Licensing News - what’s hot in licensed products

Golden Bear joins the Club

Golden Bear has signed as plush partner for The Baby Club, in a deal brokered by Rockpool Licensing. The third season of the hit BBC commission launched last month and is presented by Giovanna Fletcher and Nigel Clarke. An on-screen baby club, the show is broadcast twice daily on CBeebies. As a regular feature in the CBeebies top viewing charts, The Baby Club has been a major success since its launch in 2019 and has become a lifeline for little ones and their grown-ups, especially during lockdown.

Golden Bear will be developing plush based on the growing family of characters featured in the show, beginning with Baby Bear, who appears with Giovanna and Nigel and stars in all activities, play, songs and stories.

Emojis come to town

In a partnership with the emoji company GmbH, digital studio WildBrain Spark is producing emojitown, a series targeted at teens and young adults. WildBrain Spark, which holds exclusive global distribution rights to the new series, premiered emojitown on YouTube with a dedicated channel at the end of May. The series is being supported with extensive digital marketing, paid-media campaigns and dedicated social media strategies. WildBrain Spark will also exclusively handle branded content opportunities and advertising sales for emojitown on YouTube. WildBrain’s licensing agency, WildBrain CPLG, will handle worldwide licensing and merchandising rights for emojitown and develop products across key categories for teens and young adults.

Fanattik signs

Hasbro deal Building on Bing’s success

Acamar Films is expanding its UK licensing programme as appetite for Bing, the multi-award-winning hit preschool show, continues to grow. Last year demand for Bing consumer products enjoyed an 11% year-on-year increase (Kidz Global, 0-6 years, Oct 2020 vs Oct 2019).

This year Acamar Films has welcomed strategic new categories to the consumer product programme taking the UK licensing portfolio up to 25 licensees. 2021 will see new partner Solent launch bathtime and dental products and children’s audio system tonies will be delivering an audio storytelling experience, slated for a 2022 release. Master toy partner Golden Bear saw an impressive 115% year-on-year sales growth for Bing in 2020 and is expanding Bing’s world in 2021, introducing Nicky, a new character from the latest series, and siblings Coco and Charlie to the range. New lines for Autumn/Winter include a musical dancing Bing and a large playset of Bing’s House. For the very fi rst time, bath toys, with the new wind-up Bathtime Boat, are set to make a splash at retail. 8th Wonder has a raft of new wooden toys and games to add to its Bing range, marking the Bing Skittles and Carry Along House as high performers.

MV Sports will be widening its retail footprint with additional listings of wheeled and outdoor toys, in time to greet the warmer weather.

Pop culture specialist Fanattik has signed a gift licence with Hasbro for both Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons.

Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons have millions of fans around the globe. With an upcoming Magic: The Gathering Netfl ix series, a live-action Dungeons & Dragons fi lm, and video games featuring both on the horizon, even more people are likely to be brought together by these games.

The Fanattik range will cover money boxes, clocks, barware, gifts and collectables.