TV Kids DISCOP 2011

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Licensing Trends Saban Brands’ Elie Dekel Nerd Corps’ Ken Faier www.tvkids.ws

LICENSING SHOW & DISCOP EDITION THE MAGAZINE OF CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING

JUNE/JULY 2011

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Cyber Group Studios www.cybergroupstudios.com • Tales of Tatonka • Fish n Chips • Grenadine & Peppermint • Nina Patalo • Cloud Bread

IN THIS ISSUE Flying Off the Shelf A look at the strategies needed to launch a successful licensingand-merchandising program 6

Interviews Saban Brands’ Elie Dekel Nerd Corps’ Ken Faier

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Ricardo Seguin Guise

Publisher Anna Carugati

Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani

Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski

Managing Editor

Tales of Tatonka

Cyber Group Studios’ DISCOP slate appeals to a variety of youth demographics. Carole Brin, the head of international sales and acquisitions, says, “Considering that we were offering more preschool content in the past, our goal for this year is to reach even more channels in CEE thanks to a wider range of programming.” Highlights include Tales of Tatonka, Fish n Chips and Nina Patalo.

Grenadine & Peppermint revolves around a little Inuit girl who loves adventures. Cloud Bread tells the story of two curious children who find a small piece of cloud.

“ The best way to expand our activities in CEE

is to continue to offer a catalogue of premium content.

—Carole Brin

”

Mediatoon Distribution mid.mediatoon.com

“ Although many CEE countries have suffered

• The Garfield Show • Quiz Time • Contraptus • Chumballs • The Adventures of Tintin

from the world economic crisis, Mediatoon’s presence in this region has been constantly growing.

—Jessica Delahaie

”

Morgan Grice

Editorial Assistant Simon Weaver

Online Director Phyllis Q. Busell

Art Director Cesar Suero

Sales and Marketing Manager Terry Acunzo

Business Affairs Manager Alyssa Menard

Sales and Marketing Coordinator

Mediatoon believes its kids’ shows will appeal to Central and Eastern Europe whether broadcasters are focused on “star” properties or “assured successes,” says Jessica Delahaie, the international sales manager. The Garfield Show has sold in more than 140 countries. Quiz Time is a new educationfocused series. In Contraptus, a wacky inventor comes up with bizarre ideas every day. Chumballs introduces basic ecological notions in a fun way, while the ongoing The Adventures of Tintin centers on Tintin, Snowy and their friends finding intrigue wherever they go around the world.

Quiz Time

Mondo TV S.p.A. www.mondotv.it

Ricardo Seguin Guise

President Anna Carugati

Executive VP and Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani

VP of Strategic Development TV Kids © 2011 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website:

www.tvkids.ws

“ The goal of Mondo TV is to increase its

• Puppy in My Pocket • Virus Attack • Power Buggz • Playtime Buddies • Dinofroz

presence in every European country, providing a very good-quality product.

”

—Alessandro Venturi

Puppy in My Pocket

Mondo TV S.p.A.’s vast animation library targets age groups from preschool to teen.According to AlessandroVenturi, the sales manager, this wide range, as well as Mondo TV’s relationship to toy distributor Giochi Preziosi, will spur interest in the company’s catalogue at DISCOP. “The programs are in full HD, with original story lines, suitable to reach different cultures and the widest audiences,” says Venturi. On the roster for DISCOP are Dinofroz, Puppy in My Pocket, Playtime Buddies, Power Buggz and Virus Attack.

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With creativity, persistence and out-of-the-box strategies, independent kids’ companies are launching successful licensing-andmerchandising programs.

m4e’s Mia and Me.

By Anna Carugati

Flying Off the Shelf

When a character from a book or TV show captures the imagination of a child, a remarkable bond takes hold. The child wants the beloved character to jump out of its twodimensional form and take life in the real world, in the shape of an action figure, doll, plush toy or game, so that the character can be a best friend.

Ken Faier, the president of Nerd Corps Entertainment, notes, “You want to deliver a 22-minute episodic experience that kids will sit and watch and say, ‘Wow, this is really cool,’ and then get off the couch and say, ‘I want to do that and I want to do it in a variety of ways. I want to do it in a very casual online game that I can spend five minutes with; I want to look online to see if there are any short videos that I can watch, I want to go to my iPod touch and download a simple casual game that will cost a dollar, I want to go to the toy store…and I want to buy the video game and play online in a much bigger video-game world.’ ” Creating this magical bond between child and character is the ultimate goal of any producer and distributor of children’s television shows, not only because the resulting consumer products bring hours of fun and strengthen the connection with the brand, but, more important, the revenues derived from licensing and merchandising have become essential in financing shows.

