TV Kids Licensing & Merchandising Trends

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LICENSING & MERCHANDISING TRENDS

MIP JUNIOR, MIPCOM & BRAND LICENSING, SPECIAL REPORT

www.tvkids.ws

OCTOBER 2011

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Powering Up

Brands Kids’ content companies attending Brand Licensing Europe are devising new ways to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. By Bob Jenkins

Bandai action figures for Saban’s Power Rangers Samurai.

Less than two weeks after MIPCOM closes its doors, Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) will open at London’s Olympia exhibition center, with its organizers, Advanstar, predicting that attendance will pass the 6,000 mark. The bullish forecast for this year’s event comes following a 16-percent attendance bump in 2010, which had 5,634 visitors.

Saban Brands, among the many leading licensors that will be at Olympia, will be showcasing two properties. The first is the Power Rangers franchise, which returned to the Saban fold when it was acquired from The Walt Disney Company last year. Saban has created a new series of this iconic kids’ classic, Power Rangers Samurai, and has already sold it into over 150 markets worldwide.

Kirk Bloomgarden, the senior

VP of international licensing, attributes this huge demand to the fact that “Power Rangers is a classic boys’ actionadventure series. There is also real appreciation out there of the understanding Saban has for the brand.”

In the U.S. as well as in numerous international markets, Saban’s broadcast partner for Power Rangers Samurai is Nickelodeon, although, Bloomgarden says, “there are territories where we will also be sharing the series with terrestrial broadcasters.”To date, following its U.S. debut, the series has aired in Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and Benelux. Bandai has been retained as the master toy licensee, and, according to Bloomgarden, “a major licensing programming is gearing up to roll out behind the broadcast launches around the world.”

BEING FRANK

Alongside Power Rangers Samurai at the Saban stand will be more than 150 characters from Paul Frank Industries, which the company acquired in August 2010. The best known of these character brands, which are mainly targeted at the fashion sector, is Julius the monkey. As yet, none has media associated with them, but, says Bloomgarden,“all that is about to change, as we are planning at least two holiday specials in 2012, very much in the style of the Snoopy holiday specials, one for Halloween and one for Christmas.”

Also pressing the flesh at BLE will be American Greetings Properties. Gabrielle Oliff, the VP of brand and marketing at the company, reveals that they will be at Olympia with a lineup of properties that includes the evergreen Care Bears, aimed, as always, at girls aged 3

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to 7. As Oliff says, “No one makes caring cooler than the Care Bears.”

For boys aged 5 to 8 and 15-plus, American Greetings has Madballs. Oliff accepts that the property, first released in 1986, was initially considered “pretty repulsive,” but, she adds, “underneath their nauseating exteriors, the truth is, they really are pretty nauseating!”

Among the plethora of characters and brands American Greetings will be presenting at BLE is the classic Strawberry Shortcake.The veteran brand, which made its debut in greeting cards in the late ’70s before expanding into entertainment and a slew of consumer products, attracts girls in the 3-to-7 bracket just as strongly now as it ever did.

FROM THE HEART

Playing a new tune: Developing a girl-targeted L&M strategy for Mia and Me is a top priority for m4e.

Playing to a similar base is Missy Heart from Toonzone Studios. Konnie Kwak, the CEO of the animation studio, notes that the brand is aimed at 5- to 9-year-olds, “a demo that is definitely older than Strawberry Shortcake, but, as the story of a girl who wears hearts in her hair and her heart on her sleeve, there are similarities.”

Missy Heart is directed by animation veteran John Kafka, who also directed Toonzone’s Action Dad, which tells the story of the Ramseys. On the surface they are a normal family with two sweet and average teens, Liz and Mick, but the reality is that mum Angela and dad Chuck are rival secret agents. Despite trying to kill each other on a regular basis as part of their day job, they decide to put on a brave face for the kids.

Meanwhile, it’s the kids that are doing the fighting in Tiny Warriors, also on the Toonzone slate at BLE.The series, a story of four friends, each a master of a different martial-arts discipline, with the motto “Tiny but tough,” is a co-production with Brazil’s Studio Sumatra. Written by longtime SpongeBob SquarePants staff writer Richard Pursel, and with a target demo of both boys and girls aged 6 to 10, the 26x22minute series is slated for delivery in 2013.

