FIFA is launching a new entertainment platform designed to bridge the space between football fans, music enthusiasts, players, artists, and the game, with the introduction of FIFA Sound.
“FIFA’s vision is to make football truly global, accessible and inclusive. The crossover between football and music underscores this wider cultural relevance. Both are universal languages and have the power to create unrivalled emotions. It’s a natural fit to bring them together,” said Jean-François Pathy, FIFA’s director of marketing.
“It’s been fantastic to see the enthusiasm around the launch of this strategy, and we are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead to connect people through inspiring human stories.”
FIFA Sound is kicking off with the launch of an eight-episode podcast series. Hosted by Liam Payne and co-hosted by sports broadcaster Jaydee Dyer, the FIFA PlayOn Podcast pairs star football players with award-winning musicians for unforgettable conversations.
In each episode, celebrated footballers from around the world will discuss transformative moments from their careers – on and off the pitch – through the songs that have provided a soundtrack to their lives. The players will be joined by an award-winning musician who inspired them, as they explore the interplay between music and football in their lives.
Payne said: “I can’t wait for everyone to hear what we’ve been working on with FIFA. The PlayOn Podcast has been such a journey – it’s been awesome having these incredible players and special guests come together and exchange life experiences from both on and off the pitch, all through the lens of music.”
PlayOn is the first of many new initiatives that FIFA will be launching in 2021 and beyond as part of its strategic collaboration with Universal Music Group for Brands – a division of Universal Music Group.
Olivier Robert-Murphy, the executive vice president of Universal Music Group for Brands, added: “We’re delighted to be able to launch this collaboration between FIFA and Universal Music Group, which brings together two of the world’s biggest and most influential passion points – football and music – to create a series of unique fan experiences.
“Starting with the launch of the PlayOn Podcast series, these initiatives will showcase the symbiosis and shared bonds between the world’s best footballers and musicians alongside the fans that idolise them globally.”
PlayOn made its debut on January 13th this year and is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and other podcast players.
New episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays. Playlists featuring the songs chosen by each player will be posted on Spotify for listeners to enjoy.
Mr Men Little Miss is celebrating is 50th Anniversary this year with the launch of a new initiative, encouraging fans to cast their votes over which two new characters will join the popular characters’ line-up.
From this week, fans will have the chance to vote from a selection of new, diverse faces, in order to shape the next 50 years of the lifestyle and publishing brand.
Mr Men Little Miss has been a family-favourite for five decades, boasting a cast of over 90 characters. Now, for the first time in its history, the general public will be able to shape the future of the brand by deciding which two characters will next be immortalised in Mr Men Little Miss books.
Fans will be able to select from a line up featuring Mr Calm, Little Miss Kind, Little Miss Brave, Little Miss Energy, and Mr Brilliant. Votes can be cast by visiting the Official Mr. Men & Little Miss Website
Alastair McHarrie, Sanrio licensing director, said: “The Mr. Men Little Miss 50th Anniversary in 2021 provides an opportunity to reflect on the role the brand has played for many generations of kids and adults across the world. Our celebrations will lead with two new characters chosen by our fans joining our family of well-loved characters and we can’t wait to see which two are chosen.”
When the late Roger Hargreaves created the Mr. Men character, Mr. Tickle, in 1971, the book went on to sell a million copies in just three years.
Adam Hargreaves, son of the original creator additionally, said: “It’s amazing to see people are still connecting to the books after 50 years, they have always been about getting people to relate with the unique characters and identify the different traits of their own personalities, so it’s great to involve the fans and let them help shape the next 50 years of Mr. Men.”
Vote for your favourite here: www.mrmen.com: Voting closes on the 31st March
Given the manner in which Innersloth’s hit mobile and Steam gaming title, AmongUs, has managed to capture the world’s attention over the course of 2020, it was always to be the rather fortunate firm indeed to whom the licensing and toy rights finally fell.
Launched in June 2018, it took a global pandemic to give the free multi-player game the airtime it needed, driven in popularity by a number of high-profile Twitch channels that picked it up as the ultimate antidote to Coronavirus boredom, to officially become the most downloaded game globally of the past year.
