News from the marketplace

NEWS FROM IBERIA

Pocoyo, the series created by Spanish production studio Zinkia, will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2022 in excellent form. The animated character has not only managed to garner a loyal global audience, but continues to grow and expand its international presence through important broadcasting agreements. Thus, the latest season of the series, its fourth, is having a magnificent reception by channels around the world, including Spain’s TVE, Panda and RAI, which have premiered the new episodes to great acclaim. Capitalising on the wave of expectation generated, Zinkia has already begun the production of new episodes which will be available in early 2023. Pocoyo has become established as one of the most outstanding brands in the children entertainment industry. Alongside the four seasons of the series (52x7), Pocoyo has a 25-minute short “Pocoyo and the Space Circus,” the production “Pocoyo: your first film,” and 45 pieces of special content, over 80 songs and numerous different derivative products. The series is currently present in 25 VoD platforms and in September Disney+ will incorporate it to its offering in several European countries. Pocoyo is also available in HBO Max and Cartoon Network in the USA and LatAm, as well as the EMEA region and multiple territories through Amazon, Netflix and Rakuten, among others. In addition, it can be streamed via YouTube, where it reaches new milestones every year and currently has over 36 million subscribers. However, Pocoyo’s transmedia appeal goes even further, as it has surpassed 92 million downloads of its apps and become a social media superstar, with several million followers on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. This notable projection has brought with it excellent commercial results for current license holders. Among others, it is worth highlighting the excellent reception enjoyed by the toy line launched by Bandai. In addition, this has opened the doors to a new collaboration with traditional licensees like Clementoni, and the expansion of current deals with large retailers like El Corte Inglés. Pocoyo has a massive and fiercely loyal audience which generates significant opportunities to develop a broad range of new licences in children’s segments, including education, toys and garments. In parallel to Pocoyo’s success, Zinkia continues to work on the launch of new properties, such as the productions “Yanco, Dina and the Dinosaurs” and “Ghost Bros,” which will soon be available in the licensing market. Sophie la girafe has been accompanying babies in the USA for over 20 years, and became a license 11 years ago. During these 11 beautiful years, Sophie la girafe has developed many products around the world to cover all of baby’s needs. Expanding her family in Spain and Portugal from France had become too restraining, which is why she looked for an agent based in Spain or Portugal. The goal of the Spanish and Portuguese agent is to support her in carefully developing new categories of high-quality products that could appeal to babies and parents alike. Sophie la girafe has now been supported in Spain and Portugal by Caravanserai since April 2020. Her wish was to join with the best quality agents. After two years now, this partnership as proven to be great. Thanks to Caravanserai one licensee have recently joined Sophie’s family. Micuento, a brand specializing in customizable books. Micuento launched its personalized book with Sophie la girafe in November in Spain, France and Italy.

BLE 2022 coincides with the celebration of Art Ask’s 20th anniversary as an independent brand licensing agency.

With headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, The company works worldwide with a well-established network of prominent licensees. They pride themselves in maintaining long term relationships, both with brand owners and licensees and being unique in our approach to lifestyle licensing in order to help our customers to stand out and be distinctive. Their represented brands actually have not changed much over the recent years. They stay focused on partnerships with The Frida Kahlo Corporation, Anne Stokes Collection, Brandalised, Pets Rock and some others for different territories. A newcomer for art ask agency and for the licensing arena this year is the Spanish fashion designer brand Custo Barcelona. They will present Custo for the first time at this BLE. With over 40 years of presence on international cat walks and with a very distinct design style Art Ask believes the Custo brand can reach well beyond apparel, into home decor, gifting, jewelry, fragrance and many other categories. Some specific Spanish highlights are: the Frida Kahlo brand with Spain’s leading supermarket chain Mercadona. This collaboration has been going for some years now with products specifically for their well assorted personal care section. Other retailers featuring Frida Kahlo, the iconic women’s brand, are El Corte Ingles that carries products from Grupo Erik, a long-standing partner, as well as apparel in the Green Coast section. El Corte Ingles also stocks Frida Kahlo books, stationery and gift items. This year also saw the in-store Frida Kahlo promotion, targeted at kids, at large book store chain La Casa del Libro. A giant Frida Kahlo from licensee Kalidoscopio was placed in stores for photo opportunities and colouring activities for children. The Anne Stokes Collection has high end figurines by Spanish licensee Dream Figures who are about to launch their second collection this Autumn and Heraclio Fournier/Bicycle, a local long standing Anne Stokes Collection partner with worldwide distribution of their very popular poker and tarot decks. Also strong in the Spanish market is DTR partner EMP, with EU and UK distribution, who launched their Anne Stokes x Gothicana apparel and accessories collection at the end of 2021. After the success of the first campaign, the second launch will take place this Autumn 2022. For Brandalised, alongside the established distribution of merchandise in cultural retailers such as FNAC in Spain, Art Ask has major news with a new DTR collaboration with iconic fashion brand, GUESS? Inc, with worldwide distribution in their own stores, franchise stores and GUESS online, including Spain where GUESS is very popular, which will launch in October 2022. After three years of not exhibiting at BLE Art Ask is very excited to finally go back and meet and greet all their partners in person and to increase their network of contacts with new brand owners, licensees and retailers. Edebé Licensing have a number of new properties they are bringing to Iberia market. Iconic Fraggle Rock Characters, with their new series Fraggle Rock, Back to the Rock on Apple TV is a key brand for Edebé. Several licensing agreements have already been signed including plush, slippers, and different agreements are being negotiated for DTR Fast Fashion. After the success of the Dakar licensing program, ASO has relied on Edebé Licensing to build the Tour de France brand Licensing program in Iberia. The company is already in advanced negotiations for licensing agreements in the categories of lifestyle apparel, children’s bicycles, accessories, etc. Marking the 30th anniversary of its creation, a licensing program is being built in the form of a tribute to Tois. PANINI, with its Tois album sticker, has been the first to launch a collection in the market with resounding success, and is already preparing new releases. And a DTR deal has been signed for Fast Fashion, while new deals are being finalized for gift and accessory categories. In terms of existing licenses, Santoro continues to be a top license, with the iconic Gorjuss still very present in the market and consolidating itself as a classic property, including key licensees such as El Corte Inglés, Safta,

Aznar Innova, Planeta De Agostini and Stor, among others, which continue renewing and refreshing their collections with a very good reaction in the marketplace. Mirabelle is another of the Santoro Properties that has enjoyed a great reaction in the market. Safta have recently renewed their BTS license, together with Benetton, and many others. Also noteworthy is the successful performance of the Poppi Loves property, especially with the stationery collection and BTS developed by DOHE. On a different note, Catalina Estrada is performing very well Internationally. Catalina Estrada has more than 60 licensees and the latest deals include Gibson puzzles (puzzles), Cuatro Gotas (umbrellas, fans, shopping bags, mugs), Loyalty programs, Free Spirits (fabrics) among others. In addition, Edebé has signed stationery, teapots and cups with Australian licensee Ladelle. Also noteworthy is the Brigitte Bardot license, which has enjoyed excellent sales results in categories such as lingerie, Fast Fashion, and cosmetics, among other categories in other countries, and in Iberia, Edebé will soon announce new licensees for fast fashion, stationery and accessories for personal care. In addition, a strawberry cream beverage has been created by Spanish licensee Espadafor.

Consumer Product Connection

represents the rights for Gigantosaurus in Spain. Produced by CyberGroup Studios, and with 3 seasons available, the TV series has been reaching a huge audience in Spain, through a multi platform broadcasting (CLAN TV, Disney Junior, Netflix, Youtube). A strong licensing program is already established in the market, with several product categories launched including Jakks Pacific as Master Toy, the official video game with Bandai Namco, Panini for sticker albums and magazinea, Clementoni, Ravensburger, Stor, Apparel with United Essentials, Ediciones Fortuna with the local version of the book collection, Toimsa with bikes, and a great cosmetic set at Mercadona partnering with Jugavi. On top of that, a new toy range from United Smile (whose local distributor will be confirmed soon) is being developed based based on the second season to be launched in Q2 2023! SuperMasked is an animated superhero saga developed by the Spanish studio Maya Studio that will show kids that you don’t need to be perfect to be a superhero. A mix of comedy and epic battles, the Supermasked characters have one primary defect - they don’t know how to use their superpowers. The strategic toy development partner, Eolo Toys, through its local Master Toy, Color Baby, launched the first toy products in June in all the best retailers. The Stretchy Figurines won the Gold medal at the 2022 independent Toy Awards, in the Novelty category, and have been launched with a huge marketing campaign (TV, Digital, Youtubers, Influencers etc). A playset is now being developed for the Christmas Campaign with more developments for 2023. Over and above that, a collaboration with sugar free energy drinks is being planned for Christmas 22, and Panini has signed on for a range of collectables for February 23, and is developing several publishing formats. United Essentials is also on board developing a fresh range of apparel products. Two seasons of 10 episodes each are being produced to strengthen the brand, broadcast on Clan TV´s digital platforms, and several Youtube channels (Clan, Color Baby, Trackatoon). In addition, a fighting app game is available on both iOS and GooglePlay. Color Baby is now launching in Portugal, having reached an agreement with Cartoon Network to broadcast the content. While Consumer Product Connection is developing the licensing programme in Spain, it has appointed several subagents around the world as the product range will be available globally during 2022-2023.