In the spring of 2012, m4e expects to deliver Mia and Me, its brand-new hybrid show. Hans Ulrich Stoef, the group CEO of the German brandmanagement firm, says the co-production with Italy’s Rainbow S.r.l. “is at the top of the list of properties we will be presenting at Brand Licensing Europe. This mixture of live action and CGI is very difficult to achieve—

Showing your stripes: Cyber Group has already appointed several licensees for the preschool property Zou.

even for the majors.” The series tells the story of the eponymous Mia, who, when her parents mysteriously disappear, is sent by her aunt to a boarding school in Florence. Her aunt also presents Mia with a book and a bracelet, left for her by her parents.The book tells stories of the magical kingdom of Centopia, which is populated by elves and unicorns that are under attack by the evil Munculus, who want to capture the unicorns so as to grind their horns into a powder that will keep Munculus young forever. Mia discovers that by pressing a button on the bracelet and repeating a secret code, she is transported to Centopia and transformed into an elf—the only one that can communicate with the unicorns. “The concept grew from our realization that unicorns are everywhere in design and sell very well, yet no one had ever turned them into a brand,” Stoef notes.

Also being presented at BLE by m4e, and again due for delivery in 2012, is Connie, a short preschool series based on the bestselling books of the same name published by Carlsen Verlag. The show aims to introduce kids to events that will happen in their everyday lives, such as a trip to the dentist.

Cyber Group Studios is also showcasing a bookbased brand: Zou. Like the books, which won a Parents’ Choice Award in the U.S., the series follows the adventures of a lovable 5-year-old zebra and explores the world as seen through the eyes of its target audience of 3- to 6-year-olds. Disney Junior will begin transmitting the series across Europe in September 2012.

“We have appointed leading licensees for activity

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Sweet sales: First launched in the ’70s on greeting cards, Strawberry Shortcake remains one of American Greetings’ most popular brands with young girls.

books, plush and DVDs, and products are scheduled to be on the shelf by the end of 2012,” says Pierre Sissmann, Cyber Group’s chairman and CEO. Another series from Cyber Group Studios that will be presented at BLE is Fish ‘n Chips. Due to premiere this autumn on Gulli in France, the co-production with Timoon, which is aimed at both boys and girls aged 6 to 10, tells of the exciting adventures of two friends, a cat and a fish. It has already been sold to Cartoon Network in Australia and New Zealand, ATV in Turkey and extensively throughout the Middle East.

Joining Zou and Fish ‘n Chips on the Cyber Group stand will be Tales of Tatonka. This HD animation series, which also contains live-action wildlife footage, is aimed at 4- to 8-year-olds, focusing on four wolf cubs living with their parents in the plains and forests of North America. The series begins transmission this fall on RAI Due in Italy, and next year on France 5 and a number of other major European broadcasters, including TV2 Norway and YLE Finland. Citel will release the DVDs in France in 2012.

BEING GREEN

Another brand with a strong environmental theme that will be on offer at BLE is Trash Pack, a brand-new 52x13minute series from Italy’s Mondo TV S.p.A. Micheline Azoury, the head of international sales and brand manager at Mondo TV, says that Trash Pack is “a unique and

hilariously funny edu-environment show.”

The master toy licensee for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is Giochi Preziosi, and for the rest of the world it is Australia’s Moose Toys.

Giochi Preziosi is also the EMEA master toy licensee for two other Mondo TV series: Puppy in My Pocket and Virus Attack. Puppy in My Pocket, aimed at girls and boys aged 4 to 8, debuted on Boomerang and Cartoon Network EMEA in July and will move to free-to-air television in almost all European countries in September. Virus Attack, meanwhile, is strictly a boys’ action-adventure series, for 5- to 11-year-olds. It recently debuted to excellent ratings on Cartoon Network, and will soon be going free to air on Boing, Cartoon Network’s DTT channel in Italy and Spain.

Family adventure is on offer from Your Family Entertainment (YFE), which will be at BLE with Heroes of the City. “This series focuses on cars used to rescue and help people in cities,” says Stefan Piëch,YFE’s CEO. “As cars are a fascination for most of us, Heroes of the City should be an enjoyable viewing experience for the whole family, and, furthermore, it teaches kids that teamwork is exciting and that it is fun working together to solve even the most challenging problems.”

