What’s happening in the marketplace

TOP LICENSES IN GERMANY

Ranking based on the results of the Kids Licenses Monitor, Waves 2015 II / III / IV with a total n = 1,200 children aged 4 – 12 years. Top box rating “Like a lot” on a 5-point-scale

Listen to Bibi & Tina

Audio plays are still a very German content format. Audio plays are not to be confused with audio books: These plays feature a number of voice talents, sound effects, music & songs! Over the years, the category has created some very strong brands and its own heroes such as Bibi & Tina, and they expand into other media categories. But still: Content to listen to is massively successful in Germany, and it is always worth looking at this very specific market. Just take a look at the Tonie Box … In 2020, with so much time to be filled, this category with its unique heroes and heroines gained ground once more.

Tom & Jerry, Lion King, Mickey Mouse - don’t forget the Classics

It is understandable that marketers always look for the next big thing: Who wants to ride an old or even dead horse. So I dare say hardly anyone had Tom & Jerry on their list for 2015 – but that was a huge mistake. The simple explanation behind this phenomenon: Tom & Jerry was aired in the early evening prime time on Super RTL, one of Germany’s most successful kids TV channels, and TV can even make old stuff a hype on the schoolyards. Behind Lion King and Mickey Mouse is a different story: These two don’t have the coolness of the funny and rule breaking Tom & Jerry, but they are nevertheless relevant. Not for the schoolyard, but for home products. So sometimes the old classics are more promising than newer licenses: They can build on a solid fan base and will be relevant for longer …

Prinzessin Lillifee, Topmodel & Ostwind – is Germany still so different?

You’ll probably have heard about the lovely Princess Lillifee, the sympathetic little fairy princess. But unless your German, you might not know Ostwind – a tweenager franchise based on two movies about the friendship between a rebellious girls and a horse. Together with the design driven Topmodel these two are actually the only truly German franchises in the Top Ten lists. It is no big surprise that all three are for girls: These properties were developed for the domestic market, and with a smaller budget. All other top licenses are BIG, and BIG excites boys even more than girls. So Germany is losing more and more of its specialness in the international context because the blockbuster IPs occupy the center stage now. Nevertheless, there are German properties coming up all the time, even though they are not represented in the Top Ten. And how this works is demonstrated nicely by Prinzessin Lillifee, Topmodel & Ostwind: All three originate from books or other publishing products. So Germany is still different: Our printmarket can create licensing heroes at least in specific segments.

So what’s coming next? Will 2021become a normal licensing year?

I really hope so, because there is so much space for new brands. Specifically for boys aged 5-10 years who crave something fresh, while girls have Miraculous at least, as a comparatively new brand.

Universal in Germany are entering the new year with great enthusiasm, new content and a number of retailer campaigns. In Summer, the most successful animation franchise of all time will enter the next round: Minions 2 - The Rise of Gru will celebrate its first commercial release on July 1, 2021. In order to get the maximum attention of the popular yellow chaos among the target group, Universal Pictures is implementing a gigantic international marketing campaign. Beyond the film release, the Minions will continue to be exciting with recurring product campaigns, such as Banana Day at Easter, Back to School at the start of school or Yellow Friday at Christmas. The success story of the DreamWorks Animation TV series Spirit: wild and free continues: In May 2021 the animated feature film Spirit Untamed with the girl Lucky and her horse Spirit will be shown as an international first release. After Playmobil and many other licensees have already opted for the IP, Mattel, as a new Master Toy Partner, is also launching a comprehensive range of products for girls aged between four and eight years. The product launch will be supported by comprehensive marketing and trade communication campaigns including give-aways for fans, as well as a comprehensive Christmas product campaign. Until the launch of Jurassic World: Dominion in 2022, Universal will continue to expand the franchise in the coming year with plenty of new content and support product sales through target group-focused marketing and strong retail campaigns: Digital content around the clock, numerous Influencer activities, as well as three content drops with new episodes of the Netflix series Jurassic World - Camp Cretaceous will delight fans. In addition, Mattel and LEGO, among others, are launching innovative new products, which will also be accompanied by extensive advertising measures. In addition to a creative Easter campaign, the team around Kathrin Brandhorst, Regional Director Northern Europe, will repeat the Dino Days in summer 2021, which have been very successfully established in the retail trade, and at Christmas will provide many Jurassic World products under the Christmas trees with strong retail cooperations. In addition to these major highlights in 2021, there are many other activities for other IPs in Universal’s portfolio, including a new film from the Fast & Furious series next spring, and the continuation of the TV series Dragons for younger dragon fans. There will also be many new product highlights with themes from the Universal film catalogue, most notably the cult classic Back to the Future. The German Universal Consumer Products team, headed by Kathrin Brandhorst, is based in Munich and has been responsible for all licensing activities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since October 2017. In October 2020 the team also took over responsibility for the Benelux and Nordic regions.

