Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the ability to express and control one’s own emotions, as well as interpret and respond to the emotions of others. In the last year or so, it has become an emerging theme for entertainment and consumer products targeted at preschoolers. Some of the EQ-centric preschool initiatives in the news since […]
Archive | Character/Entertainment
Asian Licensors Look Abroad
Entertainment properties from the key Asian territories of Japan, China, and Korea have been strengthening their focus on international territories of late, both in other Asian countries and beyond. The classic Japanese preschool property Anpanman, a book-based TV series that is estimated to drive $1 billion or so in retail sales of licensed goods each […]
Science to Go
Traveling science-themed educational exhibits, which live at the intersection of the STEM and experiential-licensing trends, continue to represent an opportunity for appropriate entertainment franchises. Successful properties in this realm are not always educational, or even strongly science-themed, as two of the most recent examples attest. The first is Fox’s Ice Age, which has some loose […]
West Meets East
U.S.-based licensors of classic characters are making inroads into the Chinese market by forging deals with fashion-forward retail operators. Three examples announced in the last month illustrate the trend: Twentieth Century Fox paired with Her-Chain Clothing, a multibrand retailer, and HongFang Group to open Simpsons flagship apparel stores across the country. King Features and its […]
Swimming With The Stream
By Karen Raugust on June 15, 2015 in Celebrity, Character/Entertainment, Content, Digital, Licensing
One of the most notable new wrinkles at last week’s Licensing Expo in Las Vegas was the presence of the major streaming platforms, with YouTube, AwesomenessTV, and Amazon Studios all first-time exhibitors. They were talking to attendees about the potential for financing and distributing content, as well as providing a showcase for the licensors of […]
Promoting Girl Power in the Science Lab
The current societal interest in promoting science, technology, engineering, and math to children in general, but especially to girls, is increasingly having an impact on the licensing business. Several TV shows with STEM themes have girls as leading characters, for instance. Examples include Jim Henson Productions’ Doozers, Genius Brands’ Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab, Fred Rogers […]
Performance With Character
Apparel and accessories integrating performance and technical characteristics—such as moisture-wicking, extra comfort, easy care, support, light weight, or a range of other traits—have represented one of the fastest-growing sectors in the textile industry over the last four to five years. So it follows that performance wear also has been an active area within licensing. This […]
Girls Gravitate Toward Licensed Literature
Mattel and one of its key publishing licensees, Random House, announced last week that they would launch a middle-grade chapter book series called Malibu Mysteries, starring Barbie. This is just the latest example of the strong role licensing plays when it comes to fiction series for girls, especially those of elementary and middle school age. […]
Fake Languages, Real Licensed Content
By Karen Raugust on March 19, 2015 in Character/Entertainment, Content, Education, Licensing, Publishing
A handful of entertainment properties, especially in the sci fi and fantasy genres, feature well-developed languages used by characters from alien planets or fictional cultures. These languages sometimes make their way into content-based licensed products such as books and language-learning courses. A recent example occurred when HBO partnered with Living Languages last summer for Living […]
Day of the Dead Lives As A Licensing Theme
A handful of properties featuring imagery associated with Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), most with roots in the worlds of entertainment or art, have launched limited licensing programs. Properties such as the animated series Muertoons, created by actor Wilmer Valderrama and his WV Enterprises, focus mostly on the U.S. Hispanic consumer segment. […]