6 minute read
The Growing World of Guru Studios
Guru Studio, the Toronto-based entertainment powerhouse recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Founded and led by President and Executive Creative Director Frank Falcone, the studio has brought to life some of the world’s most successful children’s IP, including its hit preschool series True and the Rainbow Kingdom. Over the course of two decades, Guru Studio has become renowned for creating, developing and producing awardwinning hit shows that captivate and inspire kids and families all over the world. Shows such as Dino Paws, Ever After High, and even the 2018 Oscar nominated feature film The Breadwinner were all brought to life by the +400 artists who make up the talented team at Guru Studio. Most recently, Guru announced it’s working on Chris Nee’s (DocMcStuffin) newest series Dino Daycare for Netflix, as well as an exciting new series with Sesame Workshop called Mecha Builders, the first animated spin off of Sesame Street for HBO Max. And of course, Guru is in production on the eighth season of the global phenomenon and consumer products smash hit PAW Patrol for Spin Master and Nickelodeon.
But where the studio has experienced its most significant growth is in developing its roster of original IP.
“Our focus over the last few years has been to create and develop new, original IP based on strong characters and storytelling,” said Frank Falcone. “Beginning with Justin Time which continues to rate extremely well in over a hundred countries around the world, we’re now also seeing tremendous success with True and the Rainbow Kingdom.” It’s True and the Rainbow Kingdom where the company is experiencing growth on the licensing front as well. The hit Netflix Original series is produced by Guru Studio based on the artwork of world renowned artists FriendsWithYou, and is Executive Produced by Pharrell Williams. The colorful series follows 8-year-old True and her hilarious best friend Bartleby the cat, as they come to the rescue of the Rainbow Kingdom’s whimsical citizens. True is the only one that can unleash the power of the Magical Wishes from the Wishing Tree in order to set things right and keep all the residents safe. True and Bartleby’s adventures empower both boys and girls to be mindful, courageous and respectful of all living things - themes which are also embodied in much of FriendsWithYou’s artwork.
Following its successful launch on Netflix worldwide, the hit preschool series has very quickly become a breakout hit on linear TV channels around the world. It’s now gearing up for the next phase of its global growth strategy as it prepares to roll out a full consumer products program for TRUE internationally later this year. “We’ve seen worldwide demand for TRUE products skyrocket over the last year,” said Jonathan Abraham, VP of Sales and Business Development at Guru Studio. “Families are falling in love with the colorful and imaginative world we’ve created, and it’s no surprise that ratings are soaring.” The series continues to be a breakout hit with broadcasters. In Canada, True and the Rainbow Kingdom is a top rated property on public broadcaster CBC Kids, and is currently the #2 Kids Property on CBC’s AVOD + SVOD platform GEM, up 46 percent this year alone. In the UK on Tiny Pop, the show very quickly rose to become a consistently top 5 property, and a high contributor to the channel’s overall growth. The show reaches roughly 2 million kids per month on average in the UK alone. On Gloob in Brazil, True and the Rainbow Kingdom is the 2nd highest rated series with girls amongst all Pay TV Kids channels. “In today’s crowded landscape, you need to be everywhere to break through.” said Abraham, “We premiered on Netflix which laid an incredible base for audiences to discover the series. With the launch on linear TV in local markets and the explosive growth of our YouTube channel, we’re seeing the brand really take off. It’s truly a winning combination.” On YouTube, the show’s official channel has reached over half a billion views with new content rolling out multiple times per week. Four seasons of the series are currently airing on Netflix and on linear television in over a hundred countries. The series also delivers a wide mix of content formats for kids including full episodes, seasonal specials, shorts and music videos. “Our amazing seasonal content has been a big driver of year round interest in the brand,” said Abraham. “We have Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Summer specials giving us a full year of incredible timely messages to rally around. Our Halloween special is a family favorite and every year we see thousands of TRUE themed costumes posted on social media where the whole family gets involved.” TRUE costumes officially launched three years ago at select retailers, such as Party City, Spirit Halloween and Fun.com. All three years, costumes have sold out. The series has also inspired a line of best selling plush by Aurora World, and story books and activity books by Bendon and Chouette. ≠Earlier this year, the studio announced it had appointed its master toy partner United Smile, led by Josue Rosenzweig, the former joint venture partner and executive at Hasbro and previously founder and CEO of Smart Christmas Solutions (SCS) and Toy Plus. A full line of figures, playsets, vehicles, plush and musical dolls based on the popular series are ready to roll out in select markets starting this Fall. “Josue and his team have decades of experience in the toy industry. In just a few short months United Smile has developed and tooled a really unique and exciting product line that we know kids will love. ” said Abraham. United Smile is partnering with leading distributors to bring to market the robust toy line. The global distributors already on board include Bandai in the UK and Spain, Giochi Preciocci in Greece, Imports Dragon in Canada and the US, First Group in the Middle East with the support of Spacetoon, Toyrrific in Israel, Token Toys in Mexico, and Big Balloon in Australia with the support of Haven Licensing who will be launching the line exclusively at Target. In the UK, bRAND-WARD represents True and the Rainbow Kingdom across all consumer products categories, and they have already lined up several top licensees. FashionUK are launching clothing and accessories and Aykroyds and TDP are developing the nightwear, Roy Lowe are doing hosiery, Imagine8 are doing a range of fashion and hair accessories. Smiffys are on board for dress up and Warner Music Group have launched a line-up of albums and songs based on the popular hit series, which has already had over five million streams on Spotify since the launch of the first True album, TRUE Tunes. “Kids are really falling in love with TRUE and we’re seeing demand for products all across social media. We get flooded with emails asking when and where they can buy official merchandise.” said Abraham. “The licensing world is really starting to take notice and we’re getting inbound requests all the time. We’re excited to announce some new partners that will bring TRUE to even more families around the world.”
