Foodie brand, Chefclub has teamed up with DoohYouLike to offer customers a new omnichannel experience that mixes videos of creative recipes with synchronised multi-broadcasting on social media as well as on screen in store. The partnership is to roll out across France under the name the Culinary Advertising Agency.
This new joint venture combines the talent of the Chefclub unit and its expertise in culinary videos, and the might of DoohYouLike, a team that has a media presence in more than 550 grocery stores in France.
The new culinary advertising service offers food and beverage brands an ‘innovative, turnkey solution’ that includes the creation, production, and broadcast of cooking videos by Chefclub on social media featuring the advertiser’s product, as well as simultaneous broadcast in small-size grocery stores via DoohYouLike screens.
Chefclub is the world’s leading producer of cooking videos broadcasted on social media with over one billion views and 80 million followers worldwide. In France, Chefclub has a community of 8.6 million people and generates more than 200 million views per month.
Meanwhile, DoohYouLike offers a network of more than 550 DOOH screens displayed in more than 350 small size grocery stores located mostly in city centres in France.
This new offering comes at the right time to provide advertisers an authentic voice during the customer’s shopping journey, in line with consumers’ new lifestyles.
Marie-Laure Marchand, director of licensing and business development, Chefclub, said: “Conviviality, fun, and creativity are at the origin of Chefclub, it seemed natural for us to join forces with DoohYouLike to create an original and ad-hoc media proposal for brands looking for closeness and authenticity.
“We are excited about this partnership that will allow advertisers to explore new ways to reach out to consumers directly in-store and on social media.”
Fabrice Guez, co-founder, DoohYouLike, added: “We are very proud of this alliance because our respective media shares common values, to bring useful and entertaining content to everyday life, always in a complicit and authentic approach to cultivate a close relationship.
“The recipe video format takes on its full meaning in the world of grocery stores, allowing food brands to become part of consumers’ daily lives in a native and entertaining way.
“The synergy of our universes provides an all-inclusive strategic lever, designed for both the branding and the performance of food brands, because in addition to the highly qualitative and viral dimension provided by the Chefclub expertise, the DoohYouLike solution allows brands to maximize sales and optimize in-store referencing. We are very excited to support the new habits of the French people, for whom cooking has become second nature.”
Boat Rocker Studios has detailed a raft of new licensees for its popular new pre-school series, Love Monster spanning nightwear, bedding, daywear, and dress-up and accessories.
Love Monster launched on CBeebies in January this year and already it has proved a hit among young audiences. Support for the series has now been highlighted through the signing of some of the licensing industry’s leading names across apparel, home textiles, and dress-up products.
Cooneen has signed for nightwear and underwear, Dreamtex for bedding and home textiles, Blues for daywear and swimwear, and Amscan International for dress up clothing and accessories. This A list roster of renowned partners are launching Love Monster ranges from autumn/winter 2020 and spring/summer 2021.
Kate Schlomann, executive vice president of brand management and content marketing, Boat Rocker Studios, said: “Children have taken Love Monster and his menagerie of cute furry friends to their hearts, and soon they will be able to get even closer to their Fluffytown heroes, with these delightful new ranges.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with these best-in-class companies to build Love Monster into a strong brand franchise.”
Love Monster, a quirky, 2D animated 54 x 7’ pre-school series which shares little life learnings from a unique monster with a huge heart, is based on the bestselling pre-school books by Rachel Bright, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books. The show is the result of a collaboration between BBC Children’s In-House Productions, Boat Rocker Studios and the Chinese production company UYoung.
Within the series, Love Monster searches for the right thing to do in a world in which he is one of a kind. Full of heart and helping pre-schoolers understand different emotions, Love Monster showcases the importance of kindness, empathy, connection and instinct. It currently airs weekdays in the UK on CBeebies and has reached over 4 million iPlayer requests since launch in January.
Boat Rocker Studios is managing the global content distribution and consumer products program for the franchise, excluding China and South East Asia which is managed by UYoung.