Beating other popular mobile games such as PUBG mobile, Roblox, and Call of Duty, AmongUs hit a total of 264 million downloads globally last year. 41 million of those were in the US alone.
The game fired the collective imaginations of gamers the world over and incited much chatter over who – indeed if anyone – would be the company that aligned itself with the sensibilities of its studio, Innersloth, enough to take the game into the physical consumer products space.
Toikido founder Darran Garnham
It came as little surprise then when, only last week, the toy, licensing, and entertainment industry guru, Darran Garnham, declared that the honour had fallen to him and his boundary-pushing, multi-discipline business venture, Toikido.
The big news for everyone keen on tapping into one of the biggest entertainment IPs to have emerged from the 2020 pandemic – and most likely its ongoing 2021 twinned experience – is that, with the global master toy rights to AmongUs, we can expect to see launches across a number of categories, including – “but certainly not limited to” – collectables, figures, plush, play-sets, RC, and more.
The partnership will mark the first for Toikido, a business itself born out of the last year, as it looks to “push the envelope of innovation” in not only the kind of toys and IP it delivers to a contemporary toy industry, but in the way the industry itself operates. From the outset, Toikido certainly appears to be one of the many silver linings that the children’s industry has striven for over the last 12 months.
“Toikido has been born by handpicking amazing people who I have always wanted to bring together,” Darren Garnham, the business’ founder, tells ToyNews. “We’ve developed an ecosystem across many disciplines and skills that are really going to shake things up a bit.”
First and foremost, Toikido will be doing so by partnering with existing studios as well as developing its own brands, games, and content. Secondly, states Garnham, is that Toikido has been designed from the ground up, to push the envelope of what toy companies of the 21st century look like.
“We are a young team and between us have decades of knowledge, strong relationships throughout the industry, and we are trusted,” says Garnham. “It’s a group that includes Grammy and BAFTA winners, inventors, investors, social media, IP and tech experts, and it’s this unique blend of talent and skills that will make the difference.”
A name well-known in the toy, licensing, and entertainment circles, Garnham’s career has seen him attached to some of the biggest companies across the space, including the likes of Nintendo, Pokemon, LEGO, MTW Toys, and Mind Candy as part of the team that built Moshi Monsters into a multi billion-dollar retail business. It’s an enviable CV and one – through his experience with Moshi and a tenure at Universal (where he managed over 4,000 licensees) that has given him the skills needed to run a global IP business.
“I have worked with the very best toy companies, watched how they pitch, what they pitch, how they innovate and where opportunities exist to do things even better,” says Garnham. “I have also been exposed to models well outside the toy industry and this has led us to conclude that there are untried models we can pull from other industries into the toy space and make a real difference to how business is done.”
It’s through a career as diverse as the people and talent he has met throughout it that Toikido begins to be pulled together. It’s not just a team drawing from the toy or licensing industries, but backgrounds working with some of the biggest artists (in both music and social media) in the world.
“This allows us to not only launch toys from different platforms, but also from unexpected places,” he says. “This cross-functional, cross-platform integration and knowledge is one of the things that sets us apart.”
Garnham makes it abundantly clear that Toikido is here to “turn things on their head” in the toy space. A career spent watching innovation in product give way to cost in order to meet the demands of each part of the chain, Garnham wants to prove that “it’s still possible to make amazing products that give each part of the chain what they want without having to drop the quality bar.”
“Retailers want as much margin as possible, licensors as much royalty as possible, but also the best products, and the end consumer wants value for money. The we include R&D costs, marketing, shipping and placement, and compromise and mediocrity take over. This often leads to cheap, disposable toys making innovation difficult,” Garnham says.
“But we will be delivering toys that will be kept and passed down the generations because they are great toys with great play value.”
With a hand in Mediatonic, the wellness app Calm, KidsKnowBest and SuperAwesome, Garnham makes no secret of the fact that he likes to be involved in “fast moving, disruptive companies.”
“I love the journey, the energy, the belief to win,” he explains. “I also like data driven decisions. Research and launch, but don’t be afraid to kill or pivot if required.”
