Latin America News

REDIBRA

When a challenge meets an experienced, creative and committed team, innovation comes as a natural. Prioritizing the well-being of employees, upon pandemic strike, Redibra shifted to a home office format. Four weeks later a weekly instagram live program - R.Talks - was launched bringing relevant content to partners through interviews with industry experts reaching 3000 views. Its content was later transcribed into a book and published in December. All the while the team kept strong and united - working and supporting licensees full steam. The agency welcomed Now United, Netflix and Moonbug (Cocomelon) to its selective portfolio, that also includes Coca-Cola, Nintendo, Chevrolet, Capricho, Care Bears, Galinha Pin-

tadinha (Lottie Dottie Chicken), Paul Frank, Keith Haring and Basquiat. Redibra also offers all of its expertise in a brand extension consulting service, ranging from big corporate brands to small creators that want to know more about the licensing universe. Even during such a challenging year, great partnerships have been created, such as Impala + Now United. Impala - a top local player - brought a selection of 14 nail polishes to the Brazilian fans of the musical group. The collection was specially developed for the “Uniters” with a vegan, hypoallergenic and cruelty-free formula. It was launched with a social media campaign that resulted in 37 million impressions, increasing Impala’s Instagram followers by 10%, equal to about 77,000 people. With 9 million units sold, retail sales surpassed US$3m. The nail polishes can be found in over 30.000 stores all over Brazil. Another great example is Keith Hering’s pet accessories collection with Zee.Dog. It was an unprecedented milestone in the Brazilian pet market, bringing together Keith Haring’s exceptional work with Zee.Dog’s innovative products. The collection comprises 15 items and is available at Zee Dog’s stores, pet markets and online stores in Brazil and in the US. They launched it on their social media, reaching over 450 thousand impressions. A brand that always surprises consumers, Coca-Cola joined forces with the traditional appliances brand in Brazil, Brastemp (Whirlpool), to offer a limited edition of an iconic Retro minibar, customized with the classic glass bottle and part of the Coca-Cola logo. This partnership began in Coca-Cola’s 2020 Christmas campaign through the ‘CocaCola Gifts’ promotion, in which consumers began to ask for the Coca-Cola minibar to be made available for sale. The demand grew even bigger after the minibar made an appearance at the insanely popular Big Brother Brazil in a sponsored activation Coca-Cola promoted at the reality show. Last but not least, it’s worth mentioning an adorable partnership: all of Care Bears’ cuteness was transformed into sweet fragrances by Água de Cheiro! The cosmetics company appealed to 80’s and 90’s nostalgia by bringing five fragrances in perfumes, body splashes, soaps and body lotions - all in fun packaging with the Care Bear characters. The perfumes were sold with a toy figurine of the characters in a cross collaboration with toy manufacturer Estrela. The collection created a buzz on social media due to an Instagram filter and a campaign with influencers, reaching over 5 million impressions. It was sold online and in 110 Água de Cheiro chain stores. We are going through challenging times and this is the moment to find alternatives that help not only the market, but mostly help people. Redibra believes these initiatives can make a difference both now and in the future. It is time to get ready and look ahead, thinking about attitudes where everybody can contribute positively.

SANRIO

Founded in 1960, by Shintaro Tsuji, Sanrio is a Japanese company responsible for the creation and licensing of various character brands, including the world-famous Hello Kitty. Other wellknown Sanrio brands include, Chococat, Keroppi, Badtz-Maru, MyMelody and more recently, Gudetama and Aggretsuko, a 25-year-old red panda, who is the star of her own series on Netflix, with the 4th season confirmed for 2021. Sanrio operates in over 100 countries throughout the world with annual sales of over 4 billion USD. The company´s slogan, “Small Gift, Big Smile”, is more than just a catchy phrase; it is the foundation of everything Sanrio does, and they are proud to say they have been creating smiles for over 50 years. Sanrio believes that a gift is more than just a gift. Rather, a gift is a means of expressing heartfelt feelings for others. This philosophy guides all their activities, whether they are designing a stationery set, a retail store, or an animated television series. Sanrio do Brasil is responsible for the company´s operations in Latin America and their ever-growing licensing program has a full range of consumer products and customer experiences, targeting a wide variety of categories and age groups, from young children to adults. In Brazil, during 2020, Sanrio’s 80 licensing partners sold more than 8 million Hello Kitty products and they had important product launches and retail initiatives with key partners such as Havaianas, C&A, Carrefour, and Panini, amongst others. Sanrio fans in the Japanese neighborhood of Liber-