V.I.P. Hamburg reports its latest deal for Frederick & Co. with Toniebox, which holds already the largest variety of popular licenses for its very innovative and best-selling audio gimmick for kids. The stories around Frederick and his friends are planned to be launched in the second half of 2021, most probably also in the U.K. and U.S. The decision was helped for Toniebox

as sales of Lionni´s first audio dramatizations on CD by soared beyond expectations, according to Angela Zehe of Germanys Edel Kids. The licensing agents for Leo Lionni´s classic works, Hamburg-based V.I.P. Entertainment & Merchandising AG, is about to sign deals for a broad range of activities books, after having inked a deal with ArsEdition for Baby Albums. Furthermore licenses for memory, puzzles and card games, plus and soft dolls, educational and wooden toys are in the pipeline, V.I.P.´s CEO Michael A. Lou explained. Leo Lionni´s books by Penguin RandomHouse sold over 20 million copies in 20 languages and despite the fact that the author died over 20 years ago his books still rank among the best sold picture books for children in many markets. The property is aimed at a core audience of children aged 3 to 7, as well as their caregivers.

The Brand Residence is a team of brand experts with extensive experience in licensing and brand extension. The agency is based in Munich and headed by Marlies Rasl. Through many years of cooperation with well-known brand owners, renowned film and TV production companies, as well as leading companies in the entertainment industry, the team has excellent market knowledge and cross-industry brand know-how. The Brand Residence is the exclusive global licensing agency for Lufthansa. The agency represents brands such as the van Gogh Museum, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) with Team Germany, the PEZ brand or the upcoming cinema highlights Hui Buh and the Witches’ Castle, Laura’s Star and Jim Knopf. The Munich-based ADAC e.V. (Europe’s largest mobility club with more than 21 million members) has appointed TBR The Brand Residence GmbH to market its brand rights under licensing. The ADAC is a strong brand with clear positioning, credible and tangible values as well as a high level of awareness and acceptance. The brand has a high recognition value and significant relevance, not only for the more than 21 million members, but also for nonmembers. ADAC owes its brand strength to its

excellent reputation and its distinctive core competence in the field of breakdown and emergency assistance. With over 1.7 million books and audios sold, Die kleine Apfelhexe is a successful and popular children’s book series written by Sabine Städing. Now Petronella Applewitch is also inspiring its fans as a TV series. Successful producer Akkord Film (Die Heinzels, Die Häschenschule (A Day at Bunny School), Der kleine Rabe Socke (Raven the Little Rascal) has produced a 39-episodes animation series of 11 minutes each for 5 to 8-year-old children in co-production with SERU Animation and ZDF. The series was broadcasted on KiKA (children’s TV channel) in autumn 2020, followed by TV broadcasting on ZDF every Sunday (until mid of January 2021). With Leonine for German-language home entertainment and Lübbe Audio for the radio plays for the series, there are already strong partners on board. The first two radio play CDs were already released at the end of September. Two further CDs will follow monthly until the end of the year. The first episodes are already available on DVD. Since summer 2020, The Brand Residence has been acting as licensing agency for the new movies from Rat Pack & Warner Bros. Pictures. These include Jim Knopf und Die Wilde 13, which was released in German cinemas on 1 October, the live-action film Laura’s Star, which is planned to launch in December 2021, and the fantasy film Hui Buh and the Witches’ Castle, which is currently scheduled to be released in autumn 2021.