As a result of such mind-set, Toikido will be partnering with kids and family market experts Kids Industries and Kids Know Best as part of its service to partners, utilising the expertise of each to drive the firm’s insight and design strategy as well as targeted marketing initiatives through influencer programmes.
So to write 2020 off as the year we’d like to forget is to do a disservice to the leaps in innovation and forward-thinking that have been taken because of it. The toy industry itself has managed to find a new stride and has given space for opportunities as it has continued to grow during the challenges presented to it.
“Personally, I have taken 50 less flights this year and spent that time with my kids, while the negative knock-on effects for business has been minimal,” says Garnham. “I think we will question the need to spend the first quarter of the year running around the globe from fair to fair. With that being said, we work in an extremely sociable sector, and I can’t wait to bump elbows with friends when we next meet.”
When that will be, who’s to say. In the meantime, Garnham and the Toikido team have enough to keep them busy. Handling toy roll-out for the biggest mobile gaming IP of the past year is no small undertaking, and it’s a tone for the future of Toikido that the team is keen to pitch right.
“We are building a culture that will support our partners, avoid cannibalisation, and as a business, dedicate itself to supporting the shared visions, rather than taking in too many IP and getting distracted,” says Garnham.
“Within the team we have experts in numerous fields, so if the licensor requires, we can help expand IP from one platform to another – bring games into movies, toys into animation, social media talent into toys or music.
“We’re a new type of toy company for a brand new type of world, and we look forward to bringing a number of you on the journey with us.”
SKOOG, a new media tech company on a mission to offer children new creative and immersive play, has secured a global partnership with Sesame Workshop to launch an interactive platform that merges tactile technology with a content library featuring the popular Sesame Street characters.
SKOOG aims to combine multi-sensory play with interactive content and meaningful learning experiences.
The platform was originally launched with the focus on helping children with disabilities express their creativity through music, but has expanded into a suite of hands-on technology devices that children of all abilities can engage with.
SKOOG’s platform includes a parent-controlled app with unique cube-like hardware that lets kids play and create without relying solely on a smartphone screen.
Sesame Street marks SKOOG’s first children’s brand colaboration with a new platform that combines SKOOG technology with Sesame Workshop’s early childhood expertise and educational content to create a new hands-on – and screen independent – way to play.
By pressing soft, squeezable, interchangeable RFID buttons on their SKOOG Cube, kids will be able to enjoy interactive songs, games, and stories featurng the voices of Sesame Street characters.
“Children’s interactive play has never been as important as it is right now. In today’s complex digital world, we set out on a mission to help motivate and inspire children, leading the shift from passive consumption to active engagement – while enabling children of all abilities to play, engage, an consume safe and smart content independently,” said Gregg Stein, SKOOG Inc CEO.
“As huge Sesame Street fans, we’re thrilled to be collaborating with Sesame Workshop, a community of creators, educators, and unforgettable characters built on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Together, we have created a best-in-class physical and digital creative sandbox that will empower millions of children to experience the joy of infinitely expandable personal play patterns, enabled by stories and audio books, branching adventures, games, musical instruments, songs, and so much more.”
Scott Chambers, Sesame Workshop’s senior vice president and general manager, North America media and licensing, added: “We hope that our unique combination of SKOOG technology and Sesame Workshop’s powerful content will inspire kids and families to get creative together – with a little help from the Sesame Street Muppets.”
TOMY has embarked on a new licensing collaboration with Universal Brand Development to launch a new line of pre-school toys for its popular Toomies brand, based on the blockbuster Jurassic World franchise.
Jurassic World id a $5 billion global franchise, and with Jurassic World: Dominion scheduled for release in June 2022, the brand is set to be one of TOMY’s “biggest ever collaborations” for the pre-school category.
Launching in June 2021, the line will include Chase & Roll Raptors anda Dino Rescue Ranger, inspired by the iconic vehicles in the films; Spin & Hatch Dino Eggs,a clever twist on Toomies bestselling Hide and Squeak Eggs, using dinosaur eggs in an incubator featuring the core toddler play pattern of ‘sort & pop’; and Pic & Push T. rex,a large T. rex dinosaur with a fun take on the iconic gyrosphere from the 2015 Jurassic World film.