Carlos Biern has joined the DeAPlaneta Entertainment team as Content and Distribution Director of the Kids & Family division. Reporting directly to Diego Ibañez, Chief Brand Officer, Carlos Biern will accelerate the company’s trajectory, enlarge the DeAPlaneta Kids & Family portfolio of quality animated series with original productions, coproductions and acquisitions and position the brand

on TV channels and OTT platforms globally. Carlos Biern, former President of DIBOOS (the Spanish Federation of Animation and Visual Effects Producers), has vast experience as a creator, executive producer and business developer for animated series. His credits include some of the top award-winning coproductions in Europe, North America and Asia. Over the past decade, Carlos Biern led creative and commercial, audiovisual, digital, interactive and merchandising teams at renowned animation companies including BRB Internacional (Spain) and Toonz Media Group, (a leading multinational with animation and interactive studios in India, Ireland, Spain, Turkey and New Zealand). Carlos Biern will use his global view of content development and management, and his Asian market experience to expand DeAPlaneta Entertainment’s reach into new and growing markets in both production and distribution. He will also pay particular attention to digital IPs targeting young audiences, plus videoon-demand platforms and immersive environments. Carlos Biern declared, “It’s a dream to join an international team with so much experience and success in the creation and expansion of family brands. Our mission will be to create and identify major successes capable of merging digital and the latest creative trends, without ever losing sight of our core interactive audience.” Diego Ibáñez adds: “Carlos Biern is one of the most experienced European producers in the field of international animation, having worked in both the public and private sectors. His incorporation into the Kids & Family team is a great boost at a time of major growth for DeAPlaneta.”

Ypsilon Licensing manages licensing and publishing rights of animated brands in Spain and Portugal in coordination with the right holders developing a comprehensive long term business plan which includes online and offline cross promotion, social media and retail events. The company operates as a bridge between the international partners and the local broadcasters in order to secure the best slots for the property, building a strategy for licensing and publishing across multiple platforms with the producers and licensees. Ypsilon manages key relationships with TV networks, SVOD platforms, master toy companies, licensees and retailers, illustrators, fashion designers and influencers, negotiates and structures the deals including all commercial, financial, legal and artwork follow up. Ypsilon Licensing was born as a joint venture between Ypsilon Films and Multitrade Group in order to expand global opportunities in the kids enter-

tainment and licensing business which includes online promotions, marketing and social media activities, magazines as well as retail events. They share the goals and vision of our international partners and clients and we are committed to the success of each property. The mother company Ypsilon Films is a leading Barcelona based distribution company which acquires and markets iconic international brands and high profile programming via partnerships with production and distribution companies for the exploitation of Television and SVOD rights in Iberia as well as for the TV sale of selected programs in Europe, Israel, The Middle East, Latin America and Asia. Ypsilon offers a line up of major animated brands, family movies and kids game shows maximising the IP revenue and developing tailor-made brand management solutions for the property. Television sales include Miraculous Ladybug, Alvinnn!!!&The Chipmunks, Hey Duggee, Beyblade Burst, Petronix Defenders, Pinocchio, Little Prince, Iron Man, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Octonauts, Monchhichi, Jungle Bunch and many more. Roberto Mitrani is Co-Founder of Ypsilon Films and CEO and Co-Founder of Ypsilon Licensing. The team brings a solid domestic and international market experience in television and SVOD distribution, new media rights exploitation, brand management of iconic