dade in Sao Paulo can also visit the one-of-a-kind Hello Kitty themed café and restaurant, with a special menu of food and desserts that has something to make everyone smile. Sanrio has also had great success in other key markets in Latin America, with more than a 100 active licensing partners throughout the region. In Mexico, they have been present for more than 30 years and they

continue to innovate and bring fans new and exciting initiatives and unexpected surprises such as the hugely successful Hello Kitty Fun Run and their recently opened online store, https://sanrio.fanarmy.shop/, where customers can find the latest Sanrio styles from all their favorite characters. More recently, one of the keys to success of their licensing program has been their focus on providing fans with a growing library of digital content that can be found across various platforms. Today, fans can enjoy different videos series such as - O Mundo da Hello Kitty, Hello Kitty Fun, Hello Kitty & Amigos, and coming soon, Hello Kitty & Friends - Super Cute Adventures – all available for free on the official Hello YouTube pages in both Brazil and Latin America, with more than 90 million views and 120 thousand subscribers. In addition to Sanrio’s YouTube pages, fans can also find this content on other leading platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, PlayKids and Reino Infantil. Their recently completed agreement with Reino Infantil, which is considered the #1 digital community for kids in the world, will give children throughout Latin America access to this great content.

ISPARTNER

Ispartner is the only Brazilian agency that specialises in lifestyle and fashion licensing projects. Brazil is the 9th largest market for licensed products in the world with retail sales of US$3.8 billion/year and still presents many licensing opportunities given the large Brazilian consumer market of 210 million inhabitants. Of this total, about 60%, the largest volume of business, so called entertainment, is indeed all about characters. A market that presents the biggest barrier of entry for entrepreneurs and new brands since 80% are well-known characters established in movies and on TV/Internet shows and are properties that greatly limit their adoption due to the high cost and very low deployment flexibility. The strategy for developing properties in 2021/22 are DTR (direct to retail), collaborations and online NFT projects.As of I June 2.021 Ispartner has grown more that 200% year on year and we are also being a first mover in the music collectible NFT models with the Mamonas Assassinas Brand. A key brand in the Ispartner portfolio is Route 66. The brand is an authentic American lifestyle brand with timeless appeal. The first products were launched in the 70’s. The ROUTE 66 brand is instantly recognised around the globe and stands for freedom, hope, authenticity, originality and adventure. Products available in Brazil include apparel, footwear and cosmetics via DTR deals with small and medium retailers and large wholesalers. KVRA is a lifestyle clothing brand created in 2013 in Sao Paolo that currently has products in the apparel, footwear, pet, bags, cosmetics and food supplement categories via DTR. Samual Cirnansck occupies a prominent position in terms of contemporary Brazilian fashion. He participated in seven editions of the Amni Hot Spot and after successfully presenting 22 collections at Sao Paulo Fashion Week, he has an increasingly high profile in the national and international fashion market. Products licensed via DTR include apparel, jewely, cosmetics and premium homeware. Manonas is a rock band that has played more than 190 shows in 25 cities and has a growing licensing program comprising food, cosmetics, theme park, gifts, books and exclusive collectibles. Finally, Charlie Brown Jr is Spotify’s most listened to pop/rock band and Universal Music Brasil’s best-selling POP/Rock label to date. Products licensed include apparel, skateboards and cosmetics.