The line will also support TOMY’s classic action game, Pop Up Pirate, with the launch of a Pop Up T. rex from July. The bestselling game recently celebrated its 45th Anniversary.
Mary Wood, general manager UK at TOMY, said: “Dinosaurs are an evergreen toy trend, reaching multiple age points including pre-schoolers, and with our Toomies success in this market dinosaurs seemed like a great fit for our next collaboration.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Universal to introduce this fantastic range – combining our expertise in pre-school toys with the worldwide phenomenon of Jurassic World, this is going to be a major focus for the business for next year and into 2022. Feedback from retailers across all markets has been nothing but positive.”
The Toomies brand has seen exponential growth in recent years, with its Toy range up by 33 per cent at Retail vs 2019. The brand’s ever-popular Hide & Squeak Eggs are also up by 25 per cent, with the full range including the Spring 2020 Hide & Squeak extension items and AW20 additions contributing to 81 per cent of EPOS Sales Year to Date.
Nickelodeon and Paramount+ have released a sneak peek of the new Paramount+ Original series, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years, the first SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off.
The CG animated prequel follows a ten year old SpongeBob SquarePants and his friends as they spend their summer building underwater campfires, catching wild jellyfish, and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck. Produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio, the series is landing on Paramount+ soon.
Following the season’s run on the ViacomCBS subscription VOD service, it will air on Nickelodeon later this year.
The sneak peek was first offered during a special halftime presentation of the NFL Wild Card Game on Nickelodeon.
Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years features Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy) and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton) reprising their iconic roles. Carlos Alazraqui (The Casagrandes) and Kate Higgins (Blaze and the Monster Machines) join as new characters Nobby and Narlene, narwhal siblings who live in the woods surrounding the camp.
Since its launch July 17, 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants has reigned as the number-one animated series on TV for the last 18 years, while generating a universe of beloved characters, pop culture catchphrases and memes, theatrical releases, consumer products, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and a global fan base.
SpongeBob SquarePants is the most widely distributed property in ViacomCBS Networks International history, seen in more than 170 countries and territories, translated into more than 30 languages, and averaging more than 100 million total viewers every month.
Cats vs. Pickles, an international children’s IP that has rocketed to fame on YouTube, is looking to mirror its US success as it prepares to set all four paws down on the UK’s shores this year.
Made available to the UK market through Paul Fogarty’s TWO IN 1 Direct, Cats vs Pickles will introduce its eclectic range that spans more than 100 different styles of Cat and Pickles collectable plushies, Kitty Condo Habi-cats, themed special editions, Jumbo Plush, character pillows, and more.
It follows a soft launch for the brand here in the UK that, through a limited roll-out of the collectable plush range before Christmas, was met with ‘an impressive response,’ and reports of retailers selling 1,500 units within just a few weeks.
In the US, the demand for Cats vs Pickles has been driven by a large volume of bespoke online content created by Cepia. Short form video content on YouTube has generated more than 110 million views from a global audience, with more than 16 million views in the UK alone.
According to Fogarty, average sales of the Cats vs Pickles range have hit over 30 units sold per week, with many major outlets hitting as high as 50 units per store, per week.
Fogarty said: “Cats vs. Pickles is a long-term brand with much more to come from the range later in the year, including licensing. Cepia will be supporting the collection with a comprehensive and heavy marketing schedule, including TV, pre-roll and influencer activity. It’s going to be big.”
Animaccord has struck up a new deal with Amazon Prime Video to bring its flagship Masha and the Bear seasons one to three, as well as its spin-offs Masha’s Spooky Stories and Masha’s Tales to audiences across a number of territories.
In a multi-territory partnership, Prime Video has acquired the rights to seasons one and two in multiple languages to launch the show across Europe, including in Spain, Italy, and France.
An update to the deal will see Animaccord deliver Masha and the Bear seasons one to three – and its spin offs – with local dubbing to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The Masha’s Spooky Stories spin-off is available in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, while the Masha’s Tales spin-off will be available in France, Italy, and Spain.