Kelvyn Gardner is an individual who really does know licensing. It’s by no accident of course, and only to be expected of a man who has spent over 40 years working in or around the industry, and certainly the trait of a one who has spent the last 13 as the managing director of Licensing International UK – both in its incarnation as LIMA UK and its rebranded moniker.
But if the global response to COVID-19 or the uprising of the Black Lives Matter campaign has taught us anything, it’s that 2020 is the year for change. And with it, Gardner too has found opportunities presented as the result of evolution and coming out of the other side of his role with the industry body.
Some 22 years on from the establishment of his own company, Asgard Media – a licensing agency-meets-consultancy business operating predominantly in the collectables, food, and beverage spaces – Gardner is preparing for a relaunch. Or perhaps more accurate, a reacquaintance, with the business that he had always had ticking over in the background, even throughout his LIMA UK/Licensing International years.
Whatever you want to call it, it is Gardner’s moment to put Asgard Media back on the radar for this multi-billion dollar industry, with one very clear message. And it’s one that he suggests works for the licensing industry in its entirety.
“It’s an appeal to the thousands of manufacturers out there who do not use brand licensing as part of their marketing mix,” Gardner tells Licensing.biz.
“Our message is ‘Connect with the world’s biggest brands’, because that is what all of us are about, surely?”
It’s become an industry-wide headline, that the opportunity now for the licensing industry, is that retailers and consumers will retreat to the brand names while it negotiates the ongoing pandemic situation within an uncertain retail environment. It’s a school of thought that Gardner subscribes to, and one that he is ready to take to the next level, all, he says, to the benefit of the industry he loves.
“I am a lifelong believer in the power of brand licensing, and although we are a private company and not a trade body, to a certain extent, what Asgard Media is trying to do is bring new companies into the licensing world, by focussing on the companies or the manufacturers with great product, but for whatever reason, not already in the licensing space, and that should be for the benefit of everybody in licensing,” Gardner continues.
“It’s clear from discussions in the licensing press, and some of the sessions from Virtual Licensing Week, that right now, co-operation and flexibility are required more than ever if we are to make licensing work for existing players.
“This is even more important if we are to attract new licensees, and to persuade reluctant brand owners to open up their IP to the many excellent licensees that we already have.”
The advantage from which Gardner implements his mission plan is that he comes back to the scene without affiliations. He is now what he calls, an honest broker.
“If I find somebody in a category, I am able to approach any brand or any licensor as an agent, rather than someone who has a portfolio to promote,” he explains. “To some degree, I hope not to be bringing in licensees just for me, but licensees and businesses for the wider licensing community.”
It’s the role of guide, then that Kelvyn is looking to adopt through his Asgard Media outfit, braced with the knowledge accumulated over a 40 year career (to date) in the licensing business and the laser-like knowledge of its intricacies (Gardner asked me if I’d spent much time reading licensing contracts – it turns out he has read through a few). In his former role with Licensing International, Gardner was a man passionate about educating the next generation of licensing executives, and opening up the boundaries for new product sectors. It’s a mission statement he has carried on with him.
“I have come across it so many times over the years,” he says. “It’s easy for those inside of licensing to know how it works, but I think it is so misunderstood, or not understood at all, outside of the industry; and we don’t go out of our way to make it easier. But there are ways to explain it to people in simple terms if we take the time to do it, and if, as as part of my world, that brings in business for the whole of the licensing industry, that has got to be a positive thing.”
To that end, he suggests, simplicity is key. Look at the work he has done for the Asgard Media client Harrogate Tipple, helping to broker Universal Studios’ first licensing partnership down the spirits aisle, or the longstanding relationship he has with Topps, the ever-expanding Finsbury Foods licensing roster, or Yoplait – the company who famously stood vehemently against licensing until it recognised the perks it was offering its competitors in the food sector.
“The other strand to it all is that – having been a licensee for ten to 15 years myself – there is a tendency to think ‘we don’t need anymore licensees.’,” Gardner says. “Now, I’ve never believed in the Barbie dollar – the idea that there is a dollar to be spent on Barbie merchandise, which subsequently has to be split between all of its licensees. I still think the market can expand, providing that everybody is sensible, withou having to go down the route of ‘splicensing’ as it is known.