DISTROLLER

Distroller is a retail entertainment brand that is dedicated to creating concepts, ideas and content, and most importantly, emotional connections through its products and experiences at point of sale. It develops brands and content that explore new frontiers of design, and imaginative play concepts that create and spread joy to the world for ages 0 to 102 years. Distroller known for its distinct style of graphic art, founded in 2004 in Mexico by artist and entrepreneur Amparo “Amparin” Serrano, has become one of the top companies in the toy industry in the Mexican market and other countries. The brand has seven business lines, more than 90 licensing partners, 2,000 products, 80 points of sale in Mexico and presence in countries such as Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Chile, Spain, USA and Mexico. Distroller is a multicategory

brand whose licensing program was launched in 2007, spanning softlines, hardlines and promotions in product categories including back to school, apparel and licensed toys. Its partners include international companies such as Unilever, Walmart, Avon and Danone among others and recently added collaborations with leading companies in their fields such as Aeropostal (Authentic Brand Group), Bershka (Grupo Inditex) and Pandora Jewelry. With these partnerships, Distroller is covering Mexico, Spain, Central and South America, always offering optimum quality, customized projects and innovation through our brands: Virgencita Plis, Chamoy & Amiguis, Neonatos and more Distroller World characters! The brand´s strategy for growth is to

reinvent itself and continually innovate, and this is the main reason for which the international licensing program is handled by the brand itself to preserve and transmit the brand essence in every product and project.

EP GRUPO

EP Grupo report increasing activity on a number of key brands including Bolofofos and SOS Mata Atlantica. Bolofofos is a digital property which has been a huge success on YouTube. The songs are fun and the videos are in vivid colors that children love. Each character has their own personality and they are all very cute. The most known video is “Pão de Queijo” with more than 408 million views. The average is 34 million views per video. There are songs in Italian, English and Spanish as well, such as “Baila!”, “The Halloween Song”, “Lasagna Song”, “Christmas, Natal & Navidad” and “Fiesta Latina”. EP Grupo believe that the property, aimed at children aged 0 to 6, has great potential to go worldwide Licensees include Festcolor for party supplies, View Cosmeticos for cosmetics, Lider Brinquedos for toys, Clio Style for backpacks and Zoopy Toys for baby supplies.. SOS Mata Atlântica is a Brazilian foundation focused on saving the Atlantic Forest, an area where 72% Brazilians live. Unfortunately, only 12,4% of the original forest remains, due to deforestation and urbanization. The foundation is 35 years old, is very recognized for its amazing and serious actions, working only with private resources to preserve what is left, reforestation, knowledge and so on. The organization is used to working with big companies promoting environmental projects, such as Heineken, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Microsoft, Nespresso, Curaprox and so many others. They are beginning a licensing program to get more resources to invest in the environment. EP Grupo has developed two style guides using all that the Atlantic Forest has the best. Flora and Fauna, ocean and landscapes. Products licensed to date include toothbrushes from Curaprox, clothing from Farm Rio, T-shirts from Chico Rei and school supplies of Sao Domingos.

IMC

With over 40 years in the territory, IMC, based in Argentina, is a local agent with deep knowledge of their local market. They currently have over 300 licensees in their portfolio. The company covers the LATAM South Cone with local offices overseeing Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. The company handles a wide variety of brands including classic characters, celebrities, lifesytyle brands, sports and movies. The licensing business has historically had its highest results within the children’s audience, but it would be a mistake to limit it to the target kids. Among IMC brands they also have: preschool - a sector with increasingly important sales volumes; kidults - adults who consume products traditionally considered “for children”, a market segment that is expanding quickly; fans - the ties between brands and consumers go beyond imagination, there are brands that unite grandparents and grandchildren, parents and children as they are well recognized by consumers even when they are not on air, cable or film; classics - licenses located in the heart of the public for decades whose effectiveness is beyond fashions, as they are well recognized by consumers even when they are not on TV or on the big screen; multimedia - fast-growing content in the licensing industry; films - filmmaking is a strong business generator of licenses, promotions and merchandising; artistic - music, painting, designing are the ideal content for lifestyle brands; sport business - sports attract consumers of all ages; soccer, motor racing are the most resonant when licensing. Current representations include Zag, Cloudco, Bavaria Media, Toei Animation, Line Friends, Zorro, Little Prince, Cyber Group, Chespirito, Epic Rights, Paramount and General Motors.