Studio 100 are growing their Maya the Bee program. The protection of insects and the preservation of biodiversity are matters of concern to us all. What is important is to integrate effective measures into everyday life as easily as possible, to impart knowledge and to convince the heart not just the head that preservation is essential today and for future generations. More than any other bee, Maya the Bee as an ambassador is giving a face to bee protection. Studio 100’s, Maya and her bee protection initiative has been supporting NABU (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. Joint activities and communication campaigns are planned as part of the cooperation. In order to draw attention to the enormous importance and threat posed to insects, NABU has, for example, launched the nationwide “Insect Summer” campaign in Germany: There has been strong interest from licensing partners such as Privatmolkerei Bauer, licensee of the official Maya the Bee yoghurt in Germany. In addition, Blue Ocean Entertainment, a brand-new magazine partner of Maya and XOX Snacks are also recent partners.

This year Studio 100 will internationalise Project Poppy Meadow, starting with Poland. Studio 100 plans to hand-out a special style guide 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 a promotional icon or logo lock-up. Pepco strengthened its children’s fashion ranges with a new Maya the Bee collection, thanks to Planeta Junior and Studio 100 Media. The collection hit the market in the last quarter of 2020. The contract includes all categories - clothing, footwear, accessories, luggage, stationery, homeware and home textiles. The range will be available in over 1,900 Pepco stores in Central and Eastern European countries. On a different note, Mia and Me now has a feature film and a fourth season now in production, to be completed this year. The new adventures will be shown on ZDF and KiKA in German speaking territories. The completion of the feature film and the fourth season is planned for this year. In addition, the 15 International Mia and Me YouTube channels have recently reached 1 billion views. 100% Wolf is a brand, a movie and a series and is a unique action-adventure buddy/best friend comedy, covering 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 was partly released last year in a number of territories including 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.

Brands Licensing by G+J is Germany’s largest licensing agency for media brands with an annual revenue in retail sales of around €300 million. The company believes in the power of brands as they provide orientation, identification and symbolize lifestyle. They bring product and services of brands into people’s lives. Together with their partners, they develop products, assortments and services for their strong media and lifestyle brands such as Schöner Wohnen, Gala, Brigitte, Geo, Stern, Barbara, Landlust, Eltern, Chefkoch, Capital or Essen & Trinken. The core business areas are licenses for products and services, (e.g. Home & Living Collections for Schoner Wohnen, Barbara or Couch). In addition they are product producers (calendars and books for Geo) and international magazine licensees (eg Beef, Gala, Geo). As a result, their categories are staffed with industry experts such as home & living, food, fashion, beauty, family, leisure, Internaitonal publishing, entertainment (books, CD and DVD) and seals. As part of the Ad Alliance, they have access to the Germany’s largest advertising platform, that offers online, social, print and TV enormous coverage in almost all target groups.

Active Merchandising is a full service licensing agency specializing in developing customized licensing programs for a variety of different brands. The brand portfolio includes brands with an origin in publishing, animation, entertainment, design or digital. The Gruffalo is one of the classic brands that Active Merchandising has built up into a successful licensing brand with a solid merchandise program. The program covers all major licensing categories from puzzles and games, apparel, audio, digital and ondemand products to retail and marketing cooperations with a number of key partners such as the German federal ministry of finance for the very first Gruffalo stamp, the interactive exhibition at the Museum of Speyer or the first Gruffalo trail in the garden show Bad Lippspringe. New products and licensees are joining the licensing program in 2021 including WOW Stuff with their very first Gruffalo toy line, Aurora with their full range of plush and Ravensburger with a selected range of puzzles and games. Another classic brand is Elmer, the Patchwork elephant. Whilst the book remains one of the most iconic and widely read children’s book series of all time, the merchandise business is just beginning to build in Germany. With a couple of licensees in publishing and stationery, Boxine has joined the program and will launch an Elmer tonie in Germany, in the UK and France. With his message “It’s ok to be different”, Elmer is more popular than ever. Molang was originally created as an emoticon before French animation studio Millimages produced a TV show and video clips to make Molang popular among the social media community. In just four years Molang has become a social media success and a merchandising brand that is just kicking off in Germany. With partners like Nelson, Panini, Spreadshirt already on board, Molang will make a huge step into the German market with one of the major toy partners who will launch a broad range of products in fall 2021. Chefclub – the eatertainment brand - is a French digital cooking brand with a global reach. The brand has grown rapidly worldwide to become the fastest growing global brand on social media. The brand has more than 1 billion organic views every month and more than 85 million followers worldwide, with more than 2.5 million in Germany. The first licensees are on board in Germany already, in publishing and

