Welcome to The Licensing Blog, the official blog of The Licensing Book magazine. This is the best place on the web for you to keep up with the latest licensing news and see what we’re working on. We’ll post news updates, story ideas, and anything we can think of. We work in licensing every day, so there’s no reason you should have to wait a month to interact with us — bookmark us today!
Thanks for reading, and we hope to hear from you.
Bryan Joiner Editor in Chief
bjoiner@licensingbook.com
The Licensing Book just got a heads up on some licensed shoe-related news. We obviously love our licensing, but as for the not-so-obvious, we really love shoes. When we were little, we thought those shoes that all the kids had that light up when you walk were out of this world. Now, Lucasfilm and Collective Brands have teamed up to create shoes that are out of this galaxy.
Collective Brands, Inc. and Lucasfilm have announced a multi-year licensing agreement that will transport both Payless ShoeSource and Stride Rite Children’s Group customers to “a galaxy far, far away” with the development of exclusive product lines based on Star Wars and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The brand will be featured on footwear collections in the United States and internationally where the Payless and Stride Rite brands are currently sold.
Payless and Stride Rite will have access to Lucasfilm’s archive including logos, characters, creatures, and aliens from all six live-action Star Wars films, as well as the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and TV series, which airs on the Cartoon Network. Under this single agreement the creative assets will be leveraged to create children’s product lines in both business units—however, the product design, development, and marketing will be executed separately, allowing each business unit to create distinct collections targeted to their specific customer segments and selling channels.
Let’s be serious: You watched the Super Bowl last night. Or the parts between the commercials, at least. And now there’s a new NFL champion: the New Orleans Saints. Congratulations to them and their fans. They’ve certainly earned it.
Now the NFL’s licensees are going to earn it as well. As of this writing, the New Orleans Saints’ official online store is too overloaded to handle requests, which will probably push fans to sites like Fathead.com, where they’re pick up life-sized adhesive replicas of MVP quarterback Drew Brees (pictured) or stars Reggie Bush or Jonathan Vilma.
As for the commercials, Snickers’ ‘Celebrity Sack,’ starring Betty White and Abe Vigoda, topped USA Today’s annual ad meter. Here it is:
Marvel Entertainmentcontinues to expand its presence in the toy category through a new deal with Maisto International for die cast toy vehicles featuring Marvel’s Super Heroes.
As part of this worldwide, multi-year agreement, Maisto has been awarded the rights to produce and market a range of die-cast vehicles and playsets based on several Marvel characters and brands including Super Hero Squad, classic Marvel properties, and Marvel Studios’ upcoming feature films, Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, and The Avengers. Product categories planned are die cast vehicles including cars, off-road trucks, motorcycles, planes, and trains, as well as die cast vehicle playsets. The Marvel collection is scheduled to launch late in the second quarter of 2010 and will be available at mass market, collector, specialty, and toy stores.
Well, that’s just about it for the week. Here in the New York area and stretching far in any direction, there’s a lot of snow scheduled to come down. That means sleds, parkas, and toys… many of which are licensed. But mostly it means a lot of fun.
From the Drip Drops and all of us at TLB, have a happy and safe weekend.
The Kratt Brothers are saving the planet with creature power in Wild Kratts, a new animated wildlife adventure comedy series for children ages 6-9 for PBS KIDS GO!. The series is produced and distributed by The Kratt Brothers Company and 9 Story Entertainment. Wild Kratts was created and developed by real life brothers and zoologists Martin and Chris, who star in the show as animated versions of themselves. The series will premiere in the U.S. in January 2011 on PBS KIDS GO!. Canadian broadcasters for Wild Kratts are TVOntario, Knowledge Network, and Tele-Quebec.
The Kratt Brothers’ adventures are often sparked by a creature crisis, sometimes precipitated by nemesis Zach Varmitech, who will stop at nothing in his quest to collect endangered animals. He drains oceans, forests, and savannas of their wild animals for his own evil purposes—until it’s Wild Kratts to the rescue.
Oh yes… the “Give Me Back That Filet-O-Fish” Fish is coming to stores. Frankie the Fish, from Gemmy Industries, is now at Kmart, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid,, Bed Bath & Beyond, BJ’s Warehouse Clubs, Menards, and at online retailers.
Last year, Uglydoll costume characters were walking around Toy Fair, and one stopped by The Licensing Book magazine booth to give me a hug and take a picture with me. It is, without a doubt, the “Ugly-est” picture I’ve ever taken, and I can’t wait to see the Uglydolls again at Toy Fair this year.
