STUDIO 100 MEDIA New plans for 2021

STUDIO 100 MEDIA

NEW PLANS FOR 2021

Studio 100 Media is an international leading entertainment company, ready to face this time’s major challenges. LM interviewed Joachim Knödler, the new Head of Licensing at

Studio 100 Media.

How will you share your vast know-how to increase the Studio 100 licensing division?

Licensing is a complex business and by far it is not only done by making a deal and leaving a license on its own. Studio 100 Media brings significant power on the ground with our 360-degree approach on our properties, we attract the consumer with our theme parks across Europe but also with great content in theatre, TV and on social media.

My main goal is to continuously enhance the presence of our brands and IPs with a wide intense licensing portfolio from fashion to toys but also with key driving categories to attract consumers by price point, play value and experience. Of course, we will also drive the activation of our IPs in retail to the next level by supporting licensees and retailers.

Which will be your main goals for the next future?

Studio 100 has a significant business presence in the GAS and Benelux region, we cover all kinds of categories with our core brands and we have a great presence in retail. For the future we will place a larger focus on international markets. In fact, we are driving our business forward in CEE - currently we are closing for example a deal with a big retailer - where we will launch a nice kids’ apparel range in Q1 2021 continued by Q2-Q3 activities. For the future we will extend and strengthen the presence of our existing and upcoming IPs in the international markets such as Latin America, MENA, and Asia.

Which will be the IPs you will plan to focus on most?

Our wide mix of IPs will cover boys, girls and tweens for 2021, of course “Maya the Bee” will be one of our key priorities based on her 45th television anniversary in Germany and the upcoming release of her third movie adventure “Maya the Bee – The Golden Orb” in Q1 2021. Along with the movie release we have prepared an immense mix of activities, including a key retailer promotion as a great platform for our licensees. Looking further ahead, we have “Mia and me” back with a 4th season and a movie - and of course the upcoming broadcast of “100% Wolf - Legend of the Moonstone” in various European territories as well as in Latin America. The movie “100% Wolf” recently reached the

Joachim Knödler

1 million visitors benchmark in the UK. In fact, we are also working on new IPs for which we will commence with master toy pitches during the upcoming Festival of Licensing. We will also use the Festival of Licensing platform to support our international approach to drive business in key territories such as UK, France, Poland, China, and Latin America forward.

How do you see the future of the business after the COVID period?

The Corona pandemic was a wakeup call for all of us – it enforced and made us realize how important bricks and mortar retailers still are. For the time after COVID, but also right now during weeks and months of partially intense restrictions, we need to support each other - from licensor side to licensees and retailers. I strongly believe that in the future the importance of “retailtainment” will be more and more the key for success in licensing – not only with the right concept in shopping malls, but also as an emotional experience instore on shelves in terms of products.

Studio 100 Media is a leading expert as we can play our IPs on all channels - linear and digital, but also as a live experience within Studio 100´s theme parks. We can include licensees and retailers within this mix, and this is even more important now in order to get back to the level before the Corona pandemic.

WHAT’S NEW IN ANIMATION AT STUDIO 100 MEDIA

TITLE: SEABELIEVERS

Format: Season I, 52 x 11 minutes Animation Type: CGI Created By: Brien Arone Production companies: Baboon Animation (USA), Telegael (Ireland) and AnCartoon (China) Target Audience: Preschool, 4 - 7 years Delivery Date: 2021 Synopsis: SeaBelievers is the first kids ECO-tainment show in the world that tells stories that will thematically matter and empower kids. Each animated episode leads kids on an ECO-adventure.

SeaBelievers is the first ever tv series to represent a whole new genre of ECO-tainment. This genre created by Brien Arone, Founder and SeaEO of SeaBelievers, combines the benefit of edutainment for children – it’s informative and realistic about real-life issues affecting our ocean and encourages kids to make a difference – because they can! And all of this is done in a fun and entertaining way as the show emanates as a stunning and engaging musical ECO-adventure with original tunes to sing and dance along to. SeaBelievers

FriendZSpace

TITLE: FRIENDZSPACE

Format: 52 x 11 minutes Style: CGI Animation Created By: Dan Clark and Oscar Covar Co-producers: T & B Media Global, Flying Bark Productions Target Audience: Kids 5 to 9 years Status: In development and production Delivery Date: 2021 Synopsis: FriendZSpace is about three best friends, Alice, Leo and Kim who may seem like regular human kids, but behind their normal façade they are risk-taking deep space friend makers! Each episode follows the three kids as they jet into space in their unpredictable star cruiser, “The Dart”. Accompanied by BotDog (half puppy and half high-tech Swiss army knife) their mission is simple and wonderfully weird: locate planets, find alien kids, introduce themselves, and make friends. But making friends with alien kids is tricky!

