Bing is becoming rather big in the Benelux region thanks to a raft of new licensing partnerships that follow the news that Acamar Films has landed a live stage production of the popular pre-school IP in the Netherlands and Belgium for the first time.

Detailed just this week, the hit pre-school series will now air on the region’s major broadcaster Ketnet, where the newest series of Bing – series four – will premiere in the coming months. The 26 episode will be in Flemish for local audiences. In the Netherlands, all 104 episodes of Bing series one to four are already available on NPO Zappelin.

Meanwhile, thanks to Acamar Films and its Benelux agent, License Connections, Bing is currently enjoying rapid growth and momentum in the region. Following the success of the core toy launch in AW 2019, Bing’s homeware, publishing, and toy and games ancillary categories have expanded with new and extended licensing deals.

New partners for the property include, John, Big Balloon and Mepal, with John’s toy range including Bing playing balls due to launch SS 2021 and Big Balloon launching Bing magazines in Q4 2020. Mepal is the number one brand and market leader in Benelux for melamine lunchboxes and drinking cups and will launch the Bing collection in AW 2020.

 Meanwhile, existing partner TM Essentials, with its number one brand Totum, has extended its current Bing range with new wooden toys, puzzles and car accessories launching AW 2020.

These deals are in addition to current partners Vadobag for bags and Aymax for bedding who have been on board since the beginning of the Bing licensing programme in the Benelux region.

Spectron, the local distributor for Golden Bear, has increased its listings to include Belgium following the success of the AW 2019 and SS 2020 launches in the Netherlands, where all toy products sold out within a few weeks. Spectron will be TV advertising to support the AW 2020 range.

John Boeyen, owner and managing director, Spectron, said: “For us, Bing is the fastest growing pre-school brand in the Benelux region. Our toy range was a huge hit in the Netherlands and we are excited to be bringing them to Bingsters in Belgium this autumn, where we are sure they will prove just as popular.”

Daphne Kellerman, founder of License Connection, added: “We are thrilled with the growing success of Bing in Benelux. Bing has really established itself in our local market and has been embraced by both retailers and consumers. We look forward to working very closely with the Acamar team and our local licensees over the coming months, with a particular interest to develop Health & Beauty, Electronic Learning and Wheeled products.”

Acamar Films will be exhibiting, with a virtual Bing booth, at the Festival of Licensing during the European-focused week, 6-8 October 2020. Search for “Acamar Films” or “Bing” in the exhibitor directory.