properties, sales and acquisitions of television brands, co-productions, financing and Executive Production of animated series and live action films with international partners such as Universal Studios, Endemol, Viacom, Warnermedia, The Walt Disney Company and BBC Films among others. The latest brands managed by Ypsilon Licensing are Hey Duggee and Beyblade Burst. . The three seasons of BBC’s Hey Duggee were sold by Ypsilon Films to Clan TVE, Amazon and HBO in Spain. Canal Panda Spain was already onboard. The brand has been on air since September 2020 in the leading family channel Clan reaching the number one spot among all preschool series in the 1st and 2nd quarter as per TVE ratings breakdown. Ypsilon Licensing has brought on-

board the leading toy company Bizak which distributes the Golden Bear toys and Educa Borras, Stor and Safta are already onboard. Ypsilon Licensing co-ordinates all operations and long term strategy among Clan, BBC Studios, Bizak and new licensees will be announced soon. A comprehensive marketing campaign online and offline is launched nationwide with the support of BBC Studios. The 6 seasons ADK’s series Beyblade Burst is managed by Ypsilon Films with the Free to Air TV network Boing in Spain. Hasbro is worldwide Master Toy and the success of the property is beyond expectations with the 6th season on air and more to come. Ypsilon Licensing manages all licensing rights and is responsible of the strategy with Warnermedia and and ADK. Ypsilon Films manages the TV opportunities.

WildBrain CPLG Iberia has become home to a robust slate of classic brands, with an increasingly strong line-up of properties with a rich heritage, including Peanuts, Pink Panther, Sesame Street, Hello Kitty, Sonic the Hedgehog and Ghostbusters. WildBrain CPLG Iberia is a hub of experts with extensive local knowledge and understanding on how to grow and extend these classic brands into new areas, with the team continually evolving and delivering long-term revenue for partners. Across its classic property portfolio, WildBrain CPLG has secured an array of longterm partnerships with leading fashion retailers, such as Zara, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Lefties, Mango and Women’s Secret. In Spain and Portugal, the team continues to grow the merchandise offering for MGM’s Pink Panther, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2024, with campaigns and marketing activity launching in the region from June 2023. New partners for this classic brand include Dohe for stationery and back-to school items, Artesania Cerdá for apparel and accessories, and Desigual for a global fashion range targeting women and girls. These new partners build on the existing long-term partnerships with Women’Secret for sleepwear and loungewear; Bimbo for the iconic “La Pantera Rosa” pastry; Zara, Lefties and El Corte Inglés for fashion apparel; Funiglobal for costumes; La Ibense for ice cream desserts; and Grupo Moya for plush figures. The iconic Sonic the Hedgehog continues to take centre stage in the team’s entertainment property roster with the launch of the new SEGA and WildBrain IP Sonic Prime, which will see the all-new animated series debuting on Netflix at the end of the year. The team has recently secured an array of new local deals for the brand, including toys and games, back-toschool, gifts and accessories. Moreover, the recently announced launch of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, due to hit cinemas in December 2024, has brought new promotional partners on board, creating a very robust licensing program for the world-renowned blue hedgehog. Another important local focus is Hello Kitty and the Sanrio Friends characters. In 2024, Hello Kitty will celebrate its 50th anniversary milestone and there are already a number of partners signed across a vast array of categories including, Famosa, Claudio Reig, Colorbaby and Toimsa for toys and games; Stor and Nerthus for homewares; Safta and Angel Europa for back-to-school and paper products; Joumma Bags for travel accessories; Macadamia, Flexmetal and Eurocarnavales for partyware; and Dixon for pet accessories. Alongside this, Airval, Lorenay and Cepillería Bamar are on board for health & beauty with; ABC Parts for car accessories; Industrias Plásticas Igor and Calzados Ria for footwear; Kids Licensing and Merka for gifting; Personal World for mobile accessories; Lladró for porcelain figures; Dolci Preziosi and Risi for confectionery and cookies; as well as Editorial Bruño for publishing. Key fashion retailers also continue to launch designs from these beloved brands, including Zara, Lefties, Cortefiel, Springfield, Pull&Bear and Bershka. Within its Lifestyle property line-up, WildBrain CPLG Iberia continues to enjoy significant success with Harvard and Yale university brands in the region. In the fashion category, key partners include Pull&Bear, Zara, El Corte Inglés and Stradivarius, and additional cross-category partners have been secured, including Grupo Erik for paper products and gifts, and Artesania Cerda for apparel and accessories. WildBrain CPLG Iberia’s representation portfolio continues to expand, and the team has recently welcomed new partners, including the wellknown brand that inspires creativity, Crayola.