Canadian market spotlight

The Canadian Marketplace

A look at some of Canada’s key players

9 Story reports that their content has reached over 2.5M streams on Kidoodle.TV. The Safe Streaming platform is home to a selection of series from the 9 Story distribution catalog, such as the iconic hit shows Barney and Friends and Angelina Ballerina. Also streaming now on Kidoodle.TV are three series produced by 9 Story’s award-winning animation studio Brown Bag Films, including the animated comedies Almost Naked Animals and Camp Lakebottom, and the co-production

with the Kratt Brothers, Wild Kratts. Kidoodle.TV is a Safe Streaming platform with shows and music handpicked by caring people, previewed to ensure all content is age-appropriate and represents the very best in educational, entertaining, and inspiring stories. Available in over 160 countries, Kidoodle.TV is accessible on over 1000 devices including iOS devices, Android devices, MACs, PCs, and streaming media boxes such as Roku, Apple TV, and Fire TV. On a different note, Plan International, a global organization dedicated to advancing children’s rights and equality for girls, has announced a new partnership with 9 Story Media Group. The two global leaders will bring together their collective resources and expertise to empower girls around the world to become fearless changemakers within their communities. The new partnership kicked off in Canada this past holiday season with 9 Story Media Group rallying behind Plan International Canada’s Gifts of Hope campaign, an ethical gift giving program that brings tangible goods and vital services to children and families around the world who need them most. Aligned with the organization’s mission to effect positive change for children around the world, 9 Story Media Group will support Plan International’s Girl Power Gift of Hope, which provides girls with nourishment, education and protection as they harness their unique power to shape their own future. The organization has made an initial contribution of $25,000 and has engaged its global employee base of more than 1,000 to join in supporting girls globally. “Joining forces with 9 Story Media Group, who shares our vision of equality for girls so they can reach their full potential, is a powerful way for us to create meaningful, positive change,” said Lindsay Glassco, President & CEO, Plan International Canada. “We’re thrilled to be launching this partnership in a meaningful way, starting with a Gift of Hope and expanding the relationship with a series of impactful initiatives in 2022.” In the new year, Plan International will team up with 9 Story Media Group’s newest hit show Karma’s World, which premiered in 190 countries on Netflix on October 15. Karma’s World – based on a concept devised by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and inspired by his own daughter – follows Karma Grant, a 10-year-old girl who dreams of becoming an artist and changing the world with her music. Karma is set to become Plan International’s first-ever animated Celebrated Ambassador and – with a focus on diversity, leadership, creativity and the importance of community – she is well-positioned to engage people, young and old, to become global changemakers. “At 9 Story Media Group, we see it as our responsibility to give back to the global community, particularly when it comes to kids,” said Natalie Osborne, Chief Strategy Officer, 9 Story Media Group. “With Plan International, we share a very similar mission, which is to have a positive impact on the lives of children. We are thrilled to be partnering with Plan International to advocate for girls’ rights and help create real change for children across the globe.”

Egeez (egeez.com) is a brand new platform founded during lockdown in Toronto and headed up by founder Nathen Mazri, Pascal Haider and Rutika Malaviya. Nathen explains, “We set out to help cartoons and IPs worldwide disrupt the licensing industry by creating a platform where officially licensed products can be sold directly to fans by licensors and licensees. Basically companies listed on the Egeez platform will only have to ship products – we take care of everything else. As a Nickelodeon licensee, I recognised the pain of licensees suffering from overstock and decided to help reduce their

storage fees and, importantly, connect them to billions of fans. Egeez becomes the Amazon and UberEATS for entertainment brands. We onboard vendors and curate the licensed products internally at Egeez by our Happiness Account Managers in every continent. They simply receive an automated order confirmation and they ship directly. Egeez can integrate with their ecommerce solutions such as shopify, woocommerce, magento and much more for seamless fulfillment.” To connect billions of fans with global entertainment brands, Egeez needed geolocation at the forefront of their technology stack. As Nathen continued, “We have developed a geolocation feature within our mobile app and web marketplace — that enables great benefits for our vendors and customers. Our geolocation feature allows vendors to sell globally or to specific, targeted regions of the world. Our vendors can manage where they sell — with just a simple click. More importantly, our customers are all geolocated from the moment they interact with Egeez. This ensures they receive the best content, products and marketing materials, tailored to their city, country, or region. This feature also empowers our vendors to track and engage with their customers on a deeper level. Our customers are able to search for products in their area, and our vendors are able to sell specific products to our customers per region. Our geolocation feature — geographically locates our customers, depending on which device or system they are using by routing addresses or internal GPS of those devices to determine their location.” Egeez’s have Happiness Account Managers in every continent today onboarding official licensed products around the clock from North America to India, Europe, Asia and Middle East. Licensees can control their own licensed products wherever, whenever. The dashboard provides vendors with advanced reporting tools, including full orders and offers access to statistics on fans and reporting tools to impress their licensor. Clearly, Egeez has big ambitions. As Nathen continued, “Our target is to onboard over 100,000 retailers and licensees globally so watch this space. Egeez was built by licensees for licensees because we understood their pain.”