Masha and the Bear consumer products are widely represented on Amazon. The first official brand store was launched across the USA, UK, Germany, and India starting in 2018, selling Masha and the Bear themed t-shirts, hoodies, pop sockets and other items.
As of today, there are brand stores in eight countries: the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the USA, Mexico, and India.
The Brooklyn-based indie studio, Somos Arte (We Are Art), the name behind the hit comic superhero franchise, La Borinqueña, has tapped FanGirl Consulting & Brand Management as its agent to focus on licensing, promotional partnerships, and brand integrations.
Created by the graphic novelist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriquez, the superhero emerged in 2016 as a direct response to the economic crisis affecting the island of Puerto Rico. Inspired by the Puerto Rican national anthem of the same name, La Borinqueña is an original Afro-Puerto Rican character and patriotic symbol presented in a classic superhero story.
As a response to Hurricane Maria, Miranda-Rodriguez self-published the best-selling benefit anthology, Ricanstruction: Reminiscing & Rebuilding Puerto Rico, under his own studio Somos Arte.
The anthology features La Borinqueña teaming up with Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and other DC Comics heroes. All sales from this benefit anthology were used to award grants to non-profit organizations based in Puerto Rico. During the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con event, Miranda-Rodriguez was bestowed the Eisner Award’s Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award for his philanthropic efforts.
Through sales of the graphic novels and various other collaborations, the grants program has raised over a quarter of a million dollars for grassroots organizations in Puerto Rico via the La Borinqueña Grants Program.
“Superheroes and their stories inspire us to help make the world a better place for all of us. With La Borinqueña, I set out to create a character that connects readers and fans to a real place rich with history and heritage,” said Miranda-Rodriguez. “Our hope is that La Borinqueña inspires us all to see our heroic potential to make a difference now, leaping from the comic book pages to the real world.”
Anita Castellar, CEO of FanGirl Consulting and Brand Management, added: “As a Puerto Rican woman myself, I couldn’t be prouder to build an official licensing program for La Borinqueña and to work with Somos Arte to celebrate our Puerto Rican heritage and share our stories with the world.”
In 2020, both Rosario Dawson and Zoe Saldana lent their voices to various public service announcements featuring La Borinqueña, and produced in conjunction with Voto Latino, Fair Fight, and Poder Latinx, to engage voters in the US general election and the Georgia runoff elections.
On December 18, 2020 La Borinqueña joined forces with Stretch and Bobbito + The M19s Band to produce the first song, music video, and comic book Que Bonita Bandera to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Puerto Rico’s flag which falls on December 22nd.
The song is released on 10x Grammy Award winner Eddie Palmieri’s label Uprising Music NYC (distributed by ADA/Warner Music) featuring vocals from such celebrities as Rosario Dawson, Rosie Perez and over a dozen more! On sale now with 100% of the net profits to benefit the La Borinqueña Grants Program.
FanGirl Consulting & Brand Management will serve as global Licensing Agent for La Borinqueña brand, overseeing and seeking deals across licensing, retail, and promotional opportunities, as well as build direct to consumer and ecommerce strategies.
LEGO has partnered with HYPE to launch a new apparel collection themed around the Danish toy maker’s hit global franchise, LEGO Ninjago. The 28-piece collection feature t-shirts, shirts, shorts, hoodies, joggers, jackets, and bags. The range is available from JustHype.com and LEGO.com this week.
The new collection illustrates some of the most memorable moments and characters from the LEGO Ninjago franchise’s successful TV series, its building sets, as well as Japanese and Chinese myths and culture.
LEGO Ninjago’s 2020 TV series witnessed the Ninja enter the new realm of The Prime Empire, an urban and futuristic city that has formed the basis of the inspiration for the Hype partnership. The fashion line will feature mesh panelling, embroidery, on-trend chunky taping, branded neck ribs, and over-sized graphics.
Featuring over-sized silhouettes in the LEGO Ninjago’s iconic colour palette of yellow, deep red, and monochrome, with the placement of the secret LEGO Ninjago language spelling out ‘JUST HYPE’ throughout the collection, each individual tee showcases prints of fan-favourite LEGO Ninjago characters.
