Like designers all over the world, Australian fashion labels are collaborating with global character properties for limited editions and/or capsule collections. In the last six months, several such deals have been announced, crossing a variety of categories: Apparel. Leroy Nguyen launched a capsule collection of five items, from sweat tops to dresses, featuring Hello Kitty, […]
Archive | Character/Entertainment
Heading for the Finnish
By Karen Raugust on March 14, 2016 in Art, Character/Entertainment, Digital, International, Licensing
Properties from Finland, especially from the worlds of design, digital entertainment, and publishing, are expanding their activities on the global market this year. Many are classics, or at least well established, but their profiles are on the upswing, each for its own reasons. On the design side, Marimekko, which has been known for its brightly […]
It’s a Mystery
Live-action TV mysteries for adults have seen a bit of a boost in licensing activity—albeit narrow in scope—in their home countries over the past year. The properties in question hail from the U.K. and Australia, and all air on public television stations in some or all U.S. markets. Winning Moves UK announced in January that […]
Code Ed: Characters Teach Computer Programming
Computer coding has been a theme of several recent deals marrying licensed entertainment/character properties with educational digital content focused on basic programming skills. Since November 2015: Disney and Lucasfilm partnered with Code.org for a Star Wars tutorial that educates kids on writing code; Code.org has previously worked with Disney on similar programs involving Frozen and […]
Fostering Acceptance
By Karen Raugust on January 25, 2016 in Branding/marketing, Character/Entertainment, Content, Licensing
Over the past few years, a handful of catalogs and marketing campaigns have featured models with special needs, such as Down’s syndrome or physical disabilities. In general, the intent is not to call attention to these conditions, but simply to better represent the diversity of the marketers’ customer base. Examples have ranged from a Target […]
Some Thoughts on Star Wars
Visits to a wide range of retail stores in New York and the Twin Cities in December confirmed the degree to which Star Wars is dominating shelf and floor space this holiday season. Not surprisingly, Star Wars products prevail at mass chains, including storewide at Target and in Walmart’s toy department (with Star Wars and […]
Chinese Children Cherish Licensed Publishing
By Karen Raugust on December 10, 2015 in Character/Entertainment, International, Licensing, Publishing
Three of the seven best-selling children’s book series in China at the moment are based on licensed properties, and they may not necessarily be the ones you would expect. Two are tied to global brands. China Children’s Publishing offers books based on the mobile game Plants vs. Zombies, licensed by Electronic Arts’ PopCap Games division, […]
Getting Cosy with Emoji
The trend for emoji-related intellectual properties becoming available for licensing, which started to gain traction a year or more ago, initially focused on newly created brands. Examples included those with roots as emojis, such as LINE Friends from Japan, Tuzki from China, or The Emoji Company’s Emoji trademark, as well as those inspired by emojis, […]
A Starring Role for Single Episodes
Entertainment IP owners are keeping their licensing programs fresh by developing limited merchandise arrays based on specific episodes of their TV series. A number of factors dictate the viability of these efforts: Unexpected demand. Cartoon Network licensee Cryptozoic created a board game called Card Wars, which brought to life a game played in a breakout […]
No Longer Niche?
As little as a year ago there was skepticism as to whether streaming-only entertainment properties, without TV, film, or franchise backing, would be viable for licensing any time soon. This perception is changing quickly. It is not yet known whether widespread licensing programs tied to shows available only on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and the […]