“TV license fees do not allow you to recoup your investment for high-quality content via television or even home video only,” explains Hans Ulrich Stoef, the CEO of m4e, the German integrated brand-management and media company. “If you have a high budget you need to make the consumer-products part work, otherwise you will lose money.”

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To help limit some of the risk involved in bringing kids’ properties to market, a number of companies are reviving classic brands that have already been successful.

TRIED AND TRUE

“Power Rangers is now one of those properties that has transcended into an evergreen, and we’ve seen a tremendous interest in Power Rangers licensing,” says Elie Dekel, the president of Saban Brands. “I think it’s because of the longevity of the brand....

I’ve been making Power Rangers presentations and talking to retailers and manufacturers and licensees and promotional partners, and not once have I had to justify the appeal or the popularity or the power of the brand.”

Bandai America is the master toy licensee for Power Rangers.

Action figures are core to the property’s play pattern, but more products will be coming throughout this year, including pajamas, school supplies, costumes, video games for the Wii and Xbox, mobile apps and digital products. “And we are in the early stages of the live tour. For us it’s a comprehensive rollout of both product and content and brand presence in the market,” adds Dekel.

Another company that is reintroducing popular brands is Classic Media. “The heart of what we do is reinvent the classics of yesterday; [in doing so] we come in from this amazing perspective of having a built-in affinity and a built-in awareness,” says Nicole Blake, the company’s executive VP of global marketing and consumer products. Currently, the properties Classic Media is reinventing include Where’s Waldo?/Where’s Wally?, Postman Pat, Voltron and Masters of the Universe.

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“The beauty of working with a classic is that there is something that made it work the first time,” says Blake. “So we identify the DNA of that property:Why did kids care about it when it first came out? Why did it have so many fans? We stay true to that but present it in a fun and fresh way. It’s about having visibility and creating an event and a way for fans to engage with the brand.

That can be done with TV, gaming, publishing or film. For example, we brought back Where’s Wally? with new publishing and gaming. In the case of Voltron, the new TV series Voltron Force premieres this month on Nicktoons in the U.S., and that will be the first media event of the franchise in ten years.”

Mattel will develop toy lines based on classic Voltron and the new Voltron Force; they are scheduled to launch in 2011 and 2012, respectively. THQ is preparing video games; the first is scheduled for release this fall. Other products include T-shirts, tops, swimwear, sleepwear, costumes, graphic novels and comics.

“When you are reinventing a classic the strategy is to reengage the people that grew up with that property and remember it,” says Blake. “Whereas when you are launching a new property, you have to establish awareness first and foremost. With Tinga Tinga Tales, a new property, it was very important for us to have a big event, which was the television show to launch with.”

A LOYAL FOLLOWING

For many children’s properties, television is the most important launch vehicle. This was the case with the new version of The Jungle Book from DQ Entertainment.

“Our strategy is quite simple: the greater the TV audiences, the larger the followers it creates,” states Tapaas Chakravarti, DQE’s chairman, CEO and executive producer. “We have managed to generate very good traction on the L&M side.We have laid equal emphasis on both pay-TV and free-TV broadcasters so that the show reaches maximum audiences. Simple, yet effective.”

The Jungle Book marked DQE’s foray into merchandising.

“With the first season of this series sold in over 160 countries, we had the perfect window of opportunity to drive licensing and merchandising around this property. Our merchandising program, which took wind with leading agents like Copyright Promotions Licensing Group (CPLG), Plus Licens, D&C, TF1, ZDF Enterprises and Empire [International Merchandising Corp.], is active in major parts of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. We will soon be focusing on other potential markets,” adds Chakravarti.

A number of partners are representing The Jungle Book for various products; they include Hachette, Egmont, Mookie Toys, D’Arpèje, Belltex, the Quick restaurant chain, School Pak, Universal Trends,TVMania, Burger Ranch and the Universal Music Group.“Most of the Jungle Book products are targeted at children between the ages of 3 to 12 and the categories so far have been back-to-school products, inflatables, apparel, board games, figurines, books, CDs, balls, slides, skateboards, bicycle and so many other products targeted at this age group,” says Chakravarti.

