Tag Archives: rocket licensing

Rocket Licensing extends The Very Hungry Caterpillar partnerships with Bluewater and The Eden Project

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar is continuing to build on the success of its 50th anniversary celebrations last year, having seen the successful launch of a new half-term activation with Bluewater shopping centre.

In a deal brokered by Rocket Licensing, the UK licensing agent for Eric Carle’s classic children’s book, the popular children’s character took centre stage during half term with sold out story time sessions that ran from February 17th to 20th at the shopping centre.

Families were also treated to an immersive 20-minute interactive show, followed by craft activities and a costume character appearance from the caterpillar himself.

Throughout the week of activity, Bluewater also promoted a number of the licensed product ranges. The 3,000 children and parents that attended the story telling sessions were each given a The Very Hungry Caterpillar apple drink from Cawston Press, while, Boots held a promotion from Bloom and Blossom.

Action for Children also gave away 2,500 promotional bookmarks to children visiting Bluewater over the half term break in an effort to promote the Giant Wiggle fundraiser. The charity drive is now in its sixth year and is set to have a fundraiser event at Bluewater in May.

Children and families were then able to enjoy The Very Hungry Caterpillar themed Nature Trail in the grounds of Bluewater.

The Very Hungry is now wiggling its way from the south-east to the west country, where Rocket Licensing has just extended its partnership with the Cornish visitor attraction, the Eden Project. The collaboration began last year with the successful The Very Hungry Caterpillar weekend, which welcomed close to 6,000 visitors over one weekend.

The event also gained industry recognition as a finalist in the Licensing Awards for the Best Promotions category, and in the Progressive Preschool Awards for the Marketing Award.

From this weekend (March 14th and 15th) the activity will return to the popular venue. This year, children will enjoy a focused story trail around the biomes, where each station is an activity linked to a day of the week described in The Very Hungry Caterpillar book.

Families will also be able to enjoy story telling sessions and face painting, as well as The Very Hungry Caterpillar-themed craft activities, where children will be able to create and take home items such as origami butterflies, balancing butterflies, caterpillar head bands, stained glass butterflies and even pompom caterpillars.

There will be a range of the licensed merchandise for The Very Hungry Caterpillar available in the visitor shop, and the activity will be supported by an extensive marketing campaign.

Melissa Satterly, brand manager of The Very Hungry Caterpillar at Rocket Licensing, said: “We are thrilled to be extending the activity with Bluewater and The Eden Project. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a favourite story across generations, and families love getting hands-on with the brand together and incorporating it into their days out to make them extra special.

“The wonderful character and bold, recognisable designs lend themselves really well to experiential brand activations and help to immerse the audience in the world of the much-loved tale.”

Fuzzballs is primed for success as Scribbler expands its licensed card range

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The popular character brand Fuzzballs has found success with the stationery and greetings retailer, Scribbler, who has just detailed its plans to expand its range of Fuzzball licensed cards.

The Fuzzballs greetings range now features over 12 different birthday, novelty, and holiday cards in store, as well as over 100 cards online that span a rang of holidays and occasions. Fuzzballs also boasts a line of 25 cards that can be personalised with photos and messages.

Created in 2013, Fuzzballs sprang into life as a popular web comic. The property now boasts over 300 different licensed products available worldwide, including shirts, stationery, books and homewares. Fuzzballs has built up a global audience of fans with its more than 70 million iMessage and Instagram stickers.

The property’s licensing programme is currently managed by Rocket Licensing.

Its expansion within Scribbler reflects the growing popularity and recognition of the Fuzzballs brand at retail. Its card range aims to tap in to the ‘cute humour’ that has made the brand such a digital sensation.

“It is so exciting to see how positive customers have been at Scribbler to our initial range of Fuzzballs cards and clearly wanted even more,” said Marc Sach, creator of Fuzzballs.