Guru Studio’s award-winning preschool True and the Rainbow Kingdom continues to be a breakout hit in Canada, with four seasons streaming on Netflix, and weekly episodes airing on national broadcaster CBC Kids. The company recently announced the expansion of its M&L program, signing United Smile as master toy partner for the hit series. In Canada, toy distribution is being handled by leading toy & game distributor Imports Dragon with a full line of toys hitting retail this Spring. Retailers already on board include Amazon and Toys R Us who will be carrying the line of figures, play sets, vehicles, plush and musical dolls based on the popular animated series. In addition to toys, the brand has found tremendous success with its publishing partner Chouette Publishing launching a line of storybooks, board books, early readers, and look & find books. Since its launch in 2018, Chouette has continued to launch new SKUs every year! This past Halloween, costume partner Spirit Halloween also continued to add to its collection,

rolling out new costumes last year that included Zee, Bartleby and a RideAlong Cumulo. Commenting, Jonathan Abraham, VP of Sales & Business Development, said, “As a Canadian studio, Canada has always been an important launching pad for us to grow our global audience. CBC has been an incredible partner for TRUE, and together with Netflix and our successful YouTube channel, there’s been no shortage of ways for kids to discover and fall in love with the series. We’re seeing really strong demand for TRUE products in Canada, and we’re excited to continue to support and build the brand with so many great Canadian partners.”

Headquartered in Canada, Boat Rocker is the home for creative visionaries.

An independent, integrated global entertainment company, Boat Rocker tells stories and builds iconic brands across all genres and mediums, with robust licensing plans in place for its portfolio of properties. As a rapidly expanding company, Boat Rocker has offices around the world and its creative and commercial capabilities include production, distribution, brand and franchise management, a world-class animation studio, and talent management through Untitled Entertainment. Boat Rocker has enjoyed another stellar year in 2021. January saw the hugely successful launch of its actionpacked preschool animation Dino Ranch – the first major franchise to be developed from an original Boat Rocker IP. Following its debut on Disney Junior in the US and CBC Kids in Canada, the show has been distributed to over 150 territories, including key regions France, Italy and LatAm who premiered the series in Q3, and Germany where it launches in February 2022. Series two will launch in Q3 2022 on Disney Junior in the US. Boat Rocker has developed a broad licensing programme for the show. Toys from master toy partner Jazwares started rolling out in in Q3 in the US and Australia, with product quickly selling out online. In Canada, the toys launched exclusively in Toys”R”Us at the end of 2021 and the retailer is preparing a special retail promotion in mid- January that includes instore activities, photo opps, product demos, and premium giveaways. Other licensees will start rolling out products at retail from 2022 with publishing partner Scholastic launching their first title in February. With other licensees across apparel, puzzles and games and bedding following suit across key markets with robust territory specific Dinodriven marketing campaigns planned to support the retail roll out. There has been a fantastic response to the series, which topped Disney Junior ratings at launch and has secured a strong fanbase, with its YouTube channel gaining over 66 million views and a loyal following on social media. Engagement and discoverability has been driven by additional media spend targeted at Facebook advertising, YouTube media spend and Smart TV ads. On the PR front two satellite media tours were secured in the US: Hot Toys for their Holiday Satellite Media Tour and Cyber Monday Satellite Media Tour, while influencer campaigns have been instigated across three continents. The second series of heart-warming 2D animated comedy Love Monster is due to premiere in January on CBeebies following a top-rated double-length Christmas special with Rosamund Pike. The lovable huggable hairy hero is teaming up with Comic Relief to help with fundraising efforts for Red Nose Day 2022 (Friday 18 March). Love Monster features on early years downloadable fundraising packs, which have a wide and farreaching distribution and are supported by a host of paid and organic marketing from Comic Relief. Love Monster also airs on Cartoonito and HBOMax in the US, along with major broadcasters in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, Middle East, Ireland, Finland and Spain. Toys from Golden Bear and lines from a number of other licensees, including dress up, day wear and night wear, have launched at retail. Global hit The Next Step, the phenomenally successful tween reality dance drama, is pirouetting into stores. Building on its successful partnership with Pineapple Dance Studios covering The Next Step themed workshops and co-branded apparel, new licensees have stepped up for product including nightwear and a 2022 calendar. The new year will see more exciting activity with a brand-new range – including nightwear, dancewear and loungewear – set to launch with a major UK grocer.