VERTICAL LICENSING

One of the most prominent agencies in the licensing and brand extension industry in Brazil, Vertical Licensing is based in São Paulo, and represents licensors such as Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation), IMPS (The Smurfs), Rainbow (44 Cats, Winx), King Features (Popeye & Olive Oyl), Mercis (Miffy ), Panini, Epic Rights (Kiss, AC/DC, David Bowie, Britney Spears), Media I.M. (Sunny Bunnies), APC Kids (Kid-E-Cats) and some Brazilian brands that are beginning to expand programs internationally, such as Tom Veiga (surf artist), Bubu e as Corujinhas (Bubu and the Little Owls) and 3 Palavrinhas (3 Little Words). Vertical Licensing has put together a licensing program forPlayStation, recognized by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) as the most successful in Latin America. Keeping up with the excellent result that the games industry has achieved in recent years, they have signed more than 30 contracts for PlayStation in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Their licensees are large retailers such as Lojas Renner, C&A, Riachuelo, Kalunga, Lojas Americanas and leading licensees in their sectors, such as Malwee (clothing), Grendene (footwear), Tilibra (stationery), Pacific (backpacks), Lepper (bed & bath linen), Zona Criativa (gifts & houseware) and Festcolor (party goods). Vertical ended Sony’s 2020 Fiscal Year (from April 2020 to March 2021) with a 29% revenue growth in USD over the previous financial year. That was a great achievement despite the Covid19 pandemic throughout this entire period, with all the restrictions in the market and with a major devaluation of the Brazilian currency (more than 30%). This result represents a 72% growth considering the local currency. The PlayStation IPs are among the leading selling properties in Brazil and Vertical is starting to expand its reach to the countries of the Southern Cone (Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). On a different note, one of Vertical’s key focus areas this year will be the classic property The Smurfs, which announced the release of a new CGI animated series that debuts in Latin America on Nickelodeon later this year. In addition to this important debut, the Smurfs are increasingly in tune with the environment and sustainability matters. As ambassadors of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Vertical Licensing will bring the Smurfs as key players in a broad awareness campaign in partnership with the credit union institution Sicredi in Brazil, scheduled for release on Q4, 2021. On the merchandising front, new contracts have just been signed, with major fast fashion retailers such as Lojas Renner and C&A, and Vertical are focusing on important categories such as toys, in addition to the global master toy partner Jazwares, Food & Beverages, Gifts and Entertainment. Since the IMPS property reaches all audiences, family-oriented events will be among Vertical’s big announcements for 2022 onwards. The company is also reaping good results from the efforts they made together with Mercis last year to celebrate 65 years of Miffy, the beloved little bunny created by Dick Bruna. In addition to Decorfun’s lamps, which have been distributed in Brazil since 2018, and a complete line of backpacks and accessories developed by GoSuper, Vertical launched two important programs with Miffy in 2021. The first one is a DTR program with Riachuelo in Brazil and the second one is a worldwide deal with the famous Brazilian fashion brand Melissa. Both targeting the baby and toddler audience, the Miffy collection developed by the fast fashion retailer Riachuelo was launched in April 21, during the worst period of pandemic in Brazil, which means that the majority of 332 Riachuelo’s stores were closed. The collection was launched online and, according to the retailer, performed very well. Now, with the reopening of the stores, all the products are hitting the physical shelves again, with POS materials Grendene’s iconic global footwear and fashion brand, Melissa also launched a Miffy collection. The famous Melissa’s jelly shoes are made of plastic that is 100% recyclable. The products were launched in June 2021 in Brazil and will hit the shelves globally in Summer 2022. With 20,000 sales points outside Brazil and 65,000 in the Brazilian market, Melissa has 3 concept stores called “Galeria Melissa” in São Paulo, New York and London. Grendene is also Vertical’s licensee for another important property they are representing in Brazil. Rainbow’s animated series 44 Cats has already more than 10 licensees in Vertical’s territory, covering important categories such as toys, H&B, publishing, back-to-school, footwear and events. With Popeye, Vertical is investing in fashion collaborations with the most important brands in the national scene. Besides regular programs with top Brazilian retailers such as C&A,

