Including Crayola launching its new Colors of the World crayon collection, representing over 40 global skin tones.
Source rounds up more news from the licensing industry across the globe from the week.
Crayola has launched a new range of Colors of the World crayons, 24 new specially formulated crayons which are designed to mirror and represent over 40 global skin tones across the world. With the launch of the range, Crayola is hoping to cultivate a more inclusive world for children of all ages, races, cultures and ethnicities. The brand partnered with Victor Casale – formerly chief chemist and md, R&D of MAC cosmetics, co-founder of Cover FX and currently ceo of MOB Beauty – on the initiative to ensure the crayons were developed to reflect an accurate and inclusive skin tone palette. The crayon packs feature side panels that serve as colour references and each crayon is wrapped in a gradient skin tone label with the colour name in English, Spanish and French. Each purposefully has a realistic colour name – such as Light Golden, Deep Almond and Medium Deep Rose – to help children easily find the shade they identify as their own.
French animation studio Xilam Animation has appointed Licensing Works as the North American agent for its slapstick comedy brand, Zig & Sharko. The agency will focus on holiday and spring/summer products including swimwear and pool accessories, home décor and outdoor textiles, surf, skate and related sporting goods, personal care, greeting cards, toys, puzzles and games, dress-up, publishing, back to school, gifting, food and drink, seasonal promotions and meet and greets.
Content and rights management company ADK Emotions NY has appointed specialist communications agency, License to PR to manage its trade media communications.
Card.com has partnered with the emoji brand to expand its offering of pre-paid cards. The deal was brokered by Retail Monster, the emoji company’s North American licensing agency. The first wave of the collection launched in April and includes over 100 different designs.
Animaccord has unveiled its first licensing deal for China for preschool property, Masha and the Bear. The deal with Guangdong D&G Trading will see a branded toy line including dolls, plush, play-sets, figurines and role-play launching from August 2020.
The Children’s Media Conference has confirmed that former Lord Mayor of Sheffield and Green MEP, Magid Magid will be the keynote speaker at this year’s virtual conference, which will run online from July 6-10. He will address the revised conference theme of Still Here Right Now on Monday July 6, delivering his thoughts on the future-focus of his environmental campaigning and offer a refugee’s perspective on life for young people in Britain today.
Brainbase – the technology platform which helps companies manage any licensing, partnership or sponsorship agreement from end-to-end in a single platform – has announced an $8 million Series A financing led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Nosara Capital (with participation from a number of other companies and individuals). The company is aiming to use the funding to build a payments feature in its IP licensing platform, Brainbase Assist, for licensors to expedite payments from licensees. It will also build Marketplace, a new solution to showcase, connect and close deals with brands, celebrities, athletes and influencers entirely online.
Surge Licensing has signed Playmates Toys as the global master toy licensee for YouTube story-driven media franchise, Spy Ninjas. The brand generates over 400 million monthly views and over 29 subscribers on YouTube, acting as ‘appointment viewing’ with more than one million views within an hour of uploading every episode. In each episode, Chad Wild Clay, Vy Qwaint and their Spy Ninjas team set out to spoil the nefarious plans of the evil hacking group, Project Zorgo, through detective work and martial arts. Playmates will launch a first wave of spy gadgets (including secret electronic spy ninja gear, decoders and spy activity kits) from October 2020, with a second wave including a broader array of communication devices, action figures and more spy accessories.
The Van Gogh Museum has appointed IMG to act as its licensing representative in North and South America, the Middle East, Africa, China and some parts of Europe (excluding the UK, Benelux, Germany and Italy). The agency will be targeting product areas such as clothing, fashion accessories, home décor, cosmetics, fine stationery, gifting and collectables.
Alvin Fu has been named vice president and general manager of Greater China for Sesame Workshop. He will be responsible for developing and implementing a new long-term strategic vision to help the next generation of children in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan grow up ‘smarter, stronger and kinder’.
Chupa Chups has partnered with Polish lifestyle retailer SMYK to develop a capsule collection for its Cool Club brand. WildBrain CPLG was behind the vision to have the retailer create a colourful collection which includes apparel and accessories for tweens and teens featuring the Chupa Chups logo and ‘pop vibe’. The prelaunch is live on Smyk.com and will later be available upon the re-opening of over 200 bricks and mortar stores in Poland.
Planeta Junior is gearing up to attend Licensing Week Virtual next month. The company will have a virtual space to allow it to connect with retailers, manufacturers and the media from June 15-19. It will be showcasing brands including Gormiti, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, Power Players and Pucca.
Meanwhile, MGM is to host its first ever virtual licensing summit as part of next month’s Licensing Week Virtual. Current and potential licensees will be given a sneak peek at upcoming initiatives for a number of brands including Pink Panther, The Addams Family, Legally Blonde and Rocky among others. The virtual summit will be by invitation only.
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