Centura Brands Inc. specializes in turnkey marketing and sales services for global brands, integrating manufacturing, licensing and distribution in Canada since 1989. As brand owners, they have built a diverse portfolio of innovative product lines which include: Dippity do (Dippity do Gels, GIRLS with Curls, Dippity do Men), LaCoupe (LaCoupe Orgnx), and

Funcare (licensed children’s personal care) and Little Critters. Their value proposition, quality, efficacy, and iconic brands are being rediscovered and loved by all generations globally. Centura is ranked Canada’s leading licensee of children’s personal care products due to long standing partnerships with the world’s leading licensed properties. “Making bathtime, funtime” is the motto that propels

their creativity. Their manufacturing capabilities and in-house graphics team bring these ideas to life. Children’s licensed properties include: Crayola, Paw Patrol, Baby Shark, Nickelodeon Slime, Blues Clues, LOL, Minions, Trolls, Captain Underpants, Gabby’s Dollhouse, Jurassic and Emoji with over 30 years with various Disney and Marvel properties. The LaCoupe and Dippity brands are sold globally across all retail banners, while the licensed properties have been offered and sold exclusively throughout Canada at all retail banners, including the major retailers Walmart, Loblaw and Shopper’s Drug Mart.

Segal Licensing’s long-term success is driven by their relationships and their passion for results. Their strong retail relationships, coupled with a diverse and deep licensee network, sets their partners up for growth. Their retail marketing capabilities have made Segal Licensing the destination for companies looking to grow their licensing revenue within the Canadian marketplace. A division of the Interpublic Group of Companies Inc, Segal Licensing’s clients are the majority of Tier 1 Brands in North America. As the agent for licensors such as Crayola, Dr Seuss Enterprises and Kevin Smith, they have built a longterm reputation for outstanding service and business-building programs for this wide portfolio of brands. In addition to their global partners, Segal has excelled working with Canadian brands to maximize success in their own country. To build the business for these properties, Segal Licensing has established relationships with key licensees in the marketplace across all categories from soft and hard lines to publishing and everything in between. Segal Licensing’s retail partners are critical to license program development and they have long standing relationships with all Canadian retail channels from mass retailers through to specialty, grocery and drug store. In recent news, Segal Licensing and Jade City have teamed up on food collaborations with Kevin Smith, Godzilla and Popeye. Jade City foods was founded in 2021 by Cliff Wiener and Alex Kenny - they strive to bring the best in unique foods to the world of pop culture. The company is dedicated to responsibly sourcing the finest food from all over the world. Their Company upholds its ethical and quality standards by making sure these environmentally friendly farms are paid fair wages so they can continue to grow exceptional crops. Jade City provides a fan-friendly atmosphere that shifts the way they think about food.

Bedrock Collectibles is a licensed producer of high-end, limited edition resin collectibles for pop culture brands. The company produces collectible statues and figures in all sizes. They could even produce dioramas, 1/2 scale to life-sized busts to truly capture every detail with lifelike precision. Based in Toronto, Canada, Bedrock Collectibles is 100% Canadian owned and operated. Founded by Chief Creative Officer, Dennis Lauchengco (CCO) and Shawn Karawaju (CEO), the duo is determined to bring a new perspective and innovative approach to the collectibles industry. The team’s vision goes beyond creative statue ideas; it extends to personalized service, crosscollaborations with multiple industries and a new digital collectibles initiative to bring a new wave of interest to the growing industry. Further, by adopting a collector’s mindset as well a technological focus, Bedrock intends to not only bring added value to consumers but also offer creative ways to generate additional licensing revenue streams for licensors. With over 5+ years industry experience and multiple unannounced licenses, Bedrock Collectibles is set to take the statue industry by storm in 2022. Both founders have an intimate understanding of the current market and knew there were large gaps in what statues were available and what fans truly wanted. Therefore, the team sought out to produce licensed statues for fanbases that deserved high-end collectibles and fill the large void other producers chose not to pursue. Captain Canuck is one such example. In early 2022 Bedrock Collectibles will be launching its premier 1/6 scale statue, Captain Canuck. This statue is a limited edition with only 150 pieces. A more exclusive version, the 45th Anniversary Edition is being launched with only 45 pieces made and comes with an original signature on the base from the creator, Richard Comely. The statue stands approximately 18 inches tall sculpted in solid polystone resin. Each statue is also master painted by hand to elevate them to a museum quality presentation. Captain Canuck is Canada’s iconic superhero originally created by Richard Comley and launched an independent comic in 1975. The character has seen an emergence in recent years as licensor, Lev Gleason, has reintroduce the character to a new generation of fans through its critically acclaimed comic book series.