“It is also true to say that there not that many manufacturers and marketing companies who regularly buy licenses. The last time I did an analysis of this, there were only about 700 UK companies listed as working with a license. How many manufacturers are there in the UK? There’s got to be tens of thousands. Licensing is a big business, but most companies aren’t in it. The holy grail for us all in licensing is to find somebody in sectors that aren’t currently doing licensing; and by all accounts there are those people out there.”
Gardner’s approach from here on can be likened to the old ‘the man who built it’ brainteaser. The clients he is looking for don’t know they want Asgard Media as a service provider; in fact, they probably don’t even know they want to be in licensing. Asgard Media has to fill in all of the gaps for them.
It’s a point Agard Media certainly looks to address in its new marketing material, kicking off with the newly launched company video that highlights the message ‘Licensing is our world, let us bring you into it.’ It’s the metaphorical hand that Gardner is extending to all of those businesses currently not in licensing, to help them along the way.
How does marketing today compare to that of 1998, the last time Gardner actively promoted the Asgard Media name? It’s fewer marketing mailshots, and more video content for a start, suggests Gardner. So we can expect a lot more of that in the coming months.
Multi-platform toy shop, The Entertainer is growing its international footprint once more, this time with the launch of its first outlet in the Far East. In partnership with Kim Jin Joo Bhd, the retailer has set foot down in Malaysia’s own Sunway Pyramid.
This is the latest move to cement the ongoing expansion for the UK’s largest chain of toy stores. The Malaysian group has said that this maiden store will be joined by two other outlets by the end of this year.
Group chairman Pang Kim Hin said the opening of the outlet marks a new milestone for the company as part of its strategy to diversify into the toys sector and complement its existing maternity and baby product retail business.
“We are of the view that the introduction of The Entertainer outlets in Malaysia will contribute to an increase of sales over the coming two to three years as it fulfills a niche for toys catering to children of toddler age up to 12 years old,” he said in a statement today.
Previously, Kim Hin Joo’s existing market reach and product offerings was mainly catered to children up to six years of age, but with the outlet chain it is able to widen its retail offerings to include older children, particularly those in the six to 12 years age bracket.
In regards to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the group is also taking measures to ensure that its business will remain sustainable as well as the necessary steps to mitigate the impact from the outbreak.
Pang said that no one could predict the pandemic’s impact on the retail industry, especially for businesses that have primarily brick-and-mortar presence.
“However, we foresee a recovery in our sales in our retail outlets in line with the reopening of shopping malls operating at regular hours, and a gradual increase of foot traffic in shopping malls over the coming months,” he said.
Perpetual earworm, Baby Shark – the global property that began life as a viral YouTube music video – has landed its own animated pre-school series to broadcast on Nickelodeon this December.
With a working title of Baby Shark’s Big Show, the series will make its debut with a half-hour Christmas special this December. This will be followed up with a 26 episode series that will run across Nickelodeon platforms in 2021.
The new series will be the work of Nickelodeon Animation Studio and SmartStudy, and will follow the adventures of Baby Shark and his best friend as they explore their community of Carnivore Cove. Launched five years ago to YouTube, Baby Shark has amassed some 5.7 billion views worldwide and has become the second most watched video in YouTube history.
Baby Shark’s Big Show is executive produced by Gary DiRafflaele and Tommy Sica, both of Breadwinners, with Whitney Ralls (My Little Pony: Equestria Girls) serving as co-executive producer. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, with production overseen by Eryk Casemiro, SVP at Nickelodeon Preschool.
It joins a roster of popular pre-school series on Nickelodeon, including Ryan’s Mystery PLaydat, Bubble Guppies, and Blaze and the Monster Machines.
Glance to the right. Not too far, because that’s probably your kitchen, but just to the right of these words. There you go. Is that a face familiar to you? In fact, it very well could be yours.
