Including Jazwares signing Chuggington and Golden Bear adding Thomas & Friends.
Ludorum has appointed Jazwares as the new global master toy partner for preschool brand, Chuggington. Products in the new range will include collectable characters, play-sets and feature toys. It will, however, move away from traditional track systems of train play and focus on the destinations in the show to allow young fans to build their own world of Chuggington. The toy line will be launching from spring 2017.
Golden Bear has added Thomas & Friends to its growing preschool portfolio for 2016. A new range of product will include feature plush, interactive play mats and magnetic drawing toys, with selected lines launching from autumn/winter.
Rainbow Designs has appointed Suzie Howes as its new head of marketing and licensing. Suzie has previously held roles with Vivid and Winning Moves, and boasts more than 15 years of industry experience.
Oxford Limited has signed Brandsdistribution.com as the European apparel partner for the University of Oxford licensing programme. The five-year exclusive deal (brokered by Global Icons Europe) will see the Italian company produce a branded clothing line. The first collection will launch for autumn/winter 2016.
Former head of global consumer products at Rovio Entertainment, Naz Amarchi-Cuevas has joined Zoobe Message Entertainment as its new ceo. Zoobe is a character voice messaging app for iOS and Android and, since its launch, more than 200 million Zoobe video messages have been created worldwide.
Jumbo Games is to roll out its new range of puzzles and games for Finding Dory at the end of this month. The line will include eight products, including 4-in-1 Shaped Bath Puzzles and the Bath Memo Game among others.
Martin and Elinor Grossman have bought back the shares in their family firm, H Grossman. The company was sold in June 2015, however it is now 100% owned by them once again. The announcement accompanies the news that Mark Walls has resigned as md.
Sports lifestyle brand ’47 has inked a deal with Nitro Circus to be the headwear and apparel partner for its sponsored athletes.
eOne has named Simon & Schuster as the master publishing partner in the US for PJ Masks. The debut collection of books will begin to arrive from the autumn.
Zodiak Kids has secured further sales for Get Blake, the animated comedy series developed in partnership with Nickelodeon and Gulli. It has now been sold to Clan (Spain), MBC (the Middle East) and BBC Alba (Gaelic).
An exclusive limited edition Betty Boop make-up palette collection has been launched in New York by Z Palette following a deal with King Features.
‘Queen of bling’ and star of My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, Sondra Celli is to be represented by The Brand Liaison. The licensing programme will debut at Licensing Expo next month and will cover a wide range of apparel and accessories.
