse in Canada and Cartoonito Italy. Henrietta Hurford Jones, director of Children’s at BBC Worldwide commented: “Hey Duggee is a place for children to have fun and be energetic, encouraging learning through doing. Duggee’s unique humour means that grown-ups will enjoy it too, providing a wonderful shared experience for families. Duggee is a very special show and I am thrilled with the International Emmy win.”
Scentco Cars 3 range now available for pre-order A selection of Disney Pixar’s Cars 3 stationery has been added to DKL’s range of licensed products. The range includes coloured Smencils 4-pack, Smencils 4-pack and a Smencils cylinder with Cars 3 packaging featuring a Sketch and Sniff sticker for customers to preview scents. David Allan, sales and marketing director at DKL, commented: “Scentco Scented Stationery performed well throughout 2016 with record high sales. Launching the Cars 3 licence is very exciting as we have already had a huge interest from trade. We are working on other Disney licences to keep the momentum going.” Each of Scentco’s licensed feature scents come with a two-year guarantee. Cars 3 scents include Blackberry, Pineapple, Cherry and Cola. Hama Beads will also be releasing a range of Car 3 licensed products which will be officially announced soon.
Everything’s Rosie to debut on CBeebies Radio The broadcaster has commissioned five specially recorded episodes. The deal will run for five years and the series will follow the adventures of Rosie and her best friend Raggles, the rabbit. Episodes will also be available on demand on the Children’s Radio iPlayer in the UK. RTE Junior in Ireland has also commissioned five recorded stories which will be available on its radio, website and app so that young fans can enjoy popular stories on the move.
Global licensing programme expanded for Num Noms MGA Entertainment has signed over 40 new licensees spanning the globe, making a total of 80 worldwide licensing partners for its property Num Noms. Juli Boylan, global head of licensing, MGAE, commented: “The brand continues to exceed our expectations, appealing to a wide consumer base. We are very excited to be launching key categories this spring, and the full programme worldwide in the fall. Num Noms also continues to grow in the UK and European markets and so our focus as we head into Licensing Expo is to meet with potential partners in the ancillary categories, and further expand the brand in key international territories throughout the Asia Pacific and Latin American markets.” In response to the success of the Num Noms toy
Chocolate Thomas the Tank Engine surprise for Easter travellers A 6ft tall, 7ft long chocolate sculpture was stationed at Kings Cross over the Easter bank holiday weekend. The chocolate Thomas sculpture weighed 140kg and took 250 hours to build by three master chocolatiers. A total of 100kg of chocolate was used to create the masterpiece, which consisted of 60kg milk chocolate, 30kg dark chocolate, 10kg white chocolate and 25kg cocoa butter. Chocolate craftsperson Jen Lindsey-Clark commented: “To take Thomas from a little blue diecast engine to a large-scale chocolate structure was an exciting challenge. To sculpt this much-loved iconic brand in chocolate was one of the most fun projects we have been set.” The sculpture generated extensive PR coverage including BBC Breakfast, BBC London, Daily Telegraph, Mail Online and mass social media engagement.
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line, MGAE has secured over 80 A-list licensing partners worldwide across all major categories of softlines, hardlines, and publishing, to create a global licensing programme. Among its new global licensing partners are: MegaToys (US), Sakar (US, UK, France), Kennedy Publishing (UK), DC Thomson (UK), Amscan (select territories in Europe), Play by Play Toys (Europe and Mexico), RMS International (UK), Winning Moves (UK, Italy), STOR, S.L. (select territories in Europe, Middle East, Africa), Trends International LLC (US, Canada), Innovative Design (US, Canada), IG Design (US).