While the goal of any owner of a children’s property is to develop a successful licensing-and-merchandising program, the reality is that shelf space at retail is limited.

“Retailers are picking up fewer licenses because they have less shelf space to offer,” notes Saban’s Dekel. “And with less shelf space to offer there are only so many products within a license that they can absorb. That is not a new trend, that has been an ongoing challenge and so subsequently the strongest of the brands are able to survive and thrive in that environment. It becomes more difficult for emerging brands.”

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“It’s very difficult, it always has been, it never gets easier, it just gets harder!” adds Nerd Corps’ Faier. “There are probably more than a thousand shows on air in the U.S. and how many are actually on shelf?”

For many companies, the key to securing shelf space is to offer a property that is unique and has become very popular among kids. Television is the best medium for generating widespread awareness, and that is why the TV series almost always precedes the products on the shelves.

“Right now there is a trend in the market that toy companies require a longer TV presence for a property before they launch a toy program,” says m4e’s Stoef. “Toy partners want as much security as possible. In the past, the formula was always that a property had to be on air for six months before they ever launched a toy line. Now this has been extended to sometimes 16 months and more. For nonestablished and new properties we always first launch them on the Internet and on television. The earliest possible launch for the licensing program is six months later.”

“There is an advantage when a brand has name recognition and a successful track record, in the fact that people know it and they like it,” adds Cynthia Money, the president of worldwide consumer products and marketing at Moonscoop. “On a new show that we are launching which doesn’t have the built-in recognition we wait a little longer to bring the products to market. We let the brand resonate with the audience more.” Moonscoop’s lead properties for Licensing Show are Chloe’s Closet, Wild Grinders and Hero:108.

ONTO THE SHELF

Money says she’s particularly excited about showing Chloe’s Closet at the Licensing Show. “It’s a wonderful preschool show that involves the adventures of an adorable imaginative little girl and her friends,” she explains. “We have very strong TV placement worldwide, including the U.S., where it is broadcast on Sprout, Germany on KI.KA, France, Spain and the U.K. Bandai is our worldwide toy partner.”

Part of Moonscoop’s strategy is to target different age groups and both genders. Hero:108 is an action comedy series, which airs on Cartoon Network worldwide and is a coproduction with Moonscoop, Turner Broadcasting, Gamania and Telegael.

It has a huge presence online with an MMOG. “Playmates is our masWorld Screen

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Style savvy: Mondo’s Puppy in My Pocket had a solid retail presence before it became a TV property.

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ter toy and Atlantyca Entertainment is our worldwide partner for chapter books loosely based on the series,” notes Money.

Wild Grinders is an action-sports property based on fun and humor, with an authentic take on skateboarding culture. The show is currently in production. It is the brainchild of Rob Dyrdek, a professional skateboarder and entrepreneur.

ORIGINAL APPEAL

Another company that is confident of the strength of its original ideas is m4e. “Of course it is easier to produce a new show that has a broad awareness level based on existing books, but that does not mean automatically instant or sustainable success,” says Stoef. “It depends on the values a property offers, whether it’s the play value itself or the educational value.You should never underestimate the fact that, at the end of the day, a licensing program can only be as successful as the show is entertaining.You really need to create a very entertaining television show first before you go into consumer products.”

Mia and Me is about a girl who can enter a magical world of elves, unicorns and dragons. Targeting mainly girls 6 to 11, the property will have a multi-territory launch. It will first air on the Internet and on

Properly armed: Rainbow is planning to launch products for Huntik now that the show has built up momentum, with a second season coming this fall.

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television in 2012. Stoef says, “Our co-production partners are Rainbow S.p.A. from Italy, ZDF in Germany, March Entertainment from Canada, and also RAI via Rainbow S.p.A. in Italy, Hahn Film and ourselves, but m4e [is managing] the brand and its rollout.” He adds, “The strategy is to launch the TV show by spring of 2012 and then introduce various product lines, starting with publishing and toys in fall of 2012 and with further products launched in spring 2013.”

Rainbow S.p.A., the company that produced and distributed the successful Winx Club brand, also believes in allowing a show to gain an audience before rolling out products, as it has done with the boy-skewing animated adventure series Huntik.

