Including Brands with Influence adding children’s animation Beo n Peno to its portfolio.
The Source rounds up more news from the licensing industry across the globe from the week.
Brands with Influence has been appointed by Animantz to represent the licensed merchandise in the UK for children’s animated series, Beo n Peno. The series stars Beo, a polar bear who lives in the North Pole, and Peno, a quirky penguin from the South Pole. It has been picked up by Amazon Prime Video – which is showing the first 13 episodes – as well as being broadcast internationally on the Kedoo multi-channel network. In the UK, the series is on the Super Toons TV YouTube channel with around 1.5 million subscribers.
Bulldog Licensing has welcomed Ellie Monro-Smith as licensing approvals coordinator. In her new role, Ellie will work across the agency’s portfolio including EA, Match Attax, Sesame Street, Care Bears, Miraculous and Kindi Kids.
Coolabi Group has welcomed British organic soft toy company ChunkiChilli as a new partner for Clangers. This is the first hand-knitted toy range and spearheads a new licensing direction focused on the gifting and independent retail market. ChunkiChilli will create five toys of Clangers characters Major, Mother, Tiny and Small and, for the first time ever, Granny Clanger.
Millimage has strengthened its sales and licensing and merchandise teams with two new hires. Mickael Zeggagh has been appointed as commercial director of the L&M department, joining from MZMEDIA, a content distribution and licensing agency specialising in South East Asia markets. In addition, Noémie Bourrié has joined as international sales manager, arriving from Cyber Group Studios.
Tombo Japanese Café and Matcha Bar in Fitzrovia has launched a three-month Sanrio pop-up experience featuring Hello Kitty and friends. This marks the first time the characters have been brought together in a European café, with the interiors taken over in a winter wonderland theme. Each dish on the menu will highlight the characters’ personalities. There are three Sanrio-inspired brunch set menus, as well as a number of other dishes ranging from Gudetama Udon and Pom Pom Purin Curry through to the Hello Kitty Garden Poké Set. There is also a range of merchandise available including Christmas cards, evening bancha tea, mugs, postcards and posters, all featuring special edition artwork designs, plus a range of Tombo tea created bespoke for Sanrio.
Moomin Characters is to be the principal sponsor of a competition which aims to encourage children to challenge their thinking and express it in creative written forms. Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall officially launched The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2020 at Turanga library in Christchurch, New Zealand.
IMG has been appointed by bedding provider Tempur Sealy International to be its global licensing representative for all brands in its portfolio in a multi-year deal. The agency will look to build a licensing programme across multiple home, travel, wellness and lifestyle categories.
Smartcard holder Chummi has teamed up with Transport for London. It has been developed, designed and trademarked by a team led by Henry Becket of Ideas at Work and a patent is in the pipeline.
A collection of new books and comics are set to further expand the world of The Jim Henson Company’s series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Several new titles from Penguin Random House and Insight Editions are available across the US, while Boom Studios has released a comic.
Interactive entertainment specialist Zynga has secured an in-game licence deal with Adult Swim to bring characters from Rick and Morty to Gram Games’ Merge Dragons.
In a deal brokered by Spotlight Licensing and Brand Management, Commonwealth Toy & Novelty will produce Precious Moments-branded baby dolls and figurines.
Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter.
