Marie-Laure Marchand talks about preparing for the relaunch of Oggy in France.
As licensing assumes an increasingly global footprint, the UK undoubtedly remains a major market for international companies.
The Source chatted to some of those which are based overseas but are making waves here in the UK, asking about their successes, plans going forward and how things might differ from licensing in their home territory.
Today: Xilam Animation – based in France
Marie-Laure Marchand, senior VP for global licensed products, Xilam Animation
“In 2017 we secured a host of deals for Oggy & the Cockroaches in our home country of France – including Lansay as the first ever master toy licensee and a master publishing deal with Centum Books which will develop the brand’s very first chapter books. We also appointed eight licensing agents for Oggy across the globe.
The UK is a key market for Oggy in 2018 but it is a very competitive one, having to compete with very strong established British brands. The series has sold to Nickelodeon and is available on both Netflix and YouTube. We’ve also appointed Michele Pearce from Brand Focus to develop the brand.
We are currently preparing the re-launch of Oggy in France, with the first toy products launching in January 2018, and publishing in spring 2018. Additional categories will arrive in the market in time for back to school 2018. Meanwhile we’ve had tremendous success in neighbouring countries such as Italy, where in October 2017 we launched a restaurant chain promotion for Old Wild West that offered four Oggy figurines on their kids’ menus.”
This feature originally appeared in the spring 2018 edition of Licensing Source Book. Click here to read the full publication.
