Special Report: Cyber Group Studios Turns 10 by World Screen

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TVKIDS

WWW.TVKIDS.WS

OCTOBER 2015

SPECIAL REPORT: CYBER GROUP STUDIOS TURNS 10

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CYBER GROUP T TV KIDS: What was your mandate when you founded Cyber Group Studios ten years ago? SISSMANN: There were three of us who came out of Disney and we first went into venture capital. We were very successful and supported over 20 start-ups in the new tech and media area, but after a few years, I really wanted to go back to animation and kids’ entertainment. So we decided to form Cyber Group Studios. The challenge was to create entertaining animation in the preschool area. At the time, preschool was mostly 2D, and people looked down on CGI. We very deliberately decided to go into CGI because of the nature of the images—the color, the movement, the fluidity. We brought some friends aboard and first created this show called Ozie Boo!, featuring five penguins. We were still doing a lot of venture capital and were consulting for some big companies, but we felt strongly about Ozie Boo!, so we decided to raise the funds to produce it. We invested a lot of our own savings, we took a lot of risk, hired a few people and wrote the full series. We presented it to Disney Channel France and ultimately a 52x2-minute series was bought by Disney Channel Europe. So we said, let’s continue what we’re doing. Our mission was to make series with great visuals, great music and great stories. The adventure had begun. TV KIDS: What have been some of the milestones in the company’s evolution?

PIERRE SISSMANN In 2005, three top former Disney Europe executives— Pierre Sissmann, Dominique Bourse and Cecilia Bossel—decided to pool their skill sets to co-found a new kind of kids’ content company, together with Olivier Lelardoux, now Cyber Group Studios’ VP of animation, and Billy, a former Disney Channel France TV host. Cyber Group Studios launched with a little show about penguins that would go on to conquer the globe. On the heels of the success of Ozie Boo!, Cyber Group, led by Pierre Sissmann as chairman and CEO, built a wide slate of original IP produced with cutting-edge animation technologies. The company also expanded its distribution catalogue via international co-pros and third-party representation deals, while also building a vibrant licensing and merchandising business. As the company marks its tenth birthday, Sissmann reflects on Cyber Group’s success story.

SISSMANN: We were introduced to Theresa PlummerAndrews, formerly BBC’s head of acquisitions, animation and co-productions for children’s TV. We have been working together for ten years developing preschool IP. Our second show was Manon, with Sardine Productions in Canada, based on a series of French books. We didn’t have the budget to do full CGI, and [the property] looked so charming in 2D, so we developed technology to have CGI look like 2D. At the same time, we created our own distribution business, which is one of the strengths of Cyber Group Studios today. I felt that we would be the best people to sell our shows and share our passion with the buyers. By 2008 we were developing series, producing them, selling them and licensing consumer products ourselves. From the beginning, we have been supported by French and European institutions such as CNC,

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TV KIDS: How important have co-productions been for the company? SISSMANN: I admire great ideas that we haven’t had, and great companies with processes we don’t have. Sometimes we stumble on a great idea and we find very talented people who we think it would be good for us to be associated with. We could take a property further or enhance each other’s skills. For example, we have a great relationship with our very talented friends at Brown Bag Films on Gilbert and Allie, which we have been developing for over 15 months. That pushes our company further in the way of excellence. We have also just entered into a development deal with Moving Puppet studio on a famous property called Chapi Chapo—just because we feel that they have a lot of talent and we would love to be associated with the property and its CGI reboot. Coproductions are a great way to learn from others and it is great for us to distribute other series such as Mini Ninjas, created by TF1 Productions, that bolster and complement our catalogue. We love working with companies from all over the world. This becomes a part of the enhancement of our own company.