“To so quickly have Scribbler ask us for an even larger range of cards just shows the mainstream market clearly wants more Fuzzballs in their lives and we are thrilled to see Fuzzballs take on an even large presence both in store and online at Scribbler.”

Gibsons and Portico Designs first UK licensees for Rebel Girls in deals from Rocket Licensing

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Gibsons and Portico Designs have been named the first UK licensees for the award-winning brand behind the best-selling book series, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, a title that has sold 4.5 million copies and translated into nearly 50 languages.

The deals have been brokered by Rocket Licensing, the licensing agency for Rebel Girls across the UK and Eire. The firm plans to create educational, ethical and empowering products for the Rebel Girls consumer products programme across the territory.

Rocket’s deal with Gibsons is for the UK, Eire and Europe, with potential for wider distribution. The initial puzzles, which are anticipated to appeal to girls, teens and young women alike, launch in spring 2020, followed by a card game in summer and a board game in 2021.

Product placement for the range is mid-tier, with department stores, speciality toy and book stores, and online set to support the launch. 

Meanwhile, The Portico partnership covers an extensive range for the UK and Eire, including back to school stationery, gift items and lunchware. An initial range of gift stationery is anticipated to launch for autumn/winter 2020 with further product to follow across mid-tier, speciality stores and select grocers, again targeting girls and young women.

Rebel Girls is currently also available as a podcast with over three million downloads, and a recently launched digital magazine and newsletter. The Rebel Girls brand is now on a mission to ‘inspire a generation of confident girls through vivid storytelling, illustration and compelling multimedia content.’

Rocket Licensing will continue to target categories such as homewares and home textiles, daywear, nightwear, accessories and health and beauty for Rebel Girls.

Louisa Skevington, licensing executive at Rocket Licensing, commented: “We are delighted to be launching the Rebel Girls licensing programme with two partners who are perfect for the brand. Gibsons’ and Portico’s mid-tier positioning and beautifully designed products are in line with the property’s values and mission, and the initial product development looks fantastic.

“We are thrilled with the response Rebel Girls has received since launch. Many potential partners are already familiar with the property and reading the books to their own children. We’re excited to see how this one grows.”

Gibsons partners with Rebel Girls to launch new puzzle range inspired by the best selling book title

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The family-owned jigsaw puzzle and board game specialist, Gibsons, has teamed with Rebel Girls, the award-winning brand behind the book series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls to launch a new puzzle line.

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is a globally popular book that has sold over 4.5 million and has been translated into nearly 50 languages.

Known for its innovative puzzle designs and best-selling games, Gibsons will release two jigsaw puzzles in spring this year, as well as a card game in the summer, and a board game to follow in 2021.

The jigsaw puzzles will be available in two piece counts, 100 piece and 500 piece, appealing to girls, teens and young women alike. Each product will make full use of the rich Rebel Girls style guide, which focuses on positive, empowering messaging and bold designs.

The partnership was brokered by the UK licensing agent for the Rebel Girls brand, Rocket Licensing.

“We are delighted that Gibsons has joined us on our Rebel Girls mission, encouraging girls to explore, learn and dream without limits,” said Louisa Skevington, licensing executive at Rocket Licensing.

“Gibsons has really reflected the core values of Rebel Girls in their game development and the puzzle designs look absolutely fantastic – we cannot wait to see them in store.”

Emily Charles, product development manager at Gibsons, added: “Rebel Girls is a fantastic brand that we are thrilled to be working with.

“It’s been fascinating and inspiring learning the stories of the amazing women featured in these games and puzzles through the product development process. We heard about the Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls books from our own gang of Gibsons Rebel Girls (the daughters of some of the team).

“As a company, we have a very strong female presence, 60 per cent of the team are women, including two of the directors, and so we felt straight away it would be a great fit.”

Rocket Licensing on sci-fi adventure with Legendary for Dune, Carnival Row and Lost in Space

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The global entertainment company, Legendary Entertainment, has appointed Rocket Licensing to manage the consumer products programme for the upcoming event feature film Dune.