What you may have noticed as you scroll through Licensing.biz’s daily content of news from across the industry, is a movement in your peripheral vision. If you currently have the sound on – and we strongly urge you to do so – on your home office set-up, you’ll no doubt already be aware that Licensing.biz is running a new sponsored video feature in its side-bar.
The reason being, is that we are counting down to World Emoji Day – taking place on July 17th this year – with a special campaign running in partnership with The Emoji Company, to celebrate the strength and appeal of this award-winning, world-spanning lifestyle brand with a special show reel of Emoji licensees walking us through their own experiences with the Emoji brand.
You might be watching Andrew Storey at IG Design Group, Lauren Madden at Lazer Built, Charlie Preece at Kokomo, or the Wow! Stuff family showing off their production and editing skills as well as their license with The Emoji Company for its own range of collectables. Over the next couple of weeks, and in in the build up to World Emoji Day on July 17th, you can expect to see more faces joining the roster, too.
There will be more sponsored content to come, too – expect more video content, exclusive interviews, and a site takeover as Licensing.biz prepares to celebrate this year’s World Emoji Day in true Emoji fashion.
Pocket.watch has detailed its plans to expand the hit children’s TV series Ryan’s Mystery Playdate to international markets, starting with Amazon FreeTime Unlimited in Germany, while Pocket.watch’s gaming division will launch a new Ryan’s Mystery Playdate mobile game called Blast.
On top of this, the studio has revealed that the show has been picked up for a fourth season by Nickelodeon amid strong ratings throughout the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
These latest developments are the culmination of a strong couple of years for Pocket.watch and the Ryan brand that also saw the pre-school nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Preschool Children’s Series.
“We’re thrilled to be deepening our partnership with Amazon to bring Ryan’s Mystery Playdate to kids and families on a global level,” said Thanda Belker, senior vice president of distribution at Pocket.watch. “As we continue to further our mission to be everywhere kids and families are, Ryan’s Mystery Playdate has continued to prove the success of a creator-focused franchise, with unlimited viability across platforms including TV and games.”
Seasons one and two of Ryan’s Mystery Playdate will be available for the first time in Germany starting July 2020 in English and August 2020 in German on the Amazon FreeTime Unlimited streaming services, with Season three becoming available in October this year.
“We are excited to bring ‘Ryan’s Mystery Playdate’ to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, our service that delivers premium, fun, and educational content for kids,” said Kurt Beidler, general manager of Amazon Kids & Family. “Kids around the world love following along on Ryan’s adventures, and we’re pleased to offer more of that content to families in Germany.”
Pocket.watch will also continue its focus on reaching audiences digitally via second screens, with the new free Ryan’s Mystery Playdate-themed mobile game Blast, which allows fans to join Ryan in discovering the next mystery playdate by solving fun puzzles.
Players will match colours, earn power-ups, and blast through each level to unlock new guests – like a firefighter, nurse, chef, martial artist, and more – and collect them in a guest book. The game will tie in familiar elements of the popular TV show, such as unlocking mystery boxes, spinning the mystery wheel, and dropping the “hintamajig,” and will launch this fall through Pocket.watch’s gaming division p.w Games.
Finally, Nickelodeon has ordered a 10-episode fourth season of Ryan’s Mystery Playdate. This new season will feature a Playdate Command Centre which uses video teleconferencing technology, giving Playdate guests the ability to play a game or engage in an activity with Ryan remotely. Additionally, some season four Playdates will be animated, allowing viewers to travel with current and historic characters to unlimited locations, even in different time periods.
Since its launch in April 2019, Ryan’s Mystery Playdate has reached over 33 million total viewers across Nickelodeon and the Nick Jr. channel. The series also ranks number one in its time slot on Treehouse in Canada, across all 11 Canadian kids’ networks measured and saw a 45 per cent audience increase in April 2020.
Magic Light Pictures has tapped Wow! Stuff as its master toy partner for the company’s full catalogue of award-winning brands, including The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Zog, and The Snail and the Whale. The toy deal spans multiple territories, and products will be available across the UK, Ireland, Germany, Australia, the US and Canada.