MEDIA, PROCIREP and Pôle Image Magelis, which has been very important to us. We were really focused on preschool and upper preschool—what people now call bridge programs— until 2008/09. That’s when we released a show that I wrote the bible for, called Tales of Tatonka. It’s now on Discovery Kids in Asia. It won a prize in China. It’s been airing on France 5 and has sold to 120 countries. We had a great preschool and bridge catalogue and had successfully started distributing third-party productions. But people really saw us as a company mostly doing preschool. So by 2009/10, we started looking at how we would enter the kids’ market, and our catalogue is pretty big today. This year we’re releasing Zorro the Chronicles, our most ambitious series ever. A couple of years ago we produced Mademoiselle Zazie, our first co-pro with France Télévisions, for whom we are now producing a new show called The Pirates Next Door, which is targeting the kids’ segment. We are also working on a show for TF1, CANAL+ France, WDR Germany, TV3 Catalunya and VRT in Belgium called Mirette Investigates. We have continued to grow our preschool catalogue. Zou, which we produced for Disney EMEA, is now entering its third season and is a hit worldwide. Last year we signed a co-pro deal with The Jim Henson Company in the U.S. to produce two series targeting the upper preschool segment. And we have presented at Cartoon Forum a new series called Gigantosaurus, which is our next preschool show after Mia.

Cyber Group has assembled a broad slate over the years, including, from top, the preschool hit Ozie Boo!, Tales of Tatonka and the brand-new Zorro the Chronicles.

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10 YEARS OF CYBER GROUP Zou wins its first U.S. award with the Children’s Jury Prize at the CICFF in Chicago. The show has a very strong launch on Disney Junior internationally. Cyber Group Studios receives a third Innovative Company Award for its production technology and processes.

Y 2013

Y 2005

Cyber Group Studios is founded in Paris. The company’s first show, Ozie Boo!, premieres on Disney Channel France.

Y 2006

The company scores its first international sale when SRC Radio Canada picks up the rights to air Ozie Boo!

Ozie Boo! wins the TVFI Export Award as the most exported French series.

Y 2009

Cyber Group Studios picks up its first third-party series for international distribution: the Emmywinning animated show Animalia. © Animalia Productions PFTC 2009 / Produced by Animalia Productions Pty Ltd Distribution: Cyber Group Studios

Cyber Group Studios is ranked as the most active French animation producer by the CNC.

Zou is nominated at the International Emmy Kids Awards in the preschool category. Cyber Group Studios doubles its annual international sales. The company releases its first animated e-books and apps for Zou. Cyber Group Studios signs a co-production agreement with TF1 Productions for the hit show Mini Ninjas.

Y 2014

Cyber Group Studios is named International Producer of the Year at the Pulcinella Awards. A strategic partnership is sealed with KD, a major digital-tablet manufacturer in Europe. The company’s client base reaches 200 broadcasters and platforms. Cyber Group seals its first three-country co-pro for Mirette Investigates, aligning with TF1 and CANAL+ in France, KD in Spain for TV3 Catalunya and WDR in Germany. The firm inks a multiyear financing agreement with Natixis Coficiné Bank for third-party distribution.

Y 2011

Tales of Tatonka is watched by 1 million children a day worldwide. The acclaimed series is nominated for a Gold Panda at the Sichuan TV Festival International in China. Cyber Group Studios signs a deal with ZPI for the rights to produce a new adaptation of Zorro.

Y2015

The Jim Henson Company and Cyber Group Studios enter their first coproduction collaboration for two new productions. The two series are called Enchanted Sisters and Boubouh! Cyber Group Studios and Brown Bag Films ink an agreement for the co-production of Gilbert and Allie. Zorro the Chronicles is announced as the World Premiere Screening at MIPJunior. Cyber Group Studios marks its tenth anniversary.

Y 2008

Y 2010

Y 2012

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LOOKING With its technological prowess and broad development slate,

reative innovation has always been at the heart of the Cyber Group Studios ethos. Over the last decade, the French independent has grown from having one 52-part interstitial preschool series to boasting an extensive slate covering multiple kids’ demos and numerous visual styles. “We basically started in three rooms, in three offices— there were six of us,” says Pierre Sissmann, chairman and CEO. “Today we have a full-fledged company in our own high-tech building, over 25 full-time employees in the various corporate and studio departments and more than 200 people at any given time working on our different productions and development projects.” Today, the Cyber Group catalogue spans 1,000 half-hours, 60 percent of which are the company’s own productions or co-productions. “We always have at least two preschool or bridge shows in production and at least three others in development,” Sissmann says. “And we do the same for kids’ shows. We started producing series such as The Pirates Next Door, Mirette Investigates, Zorro the Chronicles and

Mini Ninjas, where we are the executive producer for TF1 Productions, whom we partnered with as a co-producer. We also announced a major co-production with the multi-award-winning studio Brown Bag Films for Gilbert and Allie, one of our next big CGI shows.” Sissmann says that the company currently has 15 shows in production or development, covering all types of animation and age groups. “We are very fortunate to have Dominique Poussier and Theresa Plummer-Andrews, the former heads of youth entertainment at TF1 and BBC, respectively, as our permanent advisors on new series development.” Using technology to deliver better and better animation has been the goal since the company’s formation. “People come to us because we have shows that appeal to kids across all continents,” says Olivier Lelardoux, Cyber Group’s studio head. “We are very fortunate to have received 14 to 15 awards, including the Pulcinella for best studio of the year in 2014, three technology awards from the French government and

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G AHEAD

Cyber Group has positioned itself for continued growth. © Cyber Group Studios. «Based on Jonny Duddle’s book GIGANTOSAURUS published by The Templar Company Limited 2014» © Cyber Group Studios. «Based on Jonny Duddle’s book PIRATES NEXT DOOR published by The Templar Company Limited 2012» © BROWN BAG FILMS LTD.- CYBER GROUP STUDIOS

an award in China. We’ve been nominated for an International Emmy Kids Award.” To keep Cyber Group at the top of its game, attracting talent has been essential. “We’ve had a great number of new colleagues joining us, sometimes from very different companies, sometimes from competing studios,” Sissmann says. “The more people we have who bring us a talent we don’t have, the better off we are. Cultivating talent is really important. We need to have ideas, we need to make great shows—but if you don’t have talent inside the company, it doesn’t work. We have people of exceptional talent working with us. That’s probably what I am proudest of. We have grown on the success and talent of the people working with us. That’s why we’re here today.” The growth over the last decade prompted a reorganization this year, says COO Dominique Bourse, “to give us more flexibility and the ability to go in new directions.” As such, he adds, “We are very grateful to our financial investors, such as Viveris, Idinvest and Entrepreneur Venture, to have given us support for our growth.” Sissmann is confident that the Cyber Group team, driven by a passion for high-quality animation, can continue to adjust to the fast-changing kids’ business. “We’ve had projects that failed and we learned from them. It’s interesting for us to always learn about new things and new people. It’s about bringing talent into the company, learning from them and building something new that will create the ‘wow’ effect, even for us. It’s not about just doing a show or a series—it’s about being proud of what we do, and going beyond what we’ve already done. Each time we set a bar, we go beyond it and say, we’re going to go to the next stage.” Central to Cyber Group’s approach to talent has been assembling the best creative minds from three of the biggest exporters of children’s content: France, the U.K. and the U.S. “When you’re inside this triangle, you get the best of all worlds. Nobody writes cartoons like U.S. authors. Some of the best preschool comes from the U.K. Some of the best kids’ shows come from France. And we are now actively developing our ties with Asia—China in particular—as our goal is to be truly global.” The ambition to constantly do better work drives all of Cyber Group’s employees, Sissmann notes. And creation is a passion which needs to be constantly fueled by the best. “We live in a world where change is so present—change in technology, change in habits, change in cultures. We have to anticipate those changes. It’s always about creating new shows that will surprise kids and families worldwide, and that our clients will be happy with. And it’s about having fun. And the digital age brings new opportunities that we are excited to be able to tap into.”

Cyber Group’s slate of new projects for the kids’ demo includes, from left, Tom Sawyer, Gigantosaurus, The Pirates Next Door and Gilbert and Allie.

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On the opening night of MIPJunior, delegates will be treated to the World Premiere Screening of Zorro the Chronicles. TV Kids takes an inside look at the new series. he masked crusader Zorro was first created in 1919. In the almost 100-year period since then he has been featured in books, movies and television series. This MIPJunior, Cyber Group Studios is unveiling the latest iteration of the beloved hero in a new animated series for kids. Buyers will get a chance to see the first episode on the opening night of the market, when it will be presented as the World Premiere Screening. Pierre Sissmann, Cyber Group Studios’ chairman and CEO, has a long history with the character. “Zorro has been close to me for over 30 years, as I initiated the colorization of the Disney series in 1992. I felt Zorro’s values were timeless and thought the series would play very well to audiences in color. So 30 years later, it was a pleasure for me to work with ZPI and John Gertz, the property’s owner, to see if we could create a big animated series with the characters, using the power of today’s technology and going back to the roots of Johnston McCulley, the original author.” Zorro the Chronicles is an action comedy geared to kids 6 to 12. Broadcasters on board include France 3, Rai, Boing, Téle-Québec, VRT, Clan, TV 2 and many others to be announced shortly. “We’re preselling Zorro worldwide in a much bigger way than we’ve presold any of our other shows,” Sissmann says. To go about rebooting this classic superhero, Olivier Lelardoux, the series’ director, says that step one was “fully understanding the DNA of Zorro. This took over six months of research into California history, backgrounds, people, etc. Our team also plunged deep into Zorro’s original roots and all the adaptations that had been made in the 20th century. Evergreen values such as justice or defending the poor are eternal. What also lay in Zorro was a strong concept of diversity, and the rising role of women, who had been so instrumental in helping build

California in the 19th century. We focused on these issues and determined how well they would play for today’s audience and how they should be balanced. Between research, writing and designing, we spent over a year and a half giving birth to the fundamentals of today’s series.” The new series, produced in CGI, focuses on the teenage Don Diego, his twin sister, Ines, and his best friend, Bernardo. It fuses high doses of action with plenty of comedy. Much time and effort went into the visual look of the show, which is set in the 19th century. “For character design, we worked with the original graphic authors, Georges Bouchelaghem and Christophe Rendu, to deliver a style based on what Annabelle Perrichon, my co-author and script editor, and myself had envisioned,” Sissmann says. “Regarding colorization and backgrounds, we worked with two very talented artists to focus on the look and feel of California at the time. For instance, we designed a Los Angeles in 1820 based on the original map from 1780, which we received directly from California. Extreme care was taken to make this epic saga believable, not only from a story viewpoint but from a graphic point of view as well.” None of this was easy, Sissmann notes, particularly replicating the look of the era on a TV budget. “We had to develop some technological tools that would enable us to swiftly move from one character to another one in the modelization process. That took us about a year of development and coding new tools. In the end, when you look at the first episode, there are close to 100 characters appearing at any point in time. And the work of our associated partner on the series, Blue Spirit Studio, headed by Eric Jacquot, has been purely outstanding in delivering great animation.” An extensive L&M program is being planned for the show that will include apparel, accessories, action figures and more.

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ZOU FINDS HIS STRIPES A preschool series about a lovable zebra has become one of Cyber Group Studios’ biggest hits. he antics of a little zebra and his family found lots of young fans around the world when author Michel Gay began releasing his Zou picture books in the late ’90s. It was the Zou preschool series from Cyber Group Studios, however, that turned the striped youngster into a global phenomenon. “Zou has become an international success faster than we could have expected,” says Theresa PlummerAndrews, who oversaw the development of the series. The show has aired on Disney Junior internationally, Sprout, Hulu, NBC Kids, France 5, Super RTL, YLE, KBS Kids and numerous other platforms. “Today, Zou can be viewed in 33 languages in 150 to 170 countries around the globe,” says Pierre Sissmann, chairman and CEO. “At one point around the end of the year, Zou could be seen by over 100 million children almost simultaneously.” For Sissmann, the show’s global success comes down to the high quality of the animation and its built-in family values. “Zou is a show that parents enjoy watching with young kids. For younger children, until they go to school, the family is their whole universe.”

Zou has not just been a hit on air—the show is also one of Cyber Group Studios’ biggest licensing and merchandising successes. “As the show developed, we felt it was necessary to create some interactivity between the audience worldwide and the characters,” Sissmann says. The 360-degree strategy for the series started with books, DVDs, music and toys, and then came several educational and entertainment apps, plus a dedicated website. “One major app, in close to ten languages, involves full HD animation and karaoke, e-books and games. Called Zou’s App+, it is available on the Android and iTunes platforms around the world. Built with software developer 3D Duo, it reached the top of the appstore charts upon release in several countries. Concurrently, we launched a set of more edutainment apps, for instance with Hachette group in France.” Given young ones’ fondness for the little zebra, Sissmann notes: “One of the major objectives of the 360-degree strategy, which is still developing, is to have Zou as a part of [a preschooler’s] daily environment at any time of day.”

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FINDING MIRETTE With the new series Mirette Investigates, Cyber Group Studios is building an interactive, multiplatform show for kids. irette has big dreams. The adventure-loving 10-year-old travels the globe with her father, who is a reporter, and her pet cat, Jean-Pat, investigating mysteries. She takes center stage in Cyber Group’s new 52x11minute CGI animation for the 6-to-10 set, Mirette Investigates, which has signed up TF1, Télétoon, WDR, VRT and TV3 as initial partners. For the new show, which takes Mirette to Barcelona, Berlin, Beijing, London, Paris and Cairo, among many other cities, Cyber Group Studios was eager to build an immersive, interactive experience for kids that would go beyond the linear broadcast. “We have associated with KD, the creator of the Kurio tablet, to create a set of interactive apps that will connect directly to the show and the websites of some of the broadcasters,” says Dominique Bourse, the company’s COO. In working on the “enriched experience,” which will be built into Kurio tablets, Bourse says Cyber Group and KD will be developing voice- and movement-recognition technologies. “This world is changing faster than what we ever anticipated,

so we need to be forward-thinking all the time to bring new experiences to the multi-connected children of today.” The transmedia experience will include games on the Mirette Investigates website as well as in an app. Kids will be able to go into the app and choose a city and a crime scene to play hidden-object games. Some scenes will only be unlocked via sound recognition that will detect when the child is watching the series on television. There will also be some games available for purchase. In the future, Cyber Group anticipates the creation of toys, travel guides for kids and a board game, among other extensions. The key philosophy, Bourse says, is that any related apps or products must enhance the TVviewing session for a young viewer, not detract from it. “Three things can happen [with a secondscreen experience]. The viewer can say, I don’t like the interactivity, but I’ll continue watching the television show. Or, there is so much interactivity that I don’t want to watch the series anymore. You don’t want that to happen. You want people to connect with the series while it’s on air and enrich their experience.”

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What’s Being Said About CYBER GROUP “We’re delighted to be starting production on the third season of Zou, starring Disney Junior’s favorite zebra, and the new series Gilbert and Allie for Disney Channel. Cyber Group delivers original animation that our audiences love, and we congratulate Pierre and the whole team on a brilliant first decade!” Hélène Etzi, Senior VP, Disney Channels EMEA and France “We are happy to have been working with Cyber Group since 2007. We appreciate their creativity and their professionalism. Most of their properties, such as Ozie Boo!, Tales of Tatonka and Mia, have been successful on our channels TiJi and Gulli. Lagardère Active thanks Pierre Sissmann and the entire Cyber Group team for their talent, dynamism and dedication to animation.” Caroline Cochaux, Executive Director, Broadcast and TV Programs, France and International, Lagardère Active “Our work with Pierre Sissmann, a highly professional producer and distributor, and his enthusiastic team at Cyber Group over the years has been really inspiring. CANAL+ wishes a very happy tenth anniversary to Pierre and his team!” Laurence Blaevoet, Head, Children’s Programs and Channels, CANAL+ “A very happy tenth anniversary to our friends at Cyber Group Studios from all of us at Brown Bag Films. We look forward to producing our new series Gilbert and Allie together and wish the Cyber Group team every success as they continue to produce great animated content for kids around the world!” Cathal Gaffney, Co-founder and CEO, Brown Bag Films

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DISTRIBUTION POWERHOUSE

OVER 150

duce. We’ll take care of it as one of our own. And people know that and like us for it.” It is a competitive environment, with many kids’ distributors eager for product. According to Sissmann, “reliability and consistency” are two key benefits the company offers producers, alongside “a very deep knowledge of the competitive market worldwide. We don’t go ahead with any program with false expectations and we carefully study the market before taking a show on board.” Cecilia Bossel, deputy managing director, adds, “Thanks to our partnership with Natixis Coficiné Bank, we can also help close the financing of a show that we find to be outstanding and want to distribute.” Traditional broadcasters still account for the bulk of Cyber Group’s business, but some 25 percent of international revenues now come from digital buyers. “We’ll work with our clients to make sure we can exploit our shows in the most constructive way on a majority of platforms in many languages,” says Marie Conge, Cyber Group’s newly appointed VP of sales, acquisitions and digital media. “This is excluding our own free VOD channels for some of our shows—when this doesn’t conflict with rights granted to broadcasters. We are very proactive in working with digital platforms around the world. And we anticipate this to be a growing trend in the future.”

ince its inception, Cyber Group Studios has been distributing its own productions. To widen its slate, the company has been engaging in international copros and taking on third-party fare. Today, the company shops a catalogue of more than 1,000 half-hours to 160-plus clients in over 150 territories, with members of its own team coming from various countries around the world. “We are, for instance, very proud to represent producers and distribute series such as Mini Ninjas for TF1 Productions, G-Fighters from Electric Circus and CJ E&M Corporation, and the award-winning Animalia from Burberry Productions,” says Pierre Sissmann, chairman and CEO. “Our objective is to have an even balance between our own produced shows and distributed ones. We want to have complementary shows in our catalogue that enhance each other. We do not want to have competing shows, as in distribution we attach as much importance to our shows as to our [third-party] ones. We are, for instance, always looking for the next preschool show, such as Balloopo, either for our own slate or from partners that could help fill the needs of our clients and some of the output deals we have. On the kids’ side, there are subjects we don’t have covered in production ourselves, so we are always looking for that show that we feel we would have liked to pro-

TERRITORIES

165 CLIENTS

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HIGHLIGHTS Five-year-old Zou lives in a town inhabited only by zebras. He and his extended family live in a large house right next door to his best friend, Elzee. He is an imaginative and inquisitive foal, and he’s now old enough to start becoming his own person! Each day brings a new sense of discovery, exploration and fun to Zou, and with the help of his own family and friends, Zou learns about the world he is growing up in. Follow Zou on a series of fun-filled escapades, scrapes and experiences. (156x11 min.)

Come with us to a land where everything is made from balloons. It’s a silly, squeaky, gas-filled playground—everything’s inflatable here: the trees, the buildings, even the people. This is a story about the exciting adventures of Balloopo and Paru, the orange-haired balloon boy, in a big playground where gravity is minimized and no one ever gets hurt. (52x11 min.)

Mia is a 6-year-old mouse who lives in the depths of a large house with her Granny Mimi, her friends and neighbors. Inquisitive, daring and fearless, Mia gets excited by everything and anything: she wants to see, try and experience it all. She’s at the ideal age to go and discover the world around her, and start understanding she’s not the center of it all! (39x11 min.)

How do you become the ninja you’ve always wanted to be? Get trained by the wise (and rather eccentric) Ninja Master! This is an adventure comedy series with a wide-screen sensibility and a cool cast of bold, fallible, lovable characters. Hiro, Suzume, Futo, Kunochi, Shun and Tora are a new generation of ninjas. Their mission: defend the Land Below the Clouds from the warlord Ashida, whose Kuji wizardry transforms innocent animals into fearsome (but fortunately dumb) samurais. No easy task for 12-year-olds! (52x11 min.)

G-Fighters

Lynn, an ordinary 13-year-old boy, finds a strange cat on his way home. Mistaking a powerful robotic Bolt Cat belonging to the super villain Gala-Gahs for a stray cat, he brings it home and discovers that they can merge into a cat-boy speedy superhero. As Lynn struggles to take stock of his new powers with his feline companion, he realizes there are other powerful kids like him. They join forces and take the noble vow to save the city from the alien villains. (26x22 min.)

Mini Ninjas

The Long Long Holiday

Recounts the daily life of a brother and sister left by their parents at their grandparents’ house near the Normandy coast for a few weeks at the beginning of World War II. As the war rumbles on, those weeks become five years. This series sheds new light on a unique historical context, viewed through the eyes of two young urban children who know nothing of life in the country. Despite the war, they will experience the most wonderful adventures while coming into contact with nature and making new friends. (5x50 min./10x26 min.)

Mia

Mirette Investigates

Mirette is a 10-year-old with a passion for investigation! Disappearances, thefts, clues, suspects, culprits, high-speed chases, arrests—she loves it all! In the course of her various investigations, she’s assisted by Jean-Pat, her “catssistant,” a lazy but extremely efficient ginger tomcat who just loves his food. These two inseparables argue endlessly and get right back at one another with fun one-liners, while enjoying the fine art of dialogue. The series’ humor stems as much from their relationship as from the situations they wind up in. And last but not least, the greatest cities in the world, from London to Paris, via New York or Cairo, serve as the show’s backdrops. (52x11 min.)

Balloopo

Zou

Zorro the Chronicles

Introduces a teenage Don Diego, who fights for justice against numerous unscrupulous, and well-armed, tyrants! The show focuses on the original Zorro’s qualities and takes us through a whirlwind of entertainment. With villains plotting and Zorro’s cunning tricks and jokes, not to mention spectacular fights, the adventure will be complete! But Zorro never kills: he simply ridicules his opponents to teach them a lesson, and signs his deeds with his trademark Z! Zorro will also have a clever and courageous leading lady by his side: Ines, his twin sister. With her and Bernardo, his faithful friend, Zorro returns to save us when we need him most. (26x22 min.)

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TV KIDS

BRAND AWARE To ensure that its shows have strong consumer-products extensions, Cyber Group Studios has its own licensing-and-merchandising division. yber Group Studios struck gold with its debut property, Ozie Boo! Not only did the show sell to broadcasters worldwide, it was a significant licensing and merchandising hit for the company. Understanding the crucial importance of toys and other products for brand building, Cyber Group— founded by a trio of former Disney executives—set up a licensingand-merchandising division early in its history. “We have our own L&M team in Paris responsible for exploiting the full potential of the consumer-products licensing around our properties,” says Alexandra Algard, international licensing and marketing director. “This includes a team of commercial executives, graphic designers and approval and account management. We are present at all the main consumer-products markets around the world and exploit our properties directly or with the help of agents in over 50 territories on all continents. Over the last five years we have also formed a network of about ten agents operating in different regions of the world. We meet with them at least twice a year to determine objectives and evaluate results, and we constantly send them information on our properties, TV ratings and style guides. We communicate monthly with a detailed report of activities so that everyone is kept in the loop.” Ozie Boo! was Cyber Group’s first big L&M hit, and several more have followed since then. Manon and Tales of Tatonka both resonated with licensees and retailers. The company’s latest retail hit is Zou, which boasts more than 4,000 SKUs worldwide across numerous categories, including toys, home furnishings, apparel, back-to-school and more. “We are also now working with ZPI, Zorro’s IP owner, to develop a huge master plan on Zorro the Chronicles, which [launches as] one of our best-selling programs ever,” says Algard. There are several factors one needs in order to have a broad licensing program that secures you retail space, Algard observes. “If you want to be present with big licensees, you need to have your property in a lot of countries around the world. Otherwise you can’t attract the big international toy companies or book publishers.” You can employ a different strategy if your focus is on building an L&M program in a specific market, Algard continues. “At minimum, your property needs to be in the top three in terms of ratings, so you can attract the local players. Your property might not be big in other territories, but it doesn’t matter if you attract a lot of local players. So you need very high ratings in the country you are targeting, or, if you want to play with the big guys, you need to be significantly all over the world. That presence can bring marketing power and muscle.”

The hit preschool series Zou has more than 50 licensees around the world.

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