Another key brand for YFE is Oscar the Balloonist, which features Oscar, a wildlife-loving boy who travels the world with his friend Spike the cactus meeting all kinds of animals and learning all about their family life. A co-production by YFE and ZDF, Oscar the Balloonist, debuted last December on KI.KA, where it has regularly gained a 30-percent share. Piëch reports that “publishing, merchandising and radio plays are all available for Oscar the Balloonist.”

MAKING AN IMPACT

This is just a small selection of the titles on offer at BLE, and, with more companies expected to attend than ever before, the question becomes: How does a property make itself stand out from the throng of rivals, and what gives it licensing’s “X factor”?

“Some of the evergreen properties, such as Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake, were popular with today’s mums when they were kids, and that does help,” says American Greetings’ Oliff. New or old, she adds, “it’s important for brands to have 360-degree consumer touch points, on air, online, consumer products; basically, the more ways a property has of reaching its target audience, the more effective and efficient is its communication with its consumers and the

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Driving brands: YFE will be at Brand Licensing with the new family-friendly property Heroes of the City.

greater the chance it has of cutting through the clutter. It is the power of our on-air and online presence, and this 360-degree consumer touch-point strategy, that creates pent-up post-launch demand for consumer products, which in turn will trigger interest from retailers.”

This 360-degree approach is also cited by Toonzone’s Kwak as being of vital importance. “You have to be on every platform,” she insists. “You have to have a TV series, and games, and, of course, an Internet presence. The reality is that TV’s penetration isn’t what it used to be, and love it as we still do, and important as it still is, you have to design your property to work on all platforms.”

Cyber Studios’ Sissmann agrees, noting, “Our series are created from the beginning to become strong brands.

The licensing program is designed at the very beginning along with the design of the characters and the writing of the scripts. But we only launch our merchandising program when we have secured TV exposure.”

there, you can always move it to television later when it is established.”

Bloomgarden at Saban Brands, however, says that it is “always best to allow your property to gain exposure on television before introducing properties at retail.” Although “the market is very much more fragmented than it was a few years ago,” he points out that “there are some very powerful players within that fragmented market, and we think it is important to take the long view, allow your property to grow its popularity and connection with its audience before launching your products at retail.”

Bloomgarden also firmly believes that “a property must be able to work 360 degrees; it is vital that you have a strategy worked out for social media in general and Facebook and Twitter in particular.You must also have a forensic focus on retail. We meet regularly with our key retailers.You must be able to demonstrate your support for your brand with exclusives and DTR— direct to retail—where necessary.”

In order to stand out in a cluttered marketplace, YFE’s Piëch says, “It is necessary to be consistent in what you do, and to focus on long-term, universal values. We like to concentrate on series with long-lasting, classic appeal, and also we pride ourselves on providing our clients with consumer products that match our high quality standards.”

Mondo’s Azoury, meanwhile, goes back to the basics: “In order to grab attention in a cluttered marketplace, a property needs cute, catchy characters, good production values and great TV exposure, and a strong master toy licensee capable of driving strong retail sales.”

PLATFORM AGNOSTIC

The importance of designing the series for multiplatform success is something that m4e’s Stoef is keen to stress. “Merchandising potential has to be built into the series. The truth is, 99 percent of the shows on television don’t really have merchandising potential. We design all our shows with 360-degree potential, and we also always work closely with retailers from the start so that we know what they want and can ensure that we have a large enough product line to meet their needs.” Stoef does not think television exposure is always necessary to launch a property, suggesting, “Some of the other ways of launching a property, such as games and the Internet, are a lot cheaper than television, and, if it works

Pet projects: Mondo TV is working with Giochi Preziosi on the EMEA rollout of Puppy in My Pocket, which targets kids aged 4 to 8.

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Zinkia Entertainment’s

José María Castillejo Launched a decade ago, Zinkia Entertainment has become one of Spain’s most wellknown animation outfits thanks to its global hit Pocoyo. Zinkia recently reclaimed all rights to the brand after a long affiliation with ITV Studios Global Entertainment and is now working hard to extend Pocoyo’s licensing-and-merchandising campaign, encompassing video games, apps, music and more. With an eye toward growth, Zinkia this year acquired a 51-percent interest in the U.K.-based kids’ entertainment outfit CAKE, which represents hits like the Total Drama franchise and Angelo Rules. José María Castillejo, Zinkia Entertainment’s president, explains to TV Kids the rationale behind the CAKE investment and discusses the company’s strategy for becoming known as a global brand creator.

By Mansha Daswani

TV KIDS: What led to the investment

in CAKE? CASTILLEJO: We are continually look-

ing for opportunities to build Zinkia’s standing in the marketplace. Recently, we have been able to consider strategic avenues of investment that could further bolster our brand-management business and expand our distribution opportunities. Our priority was to invest in a partnership that could leverage both Zinkia and a partner’s assets. By joining forces with CAKE, we are harnessing each other’s strengths—Zinkia as a brand creator and CAKE as a leading television distributor. CAKE will be responsible for the international television distribution of our flagship property, Pocoyo.

While we do hold a 51-percent share, CAKE and Zinkia will operate autonomously. We understand the importance of ensuring that we complement and do not cannibalize each other’s areas of expertise, and by bringing together two independent industry leaders, we are creating tremendous opportunities for both on a global scale.

TV KIDS: How have you been positioning Zinkia in

the global marketplace?

CASTILLEJO: We want to be recognized as global brand

creators. We’ve been carefully building the Pocoyo brand

for approximately eight years, using multiple platforms to expand the brand awareness, instead of relying solely on TV and DVD.When we started, there was only TV and DVD available to deliver the content. Now there are many different alternatives, particularly in the social-media realm.As an example, there are more than 20 episodes of Pocoyo watched per second onYouTube.That’s more than 52 million episodes per month, and we have received over 500 million hits to date.That creates tremendous exposure for the brand and it is only one platform, which didn’t exist ten years ago.We’re basically focused on creating our own concepts, our own brands and then building those brands using all the platforms available. We’re not really interested in

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growing our catalogue with many properties. Our strategy is to focus on a small number of properties that we know we can support to reach their full potential.

TV KIDS: You listed on Spain’s MAB alternative stock

market two years ago; what led you to that?

CASTILLEJO: The financing. The market in Spain has

been quite challenging, and to finance a television series requires a lot of funding.We always want to retain all the rights to our properties, so it doesn’t make sense for us to enter into co-production partnerships, because it can become difficult down the road to exploit the rights and to grow the brand. So [the MAB listing] was a way for us to get to the financial market, get financing and then get visibility, which I think we have accomplished.

TV KIDS: What challenges and opportunities do

you see as an independent in this economy?

CASTILLEJO: People are taking less risk than before, which means it’s going to be much more difficult to

Riding to retail: Zinkia is working to extend its preschool brand Pocoyo onto multiple platforms.

build new properties. Retailers are only taking risks on very well-established brands, which makes it a lot more difficult to introduce new concepts. On the financing side, very few opportunities exist with television commissioners for preschool series. It’s a tremendous challenge to put together the budget.

The positive aspect of being an independent and a small company is that you have the flexibility of making a lot of decisions. Larger organizations have their advantages, of course, but a small company often has the ability to navigate more quickly. We can make changes, we can move with ease from one country to another, the relationships are much more personal, and it’s a much more personal approach to your brand.

TV KIDS: What are your plans for Pocoyo’s expansion?

CASTILLEJO: We are now really focused on the U.S.

This holiday season we’ll have product in Walmart, Kmart, Toys “R” Us, so we are pleased to have a presence at these mass retailers. The U.S. bet is a ten-year bet; we’re not looking at it as a short-term strategy. We hope to be here to stay. I think Pocoyo has the capacity to become a classic evergreen brand. In addition to the U.S., we are putting a lot of effort into Latin America, as well as [emerging markets] like India, Russia, Turkey and across Asia. We recently recovered the worldwide rights, so we are in the midst of implementing new strategies worldwide.

TV KIDS: How has Spain become such a powerhouse animation producer?

CASTILLEJO: There is a wealth of talent in Spain. The Mediterranean, the sun, the good wine and the good tapas may have something to do with it!

You have Spanish animators working at Pixar, DreamWorks, all the big animation companies, and they have a tendency to return to Spain to work. Ten years ago it was very difficult to find animators, so we had to look to other countries. Now there’s a huge amount of people that have seen how good this career can be. In Spain, there is also support from the government in the form of subsidies. I have to say, we have received a very small number of subsidies, because of the policy we have of trying to keep all the rights ourselves. The moment you get the subsidies and start producing with other countries‚ then it gets more complicated.

Now the Spanish government is seeing how the animation industry really adds value to the economy. It’s a modern industry, it’s a technological industry, it really adds value.

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