Lojas Renner and Pernambucanas, Vertical Licensing and King Features are working in promoting 3 collaborations in 2021, with Starter (September), Gangster (July) and A La Garconne (May). Launched in May 2021, the collab with the luxury fashion house À La Garçonne has debuted a limited-edition collection, featuring Popeye the sailor man and his longtime love Olive Oyl. Designed by famous Brazilian stylist Alexandre Herchcovitch, the exclusive Popeye X À La Garçonne collection comprise T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, pants, shorts and raincoats for men and women. Gangster are launching a streetwear collab with Popeye and Olive Oyl for T-shirts to be launched in July/August. The Popeye x Starter Collab is planned to hit the shelves in September 2021. The Starter brand was inspired by the narrative of the sailor Popeye, the sea, nautical objects, the maritime territory and the sailor’s lifestyle. From international to domestic brands and Vertical Licensing has global rights for the Brazilian artist Tom Veiga, one of the most recognized surf artists in the world, accumulating international collaborations with brands like Billabong, Globe, Reef, Havaianas, Lightning Bolt and, most recently with a Brazilian beachwear brand called UV. Tom Veiga has a striking language and an unmistakable style, characterized by curves, vivid colors and lots of movement. His art is inspired by his passion for the waves. Vertical is open to explore Tom Veiga in other markets and they already have sub agents in Argentina and France.

SATO COMPANY

Founded in 1985 as a distributor of films for homevideo, Sato Company has, over time, expanded its business, operating in the areas of cinema, television, OTT , product licensing and content production (films, series , formats. etc.), becoming a 360-degree company. As a distributor, it is a pioneer in anime and Tokusatsu, with Japanese productions such as: Akira, Ghost in the Shell, National Kid, Ultraman, Jaspion, Jiraiya, among many others. In Netflix’s first content aggregator in Latin America (since 2011), the company stands out for locating content of interest and relevance to consumers, becoming a reference in the market. In terms of consumer products, Sato has acquired fourteen titles of the Kamen Riders franchise for Latam audiovisual and also for consumer products. They are also licensing Tuca – The Master Cook, a brand new animation and Mofy. Tuca is a 2D animated series, aimed at children aged 5 to 7 and comprising 26 x 11 minute episodes produced by Belli Studio. The series surrounds the adventures of a boy who loves cooking and his life with his parents, friends and mischievous sister.

PINGUIM

Pinguim Content, one of Latin America’s leading animation production company, continues to thrive in the licensing scene, finding opportunities in new categories and boosting current licensees with updated and trendy assets inspired by Earth to Luna!’s latest season at the Space Station. Since the end of last year, the company has launched more than 60 licensed space-themed items reflecting Luna’s new home in the stars, and her latest space adventures have also influenced the new apparel collections. Season 7 is already in production, exploring more fascinating questions from Luna in the Antares Space Station. Despite a tough year, Earth to Luna! continues to grow in sales and number of licensees, experiencing 11% growth in 2020. This year the property has already developed products with new licensees in categories such as toddler sippy cups, bedroom decor, natural juices and role-play toys. The COVID-19 pandemic also enabled Pinguim to strengthen the brand’s awareness through educational initiatives with Luna’s natural science subjects. Through innovative agreements with educational secretaries in 13 different Brazilian states and more than 40 cities in Brazil, Pinguim’s productions are now being used to help teachers with their virtual classes for 4- to 8-year-old students. Pinguim’s globally popular series Earth to Luna! and Fishstronaut can also be found on Discovery Education, a global platform reaching over 51 million students in 90 different countries that helps them to learn about science and environmental subjects in a fun and playful way.