Pretty Ugly has lots of ugly news coming up for Toy Fair and beyond, including eight new plush characters: Pointy Max, Picksey, Mynus, Ninja Batty Shogun, Ket, Wippy, Nandy Bear, and Cozymonster.
In March, there will be a collection of 12 new Series 2 Action Figures, and April will bring the release of the Big Toe Collection. Also in time for spring will be new Uglydoll book titles from Random House: Ugly Guide 4 — The Ugly Guide to Eating Out and Keeping it Down! and a board book, Ugly Colors. Also keep an eye out for Super Ugly reusable Shopping Totes and another book in the fall, Babo’s Cookie Problem.
Pretty Ugly has also announced new licensing partners, including Schylling, to produce a line of tin truck pencil holders, coin banks, wind-up robots, an alarm clock, and a tin keepsake lunchbox; Abrams for 2011 wall calendars and locker calendars releasing this summer; and Mighty Fine for new Uglydoll T-shirts for men, juniors, and kids.
Happy Friday! Just a reminder that The Licensing Book will be at Toy Fair. If you want to meet with us, email us at bjoiner@licensingbook.com to set up an appointment. We’d love to see you!
Wm. K. Walthers, Inc. has announced the sale of its Darda line of toys to Simm Marketing GMBH, a longtime licensee of the Darda brand in Europe. Best known for its child-powered racing sets and accessories, Darda became a Walthers brand in 2005.
While the details of the arrangements, particularly the U.S. distribution of Darda products, are still being finalized, Walthers says that customers should see a seamless transition.
Wm. K. Walthers, Inc. is the leading supplier of model railroad products in the world.
Spin Master Entertainment has announced a partnership to co-develop and produce The Special Offers, a new tween-targeted, animated musical series.
The Special Offers was created by Titmouse, Inc.’s vice president Keith Fay and features the music of Fay and Gina Schock, best known as the drummer for the Go Go’s. Fay produced the first two seasons of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse and served as creative producer for the in-game cinematics scenes of the last five Guitar Hero video games. Gina Schock has established herself as a preeminent “songwriter to the teen stars,” having penned hits for Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Miranda Cosgrove. Schock will serve as a producer on the series, and will collaborate on original music for the series with creator Keith Fay.
Spin Master Entertainment and Titmouse Entertainment will partner to take the show to market, with Spin Master serving as the global merchandising and licensing agent and toy maker for the brand, and Titmouse Entertainment creating the animated musical series and holding the global music rights. The Special Offers follows four misfit kids who bond together in their love for music and form a band. In addition to the usual trials and tribulations of being tweenagers, they also face the backlash of being a real band that plays real instruments, which seems to be about the least cool thing a kid can do in this age of DJs and computer-generated music. Each episode will feature an original song, and all the songs will be compiled and distributed as a soundtrack album at the end of the season. Between seasons, a live touring version of the band is being planned.
The Licensing Book just got a heads up on some licensed shoe-related news. We obviously love our licensing, but as for the not-so-obvious, we really love shoes. When we were little, we thought those shoes that all the kids had that light up when you walk were out of this world. Now, Lucasfilm and Collective Brands have teamed up to create shoes that are out of this galaxy.
Let’s be serious: You watched the Super Bowl last night. Or the parts between the commercials, at least. And now there’s a new NFL champion: the New Orleans Saints. Congratulations to them and their fans. They’ve certainly earned it.
Marvel Entertainment continues to expand its presence in the toy category through a new deal with Maisto International for die cast toy vehicles featuring Marvel’s Super Heroes.
Well, that’s just about it for the week. Here in the New York area and stretching far in any direction, there’s a lot of snow scheduled to come down. That means sleds, parkas, and toys… many of which are licensed. But mostly it means a lot of fun.
The Kratt Brothers are saving the planet with creature power in Wild Kratts, a new animated wildlife adventure comedy series for children ages 6-9 for PBS KIDS GO!. The series is produced and distributed by The Kratt Brothers Company and 9 Story Entertainment.
Last year, Uglydoll costume characters were walking around Toy Fair, and one stopped by The Licensing Book magazine booth to give me a hug and take a picture with me. It is, without a doubt, the “Ugly-est” picture I’ve ever taken, and I can’t wait to see the Uglydolls again at Toy Fair this year.
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