Wow! Stuff is known for its own portfolio of award-winning innovations in tier one brands, and from January 2021 will launch a full line up of toy figures and play-sets based on Magic Light’ library of characters. Prices for The Gruffalo will range from £7.99 through to £39.99 and will include collectables, character action figures, play-sets, electronic animated plush, and more.
Wow! Stuff’s head of product development and licensing, Kenny McAndrew, said: “This is a fabulous way to show what we can do when we have a Master licence and are free to explore traditional key toy categories and add our innovative take. Partnering with Magic Light we’ll bring Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s characters to life with the physical figurines the children dearly love.
“Each character and the play-sets are part of a special universe and perfectly complement and pay homage to the books and films. The characters are hugely ‘toyetic’ and our tests showed the reaction from parents and grandparents and their propensity to purchase was at the very highest level – family awareness and parental approval on the brand is sky high.”
Daryl Shute, brand director at Magic Light, added: “A master toy partner is something we’ve long wanted for our Gruffalo family of brands. The toy category has grown massively for us over the past year and Wow! Stuff are joining us at just the right time. They have added the innovation they’re renowned for and brought the characters to life in a way that is full of the charm and wonder that our little fans know and love.
“This is the third new license announced in this category in the past month, which is something else we’re pretty chuffed about.”
The imaginative play range will complement Magic Light’s existing range of fantastic toy and games partners that have been carefully collated for the Gruffalo over the last 10 years.
Long term Gruffalo partners include high quality plush from Aurora; and puzzles and games from Ravensburger, Asmodee, Winning Moves and Schmidt Spiele.
The UK shopping centre owner, Intu has indicated it is on the verge of appointing administrators after discussions with its creditors were stalled.
The struggling business had been hamstrung by a $4.5bn debt over the past year, but in recent weeks and months has been hammered by the impact of COVID-19 and the significantly lower rent payments from retail tenants.
Sky News reports that should Intu fall into administration, it would arguably mark the biggest corporate casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. Intu is the owner of shopping centres across the country, including Manchester’s Trafford Centre and Lakeside in Essex.
The company directly employs nearly 3,000 people, with a further 102,000 people working in its 17 UK shopping centres. Another 30,000 people work in Intu’s broader supply chain.
The firm has said it had been in talks with creditors to try and seek standstill arrangements, but that “unfortunately, insufficient alignment and agreement has been achieved on such terms. The board is therefore considering the position of Intu with a view to protecting the interests of its stakeholders.”
WildBrain Spark has launched a new dedicated channel of subtitled premium content for kids on its YouTube network in support of the Turn on the Subtitles literacy campaign.
The initiative is part of a move to improve children’s literacy by meeting them where they spend their downtime. The TOTS initiative was set up by Oli Barrett MBE and Henry Warren and is now supported by over 30 government, business, charity and academic leaders.
It highlights the substantial benefits of Same Language Subtitling, which allows audiences to hear and read the same language, word for word, in real time. Research from academics in countries the world over has shown that turning on subtitles for children’s content improves their literacy significantly, particularly for kids between the ages of six and ten.
Jon Gisby, EVP and managing director at WildBrain Spark, said: “We knew we wanted to support this valuable initiative from its inception and have now launched a dedicated 100 per cent subtitled WildBrain Literacy for Kids channel. TOTS has a simple message backed by compelling research and the benefits are significant and important, as well as aligning completely with our values. With kids spending so much time at home viewing content, and parents seeking to support home-learning, this initiative is also incredibly timely.”
Oli Barrett MBE, co-founder, TOTS added: “Alongside the support of parents and teachers, we believe that responsible businesses have a potential role to play in improving the literacy of young people around the world. The leadership shown by WildBrain Spark is hugely appreciated and we hope that others will be inspired by their example.”
WildBrain Spark’s Literacy for Kids channel features popular episodes from its library of premium kids’ shows, including Yo Gabba Gabba, In the Night Garden, and Rev & Roll. New episodes will be published weekly and are available globally in English with the channel promoted across the WildBrain Spark network.
Please visit the WildBrain Spark Literacy for Kids channel at:
