Funko announces collab with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team

Funko has announced a collaboration with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. Pop! vinyls of seven-time World Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton and his former teammate, ten-time Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas, have been launched to coincide with the start of the 2022 F1 season, and come decked out in their 2021 custom race overalls and detailed caps displaying the Mercedes logo. 

Hamilton and Bottas were teammates for five seasons from 2017 to 2021, winning the World Constructors’ Championship during each of those seasons. For four of those five seasons, Hamilton also won the World Drivers’ Championship.

The new Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Botas Funko Pop! figures retail at £12/€15.

 

 

Funko announces collab with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team

Funko has announced a collaboration with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. Pop! vinyls of seven-time World Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton and his former teammate, ten-time Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas, have been launched to coincide with the start of the 2022 F1 season, and come decked out in their 2021 custom race overalls and detailed caps displaying the Mercedes logo. 

Hamilton and Bottas were teammates for five seasons from 2017 to 2021, winning the World Constructors’ Championship during each of those seasons. For four of those five seasons, Hamilton also won the World Drivers’ Championship.

The new Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Botas Funko Pop! figures retail at £12/€15.

 

 

5th Charity Film Awards, presented by Smiley Movement – winners revealed

A powerful and heart-wrenching film by Macmillan Cancer Support featuring staff doing ‘whatever it takes’ to support those living with cancer has scooped the Grand Prix trophy at this year’s Charity Film Awards, presented by Smiley Movement. The film was among a series of winners – including productions from Surfers Against Sewage, Teenage Cancer Trust and Shelter – announced at the Awards ceremony at ODEON Luxe, Leicester Square, with more than 500 guests in attendance.

Celebrating the charities’ use of video, the winners were chosen through a combination of expert judges and public votes. The campaign generated an additional 2.5 million views on these films.

One of the best outcomes from the awards was how Smiley Movement were able to massively increase the visibility of the films across all categories, regardless of whether they were awarded. For example, Teach Happy increased their views more than five times, from about 18k to 60k.

The overall ‘People’s Choice’ Award – which received the most public votes out of all the films entered this year – went to Isha Foundation, for their film ‘Cauvery Calling: A Race To Save A River’.

Other notable winners include Safenet Domestic Abuse and Support Services I’s film ‘Behind Doors’; The Scout Association’s ‘What Made Me’; Shelter’s ‘Fight For Home’; and Surfers Against Sewage’s ‘Thank you Sea’.

More than 450,000 people live-streamed the 5th Charity Film Awards ceremony across Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and on Fundraising Everywhere’s virtual event platform.

The 2022 Award Winners are:

Nicolas Loufrani, CEO of Smiley Movement, says: “Nothing captures hearts and minds like film. These films that won this evening absolutely demonstrate the importance of film for charitable campaigning and are wonderful examples of modern charity communications.

“We had more than 300 charities enter the Awards this year and generated an additional 2.5 million views across all the films. It’s a great achievement for all the charities who made it through as Finalists. Congratulations to all the winning charities.”

You can watch all the films, including the winners at smileymovement.org/awards.

Smiley Movement is a social enterprise, which was set up by Nicolas Loufrani, CEO of The Smiley Company. This is the first year Smiley Movement has run the Charity Film Awards, which provides an easy way for the general public to support the great work carried out by these non-profit causes. By watching, voting, and sharing these films, they have not only helped raise awareness but also learned more about the missions of these charities.

Research by Smiley Movement found 92% of people want to do good in the world, but are unsure how – while 82% would volunteer more if they were better informed about the charity sector, and 40% have volunteered in the past year.

They also found 99% of people believe we can solve more of society’s issues if the public engaged with charities more. To find out more about Smiley Movement and the work it does to support charities, visit smileymovement.org.

5th Charity Film Awards, presented by Smiley Movement – winners revealed

A powerful and heart-wrenching film by Macmillan Cancer Support featuring staff doing ‘whatever it takes’ to support those living with cancer has scooped the Grand Prix trophy at this year’s Charity Film Awards, presented by Smiley Movement. The film was among a series of winners – including productions from Surfers Against Sewage, Teenage Cancer Trust and Shelter – announced at the Awards ceremony at ODEON Luxe, Leicester Square, with more than 500 guests in attendance.

Celebrating the charities’ use of video, the winners were chosen through a combination of expert judges and public votes. The campaign generated an additional 2.5 million views on these films.

One of the best outcomes from the awards was how Smiley Movement were able to massively increase the visibility of the films across all categories, regardless of whether they were awarded. For example, Teach Happy increased their views more than five times, from about 18k to 60k.

The overall ‘People’s Choice’ Award – which received the most public votes out of all the films entered this year – went to Isha Foundation, for their film ‘Cauvery Calling: A Race To Save A River’.

Other notable winners include Safenet Domestic Abuse and Support Services I’s film ‘Behind Doors’; The Scout Association’s ‘What Made Me’; Shelter’s ‘Fight For Home’; and Surfers Against Sewage’s ‘Thank you Sea’.

More than 450,000 people live-streamed the 5th Charity Film Awards ceremony across Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and on Fundraising Everywhere’s virtual event platform.

The 2022 Award Winners are:

Nicolas Loufrani, CEO of Smiley Movement, says: “Nothing captures hearts and minds like film. These films that won this evening absolutely demonstrate the importance of film for charitable campaigning and are wonderful examples of modern charity communications.

“We had more than 300 charities enter the Awards this year and generated an additional 2.5 million views across all the films. It’s a great achievement for all the charities who made it through as Finalists. Congratulations to all the winning charities.”

You can watch all the films, including the winners at smileymovement.org/awards.

Smiley Movement is a social enterprise, which was set up by Nicolas Loufrani, CEO of The Smiley Company. This is the first year Smiley Movement has run the Charity Film Awards, which provides an easy way for the general public to support the great work carried out by these non-profit causes. By watching, voting, and sharing these films, they have not only helped raise awareness but also learned more about the missions of these charities.

Research by Smiley Movement found 92% of people want to do good in the world, but are unsure how – while 82% would volunteer more if they were better informed about the charity sector, and 40% have volunteered in the past year.

They also found 99% of people believe we can solve more of society’s issues if the public engaged with charities more. To find out more about Smiley Movement and the work it does to support charities, visit smileymovement.org.

Maya the Bee: the new Danone water bottles star

DeAPlaneta Entertainment has closed a licensing deal with Aguas Danone, S.A. for the launch of two Font Vella Kids water bottle collections in Spain and Portugal. The collections are specially designed for children and feature iconic character Maya the Bee.

Both Font Vella collections include two different Maya the Bee products featuring a range of unique character designs from the series for parents and children to collect: four (33 cl) mineral water bottles are designed in the shape of the characters and a further six designs come with the iconic Font Vella Kids sports bottle top to avoid spills. The bottles are already on sale in supermarkets and include fun activities to make drinking water more fun for kids. Making sure children develop healthy drinking habits has always been a priority for Danone, and the brand’s latest formats, including Font Vella Kids and Lanjarón Kids, are especially designed to promote hydration.

DeaPlaneta Entertainment acts as licensing agent for several brands from Studio 100 Media, including Maya the Bee, which represents strong values including respect for the environment, taking care of nature, bio-diversity, freedom and friendship. Maya is one of the best-known IPs for children in Europe, hitting a multi-generational target. Brands continue to rely on her as the perfect ambassador for organic and natural products, and for CSR activities and awareness-raising campaigns that teach children about the importance of saving the bees.

Barbie x 7th Heaven encourages consumers to Be Good to Yourself

UK-based face mask specialist 7th Heaven has teamed up with iconic brand Barbie for the Be Good to Yourself collection, consisting of three vegan, cruelty-free face masks to encourage self-care. The collection launches this month with prices ranging from £2.49 and is suitable for ages 8+.

The collection comprises:

‘Strong Girls Make Waves’ Pink Neon Toning Peel-Off – a refreshing aloe vera and grapefruit peel formulation, containing naturally occurring AHAs to help promote brightening and smoothing of skin through increasing the rate of cell renewal.

‘Radiate Friendship’ Pink Rose Cleansing Clay mask – with a blend of cocoa and marula oil, this mask has been specially formulated to soothe redness and blemishes to improve skin complexion. This formulation also contains willow bark, a natural source of salicylic acid.

‘You’ve Got This’ Pink Chocolate Purifying Clay mask – contains a rich blend of cocoa butter, shea butter and sweet almond oil to lock moisture into the skin.

7th Heaven founder Gregory Butcher says: “I’m very excited to announce our Be Good to Yourself range in collaboration with Barbie. The essence of both brands is to promote empowerment and wellness, leading to a match made in heaven. Your future belongs to you – so make sure you Be Good to Yourself!”

Ruth Henriquez, Head of Consumer Products, Mattel EMEA, adds: “We are delighted to be partnering with 7th Heaven to introduce this new range of products, this is an exciting new category launch for the Barbie brand with lots of opportunity across the region.”

Find out more about the range at myheavenlyskin.com. Shop the collection online on Amazon.

 

Licensing International announces multi-year partnership with The Insights Family

Licensing International and The Insights Family today announced a multi-year partnership that will launch a series of collaborative initiatives to help inform the licensing industry as well as provide Licensing International members with exclusive content focused on identifying consumer behaviour within the “Kid Economy.”

The Insights Family, a global leader in kids, parents, and family market research and intelligence, provides organisations with real-time, independent data to help clients understand and define their audiences using their proprietary data, data science, and machine learning algorithms through their groundbreaking real-time portal.

Research into the attitudes, behaviours and consumption patterns of these audiences will enable Licensing International to identify and share relevant trends across categories to its members. Real-time data will be pulled from 22 countries across six continents through the following services:

  • Kids Insights surveys 7,780 children aged 3-18 each week or 469,000 a year
  • Parents Insights surveys more than 3,800 parents of children aged 1-16 each week or 228,000 a year

“With a significant number of member companies servings kids and families, our partnership with The Insights Family will deliver best-in-class research to help them better reach and connect with consumers,” says Maura Regan, President, Licensing International.

Nick Richardson, Founder & CEO of The Insights Family, commented: “We are delighted to have partnered with Licensing International. Since we launched in 2017 we have made it our mission to set a new standard in market intelligence for the licensing industry and this partnership will enable us to demonstrate our support to the industry and how we can help licensors, licensees and retailers drive ROI, maximize opportunities and mitigate risks.”

Licensing International members will receive access to this exclusive content through several formats including joint participation at events like Licensing Expo and Brand Licensing Europe, white papers, webinars, ongoing educational programs, and a global annual report.

Further details on these exclusive content offerings will be available at a later date.

To download The Insights Family 2022 Future Forecast report click here: https://get.theinsightsfamily.com/futureforecast/

Mondo TV’s smash hit MeteoHeroes heads to North America

Global family mega-hit maker Kenn Viselman (Teletubbies, Thomas the Tank Engine) has announced a partnership with Mondo TV Studios, part of Mondo TV Group, for an exclusive partnership in the United States and Canada for its award-winning world-wide phenomenon MeteoHeroes, which has already sold into 144 countries and 22 languages.

On April 22, 2022, the MeteoHeroes will make their broadcast debut on PBS with an Earth Day Special. Combined with a companion series, Real Superheroes Don’t Wear Capes, executive-produced by Kenn Viselman, MeteoHeroes is planned to premiere in late summer 2022 on PBS.

Based on a series of books, MeteoHeroes is among the most successful Cartoonito children’s series of all time in Italy, and is popular around the globe. The world premiere of the second season of MeteoHeroes (52 episodes x 13′) will air on Cartoonito in Italy in April 2022.

MeteoHeroes, which recently came in first place at the 30th annual Kids First! Film Festival, is about a group of six pint-sized superheroes, each of whom represents a different continent and a different natural element. Working in tandem to fight climate change disasters, our fearless heroes go to battle to save our planet, using their own unique superhuman abilities that can control weather phenomena.

With humour and respect for its audience, the series sends the important message to children that you don’t need superpowers to save the world. MeteoHeroes is the only children’s series dedicated entirely to climate and environmental issues. Each episode focuses on issues related to ecology and respect for nature.

North American distribution and marketing for both the series and its first collaboration, videogame MeteoHeroes – Saving Planet Earth for Sony PlayStation, will be managed by Kenn Viselman’s itsy bitsy Entertainment Company (TibECo) in partnership with the show’s co-producers Mondo TV S.p.A and leading weather forecasting centre Meteo Operations Italia (MOPI). Viselman will also personally serve as showrunner and executive producer of the Americanised version of the series for a North American audience. This deal was brokered in 2021 by media executive Emilia Nuccio.

Maria Bonaria Fois, CEO of Mondo TV Studios, says: “Kenn Viselman has an unmatched reputation for finding, building and developing hit brands and shows in the North American market. His insights into production, distribution, marketing, and brand development will, we are sure, bring MeteoHeroes success in one of the biggest and most competitive kids’ markets in the world. And, of course, he loves the show! We’re delighted to be working with Kenn.”

“In over three decades of working in the world of children’s and family entertainment I have never seen a reaction to a kids’ series like I have with MeteoHeroes –  and I’ve seen some pretty huge reactions,” says Kenn Viselman. “The success of the series is its ability to help families deal with children’s increasing climate anxiety and give the audience hope while speaking to them in a fun and honest way. There is no issue more urgent or germane to children’s lives than climate change, and the message that a superhero lives in each of us with the capacity to change the world is one I am thrilled and honoured to shout from the rooftops.”

Heinz partners with Ebury for cookbook series

Ebury, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is to publish the first ever official Heinz cookbooks, including gift books for lovers of Ketchup and Baked Beanz.

The licensing partnership will launch with The Heinz Cookbook in May 2022, followed by four iconic ingredient-led gift titles. Elizabeth Bond, Publishing Director for Ebury Partnerships, acquired world rights (excluding North America) from Claire Potter at Metrostar.

Bond says: “This is an exciting opportunity to partner with our best-loved food brands to create iconic gift books, and develop a range of healthy and delicious recipes which will delight every Heinz fan.”

Jojo de Noronha, Kraft Heinz Northern Europe President, adds:“Our products are loved by consumers, and we know that they are already featuring many of our brands in their day-to-day meal recipes. The Heinz Cookbook and Icon titles will offer surprising new recipes to make exciting dishes for every occasion and the creative licence to experiment with their favourite products.”

Claire Potter says: “We received a number of strong proposals for the rights to publish Kraft Heinz books but were impressed by Ebury’s vision for the brands in publishing and passion for the project. We are excited to see where this partnership can go.”

The Heinz Cookbook (5 May 2022) will be a collection of 100 specially commissioned, ingenious and delicious recipes, featuring over 30 of the nation’s favourite products as the star ingredients. It will be followed in late 2022 and 2023 by the first ever official Ketchup, HP Sauce, Beanz and Lea & Perrins books, the perfect gift for every fan.

Warner Bros unveils centennial logo in advance of 100th anniversary

Warner Bros today unveiled its centennial logo to officially begin an extended rollout of activities leading up to and beyond the iconic Studio’s 100th anniversary on April 4, 2023.

Incorporating one of Southern California’s most recognisable landmarks, the WB Water Tower, the logo celebrates Warner Bros’ unmatched legacy of a century of storytelling.

“We’re so excited to kick off the activities around this historic anniversary and share this commemorative logo with our fans and content partners around the centennial celebration of one of the world’s greatest entertainment studios,” says Ann Sarnoff, Chair and CEO, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group. “Throughout Warner Bros’ history, its films and TV shows have been recognised as the gold standard of storytelling, and it was important to us to highlight the fact that telling stories that move the world is at the heart of everything we do.”

Starting at the end of this year, and throughout 2023, Warner Bros’ centennial celebration will include a fully realised, fan-focused campaign involving every division of the Studio – film, series, consumer products, videogames, themed entertainment, studio tours, live events and more – as well as its Studios and Networks sister companies, including HBO Max, the TNets (TNT, TBS and truTV), WarnerMedia Kids, Young Adults & Classics (including WB Animation, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and TCM) and others. Additional details regarding the centennial activities will be available in the coming months.

Warner Bros, a WarnerMedia company, was founded by Albert, Sam, Harry and Jack Warner and incorporated on April 4, 1923. Today, the Studio is home to one of the most successful collections of brands in the world and stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry, from feature film, television and direct-to-consumer production to animation, comic books, videogames, consumer products, themed entertainment, studio tours and brand licensing.

The Studio’s vast library, one of the most prestigious and valuable in the world, consists of more than 145,000 hours of programming, including 12,500 feature films and 2,400 television programs comprised of more than 150,000 individual episodes. Warner Bros is also home to one of the most diverse portfolios of franchises in the world, including Looney Tunes, Harry Potter, DC, Friends, Hanna-Barbera and many more.