textiles, with some major announcements to follow later in the year. Finally, as of Jan 2021 Active Merchandising will represent the new IP WhamBlam from TAOA Studio on a pan-European basis. WhamBlam is a world of superheroes and villains living in a retro pop culture setting reminiscent of comic books of the 60’s and 70’s but with the modern day influence of technology and social media. The program will begin with a series of comic book stories followed by an animated series for TV, YouTube and movies. The creative head of WhamBlam is Anthony Williams, a former comic artist for both Marvel and DC, who brings a wealth of experience creating highly sophisticated illustration and stories.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s masterwork The Little Prince, with over 200 million sold copies in 300 languages since 1943, is not only the best selling children’s book of all times, but also a hero unlike other, capturing the hearts of all ages. Now Euro Lizenzen report that The Little Prince licensor is launching the Le Petit Prince day, which is the occasion of celebrating this phenomenal character around the world. The official day is June 29th, which is Saint Exupéry’s birthday, but the celebration will be from June to September of each year. This year’s theme is “Life Is An Adventure”. A special style guide with brand new illustrations and elements has been created for licensees and Euro Lizenzen is talking to leading partners around Europe.

Kiddinx is one of the leading kids’ specialists in Germany speaking countries. The company is the producer and worldwide unlimited rights owner of the popular animated characters Benjamin the Elephant, Bibi Blocksberg and Bibi & Tina. Kiddinx Media offers entertainment for children in Germany - and has done for over 40 years. In their online shop they sell and distribute, among other things, audio plays, music, cartoons and apps for kids and, as being the German license holder for the World Disney Company. Be it Benjamin the Elephant, Bibi Blocksberg, Bibi & Tina, The Worry Eaters, Leo Lausemaus, Wendy, or the Little Polar Bear - the Kiddinx brands can be found everywhere. The Kiddinx Media licensing team ensures that children can also play, cuddle and be creative with their radio and film heroes. Together with their licensing partners, Kiddinx is passionate about developing products that inspire children and parents. Properties include not only Kiddinx’s own brands Benjamin the Elephant, Bibi Blocksberg and Bibi & Tina, but also Mensch ärgere Dich nicht, Kniffel and Die Drei Magier. Gerd Hahn’s Worry Eaters and the colourful Gelini as well as the characters of cartoonist Ralph Ruthe. Kiddinx was voted Licensor/Agency of the Year in 2020 at the International German Awards. This year sees the 30th anniversary of Bibi & Tina. The characters have more than 492 million views on social media and are the basis for the Amazon Original series on Prime Video. There have also been four live-action feature films produced and more than 27 million audio stories for children have been sold. Plans for the anniversary include a new audio special, new products, promotions and marketing activities. New to the Kiddinx portfolio is Little Major Tom (Der Kleine Major Tom). The property targets boys and girls aged 7 to 10 and involves adventures in space, with professional advice from the DLF (German Aerospace Centre). To date there are twelve books of galactic adventures published together with four puzzle books, two Space School books, advent calendars, e-books and radio plays.

Peanuts Worldwide is collaborating with sports company PUMA for a line of footwear, apparel, and accessories for adults and kids featuring Charles M. Schulz’s classic characters. The deal was brokered by WildBrain CPLG’s German team. The PUMA x Peanuts adult offering sees the launch of classic PUMA styles adorned with members of the Peanuts gang including Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Woodstock in basketball inspired scenes. The clothing will bring a collection of tees, hoodies, and sweatpants for both men and women. The footwear includes the Future Rider and classic basketball style, the Ralph Sampson. Rounding out the adult items in the range are beanies and a backpack. The kids’ Peanuts collection encompasses visuals of the characters playing sports including baseball, football and more. In a variety of items for girls and boys, the collection features hats, backpacks, and classic T7 track suits. Key PUMA footwear styles including the Mirage Mox and Ralph Sampson will also be available in junior, preschool, and infant sizing. The PUMA x Peanuts collection is now available at PUMA.com and at PUMA stores and select retailers.