FriendZSpace is all about kids and kid culture — alien kids and human kids — it’s about embracing our differences and getting into exciting trouble in the process!

TITLE: 100% WOLF – LEGEND OF THE MOONSTONE

Format: 26 x 22 minutes Target Audience: 6-10 boys and girls Genre: Comedy, Adventure Style: CGI Animation Production Partners: Flying Bark Productions together with ABC Australia and Super RTL Germany as commissioning broadcasters Created By: Based on the Australian book 100% Wolf by Jayne Lyons. Synopsis: Freddy Lupin, heir to a proud family line of werewolves was in shock when on his 13th birthday his first “warfing” went awry, turning him into a ferocious… poodle. Now enrolled in the prestigious Howlington Academy, Freddy must prove that he still has the heart of a werewolf!

LICENSING HIGHLIGHTS MAYA THE BEE, THE ECOFRIENDLY BRAND

More than any other bee, Maya the Bee as an ambassador is giving a face to bee protection. As a testimonial for

100% Wolf - Legend of the Moonstone the promotion Save the bees with Maya the Bee with supermarket chain rewe in Germany, the important topic also has a reach and a visibility that gives it the necessary attention. This campaign involved more than 4300 German rewe stores and reached over 40 million customer contacts.

(Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V.) and its insect protection fund since 2020. NABU has been committed to the protection of insects for years. With its expertise and great commitment, NABU is a strong partner for Maya the Bee’s Project Poppy Meadow, which includes a digital environmental education programme with numerous tips for effective insect

protection measures.

Mia and me - The Hero of Centopia

The Maya the Bee - Project Poppy Meadow has been established since 2018. It wants to inform parents and their children about bees in a playful way and show them what they can do to protect the insects.

Last but not least, to support Maya’s efforts in nature conservation and to leverage the changes of consumer behaviour that arise from the neo-ecology mega trend, Studio 100 Media has pushed ahead ecological aspects in the value chain of all exploitation departments. That’s why it has envisaged a new ecosustainability style guide: a special tool that supports producing eco-friendly and sustainable products regarding design, packaging and materials like wood, stone, cork or felt or already recycled materials, but also leverages sales with promotional icon or logo lock-up.

100% Wolf - The Movie

100% WOLF AND ITS GROWING SUCCESS

“100% Wolf” as a brand, a movie and a series is a unique action-adventure buddy/best friend comedy, serving the trending topic of mythical creatures in a gender-neutral way with a very distinctive main character and a strong message with high social relevance: Heroes come in many forms!

The feature film “100% Wolf” is going to be released around the globe this year and early next year - in the territories of Australia, the Balkan states, Belgium, Bulgaria, the CIS states, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latin America, the Middle East states, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the UK, the US and Vietnam. The series “100% Wolf - The Legend of the Moonstone” will be available in Moldova, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy, San Marino and Latin America.

MIA AND ME, NEW CONTENT PLANNED ON 2021

Mia, the heroine in Centopia is already a role model for many girls and this aspect is going to be implemented for the positioning of the brand.

New releases are also on the way, as the feature film “Mia and me – The Hero of Centopia” and the 4th season, which are already in production and will be completed next year.

The feature film will surpass the look of the series once again and bring many new characters - such as Stormy and Hookface - two new unicorns; as with the fourth season there will also be a new look to the artwork.

Like the first three seasons, the new adventures will be shown again on ZDF and KiKA in the German-speaking territories. The completion of the theatrical feature and the 4th season is planned for 2021. The 15 international Mia and me YouTube channels have recently reached the incredible 1 billion video views mark.