“Huntik has had extremely good TV ratings and we just finished producing the second season, which will air across Europe this fall, and, joined with it, we will launch Huntik products,” says Iginio Straffi, Rainbow’s founder and CEO. Giochi Preziosi is the European master toy partner, who is handling back-toschool, among other categories. “We also have several other licensees on board for apparel, shoes, food products, and we believe that Huntik, with the 52 episodes, and a proper marketing plan for the merchandising, will have a real chance for the last quarter of this year and next year.”

In an effort to offer the ultimate brand extension to its fans, Rainbow has built a theme park, Rainbow MagicLand, which just opened in Italy. It offers rides and attractions based on its popular stable of characters.

Securing that ever-diminishing shelf space can be easier for companies that have toy companies as partners in the TV shows, as is the case with Mondo TV S.p.A. Mondo’s animated show Puppy in My Pocket is based on the tiny collectable pets from MEG, and the series has sold in more than 150 territories. Giochi Preziosi is the master toy licensee across EMEA, and MEG is handing the rest of the world. For two years, the Italian producer and distributor has been collaborating with these two companies. “This represents a whole new business approach for us,” says Micheline Azoury, Mondo TV’s head of international sales and brand manager. “Our experience with them has opened us to a different way of seeing products for kids and of scheduling shows in a different manner.” Puppy in My Pocket will air daily on Cartoon Network and Boomerang across EMEA starting in July 2011 and on Cartoon Network across Asia in the fall. Merchandise targeting 4- to 8-year-olds will be generic or girl focused for the initial launch and boy products will follow once demand builds.

“Giochi Preziosi are masters in the licensing-andmerchandising business,” continues Azoury.“They open doors; their expertise allows your properties to become better known thanks to their toys’ strong presence in big distribution retail chains and to their TV commercials.”

MEG is also the worldwide master toy licensee for the preschool series Playtime Buddies. The series and products will launch in the fall of 2012 and key categories will include apparel, fashion, accessories, bedding, greetings, confectionery, toiletries, plush, home and gifts.

Mondo TV’s new property is Trash Pack, an animated comedy series targeting 4- to 9-year-olds, which launches this fall in Italy and Spain, followed by the U.S. in the spring of 2012 and worldwide in the fall of 2012. Key licensing opportunities range from publishing, interactive, apparel, accessories 6/11

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and bedding to back-to-school, stationery, confectionery, video games, and health and beauty aides.

“Very few properties work on a global basis, but many work on a local basis,” says Tony Verdini, the senior sales and marketing manager at The Licensing Machine (TLM), the media and brand-licensing division of the Panini Group. “A licensing business is built on a good mix of local and international properties—we don’t necessarily search for that single international property. But the right mix of local and international properties, brands and franchises makes the success of a licensing agency.”

“We believe 100 percent in Panini’s strategy, which is to work closely with our studio and focus only on a few high-quality projects,” says Paulo Gomes, the CEO of Bigmoon Animation Studios, which produces Tic Tac Tales for the 4-to-7 age group, the preschool series Pikaboo and the CGI animated action series D-Team for 8- to 12-year-olds. Licensing and merchandising for all three series are being handled by The Licensing Machine.

“Everyone would like to work with known properties; everyone would like to have Ben 10 today, but perhaps that wasn’t the case five years ago when it was unknown,” notes Verdini. “It’s obvious that working with mature, well-known properties is easier, but we believe that there is unexpressed potential in many media products, animation and others, that are perhaps less known but have very high potential. They don’t necessarily need to be born on TV; they can arrive to television from other media and still become important.”

THE DIGITAL PLAYGROUND

Using media besides television to introduce properties to consumers or to bypass conventional routes to sell products is a strategy successfully employed by Toonzone Studios. It tapped the talent of David Feiss, of Cow and Chicken fame, to create the eco-adventure comedy series YooHoo & Friends, which features five cute, furry-tailed heroes who are on a global quest to save the planet from a series of wacky ecodisasters.Toonzone executives then made the decision to sell plush dolls of the characters online.

“We’re doing an online store to exploit our IP; we are also showcasing some clips of our show,” explains Konnie Kwak, Toonzone’s CEO. “The reason we are doing more digital is that we can control the distribution. Because of the success of the plush we did about $160 million worldwide, mostly in the U.K. and the U.S.” While Toonzone will take YooHoo & Friends to regular brick and mortar retails stores, online provided a way of jump-starting sales. “Marketing a show is such a long process and this is something we can do quickly,” says Kwak, who adds that a game, e-book, and an iPhone app are in the works.