The deal is part of a wider licensing programme for the sci-fi writer’s best loved works, including Carnival Row and Lost in Space (both of which have seen recent television adaptations), which will also both be spearheaded by Rocket Licensing here in the UK and Ireland.

Rocket Licensing has outlined target consumer product categories including: apparel, dress-up, gifting, social stationery, games and homewares.

Set for release on December 18, 2020, Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ Dune is based on the eponymous novel, renowned as one of the greatest science fiction works of all time.

The film stars Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, and Josh Brolin alongside the likes of Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Stephen Henderson, Chang Chen, Charlotte Rampling, with Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.

It is helmed by director Denis Villenueve and tells the coming-of-age story of Paul Atreides, a young man who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family.

Carnival Row, the hit neo-Victorian fantasy television series from Amazon Studios and Legendary Television, features Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, among an ensemble British cast, and has already enjoyed more than 11 million viewers since its premiere in August 2019.

Set in a world where mythological immigrant creatures are struggling to coexist with humans, the series follows a war-hardened human detective as he investigates a string of gruesome murders threatening the uneasy peace of the Row and a refugee faerie who returns to his life and forces him to reckon with a past he is trying to forget, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Finally, and following a successful first series that has racked up more than 30 million viewers in the US since its premiere in April 2018, Lost in Space returns for series two, launched globally on Netflix in December 2019.

The long-awaited next instalment of the popular reimagining of the 1960s classic science fiction television show by Irwin Allen is back with brand new adventures for the Robinson family, as well as bringing a wealth of new opportunities for licensing.

Rob Wijeratna, joint managing director of Rocket Licensing, said: “We’re thrilled to be continuing our relationship with Legendary and working on this raft of great brands. Each of them is very different and together they create a wealth of potential for licensing partnerships. We’re excited to showcase these brands to the industry.”

Rocket Licensing on sci-fi adventure with Legendary for Dune, Carnival Row and Lost in Space

Posted on by

The global entertainment company, Legendary Entertainment, has appointed Rocket Licensing to manage the consumer products programme for the upcoming event feature film Dune.

The deal is part of a wider licensing programme for the sci-fi writer’s best loved works, including Carnival Row and Lost in Space (both of which have seen recent television adaptations), which will also both be spearheaded by Rocket Licensing here in the UK and Ireland.

Rocket Licensing has outlined target consumer product categories including: apparel, dress-up, gifting, social stationery, games and homewares.

Set for release on December 18, 2020, Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ Dune is based on the eponymous novel, renowned as one of the greatest science fiction works of all time.

The film stars Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, and Josh Brolin alongside the likes of Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Stephen Henderson, Chang Chen, Charlotte Rampling, with Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem.

It is helmed by director Denis Villenueve and tells the coming-of-age story of Paul Atreides, a young man who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family.

Carnival Row, the hit neo-Victorian fantasy television series from Amazon Studios and Legendary Television, features Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, among an ensemble British cast, and has already enjoyed more than 11 million viewers since its premiere in August 2019.

Set in a world where mythological immigrant creatures are struggling to coexist with humans, the series follows a war-hardened human detective as he investigates a string of gruesome murders threatening the uneasy peace of the Row and a refugee faerie who returns to his life and forces him to reckon with a past he is trying to forget, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Finally, and following a successful first series that has racked up more than 30 million viewers in the US since its premiere in April 2018, Lost in Space returns for series two, launched globally on Netflix in December 2019.

The long-awaited next instalment of the popular reimagining of the 1960s classic science fiction television show by Irwin Allen is back with brand new adventures for the Robinson family, as well as bringing a wealth of new opportunities for licensing.

Rob Wijeratna, joint managing director of Rocket Licensing, said: “We’re thrilled to be continuing our relationship with Legendary and working on this raft of great brands. Each of them is very different and together they create a wealth of potential for licensing partnerships. We’re excited to showcase these brands to the industry.”