“We are also in talks with the educational sector; we want to place YooHoo & Friends in schools and we have a curriculum tied in to the show.”

Toonzone has two more properties in the works: Tiny Warriors, an animated martial-arts comedy series, which is a co-production with Brazil’s Studio Sumatra, and Missy Heart, an animated series for girls 5 to 9 about three girlfriends’ adventures and the lessons they learn.

Whether it’s a classic brand or a new concept, introducing properties in the licensing and merchandising business is never easy.

“You need something with depth and longevity that can grow over time, and as it becomes huge, can keep coming back with more and more product, because if it’s huge one season and there’s nothing to follow it up, that creates potential problems,” says Nerd Corps’ Faier.

But the difficulties just make the challenge more interesting, according to Moonscoop’s Money. “What’s so great about our business is...you can have everything checked off and it may not work, or you may have something completely out of the blue come up and just do incredibly well. At the end of the day it’s really the kids and the consumers that decide.”

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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers launched in 1993 and quickly became a hit in the U.S. and internationally. At the time, Elie Dekel was president of Saban Consumer Products/Fox Family Worldwide and he oversaw the marketing and branding of the show. Last year, Saban Brands reacquired the Power Rangers brand and reimagined the TV series. Power Rangers Samurai premiered on Nickelodeon in the U.S. in February and will continue to roll out around the world this year and next. Dekel, who today is the president of Saban Brands, is once again overseeing the development of licensing and merchandising of Power Rangers.

TV KIDS: The TV series Power Rangers Samurai has maintained some of the core values of the original series: empowering children, making good choices, helping others, to name a few. How are you reimagining Power Rangers in the consumer-products area?

DEKEL: There are certain things that are core to the Power Rangers play pattern—for example, the action figure. The toy line very closely mirrors what the kids are watching on the show. And Bandai has been an exceptional partner in being able to translate the entertainment into product. Each year as the show evolves and new themes come into this Power Rangers programming cycle, it gives an opportunity for new product that is very distinct and bespoke to the season that is on the air at that time. That has been one of the essential elements. Marry that with the fact that in the U.S. Power Rangers Samurai is on the air seven days a week between Nickelodeon and Nicktoons. That ongoing exposure is very helpful.

Saban Brands’

Elie Dekel

TV KIDS: When you have an iconic brand like Power

Rangers, what advantages do you derive from its recognition factor when you are approaching licensees?

DEKEL: Power Rangers is now one of those properties that has transcended into an evergreen, and we’ve seen a tremendous interest in Power Rangers licensing. I think it’s because of the longevity of the brand, but also because it’s been proved over so many years and it’s become a stable, reliable consumer property. What’s interesting is that during the past year, since we reacquired the brand, I’ve been making Power Rangers presentations and talking to retailers and manufacturers and licensees and promotional partners, and not once have I had to justify the appeal or the popularity or the power of the brand.

It’s really been a function of what’s the best opportunity and what’s the best content that we can take to the market that fits the new strategy. That’s even true with retailers because there is recognition of what the brand has been capable of accomplishing over the years. And now there is a new energy behind it. The power of a brand is indisputable in our business and as consumers are looking for the brands they know, it becomes harder for new brands to emerge. But it also enhances the value of brands that have attained that evergreen status. It’s core to our strategy that we are working with brands that have recognition and have a track record of appeal in the marketplace.

TV KIDS: Besides toys, what other products does the Power Rangers brand lend itself to?

DEKEL: What you will see through the balance of this year will be sleepwear, which is a great category for us, pajamas designed like the Rangers so the kids never want to take them off!

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School supplies are clearly an important category for us. At Halloween, costumes are critical. As we head into the holiday season we will be releasing video games for Wii and Xbox. We are releasing a series of mobile apps now and through the summer, and so the digital products are very much part of our strategy. And we are in the early stages of the live tour. For us it’s a comprehensive rollout of both product and content and brand presence in the market.

TV KIDS: After the U.S., in what other countries are you

looking to roll out products?

DEKEL: We have a very extensive list of markets where the show

will be airing. We had a very successful launch last MIPCOM and a very successful meeting with all of our broadcasters at MIPTV. Internationally we’ll see Bandai’s toy range following the pattern of the TV launch and as we did in the U.S. we are leading with the toy products first, as Power Rangers is a toy-centric property.We want to channel the early demand to our toy product.And then over the months that follow, other categories would enter in a similar pattern to [the rollout] in the U.S. Power Rangers Samurai just launched in the U.K., and toy products will be ready for back to school and fall. We’ll be launching the show throughout Western Europe between now and the end of 2011. In key markets we’ll see toy product in the market for the holiday season.

Latin America also launches this year and so do Australia and Canada. In spring of 2012, we are expanding into Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, India and South Africa. In the next 12 months we are rolling out in most of the world and then the toy line synchronizes with that.

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By Anna Carugati

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As the company name implies, Nerd Corps Entertainment is committed to creating animation for film, television and online that is cutting-edge, but it is also stylistically innovative and grounded in great storytelling.

Storm Hawks, League of Super Evil and Rated A for Awesome are among the series created at the Canadian state-of-the-art studio. Its president, Ken Faier, talks about a new property in the works and about extending the fun of a TV series beyond the screen.

By Anna Carugati

TV KIDS: Which new properties will you be focusing on at the Licensing Show?

FAIER: We are focusing on Slugterrainea, a 39-half-hour series that we created and Disney XD has bought the worldwide cable and satellite rights [to].

Slugterrainea is about an underground world filled with magical creatures called slugs that have certain powers. When launched from slingers they transform into what their power might be—it could be a fire slug, a wind slug—it’s a variety of characters. Our hero, Elias Stone, is on a quest to become the best slug slinger in Slugterrainea and stop evil Dr. Blakk who is disrupting the balance of this world.

The whole goal on the merchandising side is for kids to love this world and have fun with it and be on a track to become a great slug slinger.

Nerd Corps’

Ken Faier

TV KIDS: Securing shelf space at retail is always a challenge.

What characteristics of this property will help you get that very coveted real estate?

FAIER: You have to check off every box on a retailer’s list to even be considered as a possibility. You have to be on a great network, you have to be on air long enough, you have to have a unique play pattern or offer a unique opportunity when compared to other products at retail right now. Ultimately, you have to knock someone else off the shelf. Maybe 10 percent of that aisle is up for grabs every year; that is really the only space to get, because you’re not going to knock Star Wars off, or Transformers, or some of the Marvel or WWE properties that are traditionally in that aisle.

If you have an existing property that is being relaunched, there is awareness among retailers that it has worked in the past and they will be more apt to give it a shot. On an original, they really have to see how it sits in an aisle and how it is different from some of the other [products], but at the same time, how it taps into all the success factors of previous properties that have been successful. How does it emulate some of that and at the same time how is it different? With Slugterrainea we feel we tap into some very key mechanics of properties that have exploded in the action aisle and have been successful in the essence of competitive play. Slugterrainea has the collection mechanic—collecting these really cool little slugs that have personalities. There is the escalation mechanic of them getting to be more powerful the more time you spend with them, and then there’s the slinger mechanic. And kids can compete, [as the video] gaming mechanic is tied in to it. Ulti72

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mately, we are delivering all of this through a good-versusevil action-adventure comedy. The lead character has a group of fun friends and the slugs themselves have personalities; some can be very funny. So the show delivers comedy in a very organic way, and comedy is important for the replay ability of the show. Retailers look at ratings, too.

Finally, you need a property that has the ability to go on for years and also has the ability to hit various price points.You need an entry into a property that doesn’t cost 30 dollars or 40 dollars.You need that under-ten-dollar opportunity that has a lot of volume but you also need something that is more premium deluxe as well, for those $20 or $30 price points.

TV KIDS: What do you need to be thinking of as you plan licensing and products?

FAIER: If you have a potential success you have to think ahead, because in the end you are probably dealing with thousands of people, from licensing agents, licensees, retailers, broadcasters, promotional agencies, to marketers that are all tying in to the property to use it, to help promote it, but also to sell their own product.Thousands of people will touch the property and make decisions on what do they do with it, so there needs to be a very clear road map of what the essence of the brand is, what’s important to it, what should never be done and what should mostly be done.You need to give the tools to very creative companies, whether they are a sock manufacturer or they make games, board games or fruit popsicles. So many different people touch the brand and they all have their own unique industries and ways of selling to retail or whatever their product might be.You need to give them the tools to do it and you need to think about all of that.

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