Tag Archives: bulldog licensing

Bulldog Licensing signed as European licensing agent for Rolling Stone

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Bulldog Licensing has been appointed as the European licensing agent for the iconic music, entertainment, and politics media brand, Rolling Stone. Established for 50 years, Rolling Stone spans print, digital, social and events, and is now looking to leverage its brand, develop products and reach its extensive audience in new ways.

In the US, the Rolling Stone licensing programme is already underway with brand owners, Penske Media Corporation already working with licensees including Anheuser-Busch’s brewery Elysian Brewing for a Rolling Stone Lager, publishing deals with Alfred Publishing, Sellers Publishing, and Meredith, puzzles and games from Spin Master, and location based experiences including the Rock Room on Holland America Line ships and the Rolling Stone Bar & Grill at LAX airport.

Rolling Stone has a monthly footprint of 42 million people across its platforms, who access the brand for its photography, insightful reviews, in-depth interviews and award-winning journalism.

Across social media, Rolling Stone has 5 million Facebook fans, 4.5 million Instagram followers and 6.3 million Twitter followers worldwide. The UK is one of the strongest audiences and provides over 1 million unique users and 6.8 million page views each month to the rollingstone.com website.

Across Continental Europe, the brand enjoys a huge footprint with local editions in Italy, Germany and France reaching millions of people every month.

Discussions are already well underway with licensees across a diverse area of products with announcements expected very soon.

Kevin LaBonge, VP global partnerships and licensing at Penske Media Corporation, said: “We’re delighted to be working with the team at Bulldog Licensing as we expand Rolling Stone into new formats. Rolling Stone is a hugely iconic brand around the globe with millions of touchpoints every month in Europe alone.

“With Bulldog’s rich history of delivering large scale licensing programmes for iconic media properties we are excited to tap into their experience and energy to grow the Rolling Stone brand even further.”

Rob Corney, MD of Bulldog Licensing, added: “Rolling Stone is a true icon in the music, entertainment and politics industry and has a huge, dedicated audience. We’re thrilled to have them on our roster and are looking forward to building a consumer products programme across the diverse core classic and vivid culture graphic collections.”

 

Bulldog Licensing secures three new apparel partners for Care Bears

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The well-loved and evergreen Care Bears brand is growing its presence in the children’s and adult apparel sector, thanks to a string of new partnership signed up by its European agency, Bulldog Licensing.

Cohen and Wilks, Tikiboo, and Park Agencies have each struck up new agreements with the property that will see them develop a range of adult and babywear clothing, all scheduled to hit shelves over the coming year.

Established design and clothing company, Cohen and Wilks International Holdings, will launch a collection of ladies’ nightwear, underwear, and babywear based on the nurturing bears who first launched in 1982. Some 38 years later, Care Bears’ new 2D animated Care Bears: Unlock the Magic airs daily on Tiny Pop and is also available through Lionsgate for home entertainment and VOD from Netflix.

Activewear brand, Tikiboo, will create a new range of sportswear and continue to expand its licensed offering with the new Care Bears deal. The extensive collection is designed for sports fans of all ages and is set to feature Care Bears-inspired leggings, tank tops, hoodies, bags, t-shirts, shorts, base layers, running jackets, sports bras and running scarves.

Leading licensed apparel designer and developer, Park Agencies is also on board in the UK, and will develop a selection of adult apparel including ladies’ and men’s daywear and nightwear.

The new licensees join a consumer product offering which is already present across retail. Bulldog Licensing, which handles licensing in the UK and Eire, has secured several deals for the property over the last year, and the new licensees reflect the agency’s plans to expand Care Bears’ reach the UK for babies, girls and adults.

In addition to its new Care Bears: Unlock the Magic that launched last year on Tiny Pop and immediately raced up the ratings charts, new master toy partner Basic Fun! will be launching a new line of plush, plastic, and electronic toys this autumn in the UK.

Rob Corney, Bulldog Licensing’s MD, said: “Care Bears is so well loved in the UK that we have to be incredibly careful to select partners who will respect the brand’s heritage and deliver product which will be accepted and loved by its many fans. Cohen and Wilks, Tikiboo and Park Agencies are the perfect partners to do this and we are excited to work with them on the new collections.”

Bulldog Licensing eyes cross-category licensing partnerships for Zag Studios’ new Power Players

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Discussions are underway between Bulldog Licensing and a range of potential partners for Zag Studios’ newest animated property, Power Players, as the agency works to build a licensing programme for the series across the UK and Ireland.

Power Players will launch in the UK on Cartoon Network this month. Bulldog Licensing is already eyeing partners across apparel, home, gifting, publishing and more.

The toy range from Playmates, distributed in the UK by Flair, is readying for release in Q4, along with other core merchandise, and will feature action figures, vehicles and role play items at launch. Retail reactions to the new line at the recent toy shows has been phenomenal and the range will be supported by a heavyweight marketing programme.

The TV debut will consist of 78 episodes following the adventures of a cast of super-powered characters disguised as toys, led by Axel, a human boy, who joins the smart toy world he is partly responsible for creating.

Rob Corney, MD, Bulldog Licensing, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Power Players into the Bulldog family. The fun, fast-paced series is a real showcase of the huge talent at Zag, and the strong characters and storylines have made for a colourful and creative style guide which will inspire leading licensees across categories.

“Our initial discussions with potential partners have been overwhelmingly positive, and we are looking forward to announcing new deals and rolling out the consumer products soon.”

Bulldog Licensing: “Growth of the Miraculous brand has been phenomenal”

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Bulldog Licensing has labelled the growth of the Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir as nothing short of ‘phenomenal’, while the UK audience for the series has just been named the second largest in the world.

The European licensing agency – who currently handles the licensing programme for the property across the UK and Ireland, has reported that TV set viewing figures for single episodes throughout December last year consistently hit 160,000 on Pop, propelling the series to 180,000 in the week December 9th to 15th.

As well as this, the show also took the top spot for the channel every week in December and dominated Pop’s top ten broadcast spots throughout the period.

Rob Corney, MD of Bulldog Licensing, said: “The growth of the Miraculous brand is phenomenal. Throughout 2019, Google Trend analysis shows that the brand has been ahead of most of the leading players in the girls’ market in the UK.”

Meanwhile the app, based on the superhero animation, has reached more than 70million downloads on iOS and Android globally, with 1.1million downloads in the UK alone. The fast-paced rescue mission game has managed to achieve an average of 4.7 out of five stars on the App Store.

Still with the digital, and the Miraculous YouTube channel has now hit 276 million views worldwide. The UK contributes the second highest number of visitors, accounting for nearly eight per cent of total views (around 22 million local views), with the average viewing time at nearly three minutes.

Corney added: “Zag has created a unique brand and its enormous popularity reflects its fresh approach and top-class production and animation. We have a strong licensing programme already in place, including Bandai, Rubies Masquerade, Fashion UK, William Lamb, Imagine8 and Aykroyds TDP.

“Sales across fashion items have always been incredibly strong and, we are looking at a year of very strong growth across all other categories for this leading girls’ title.”

Bulldog Licensing secures Rubie’s for Sesame Street dress up and accessories

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Fans of Sesame Street can now dress up as their favourite characters, including Elmo and Cookie Monster, thanks to a new range of dress up and accessories from Rubies Masquerade.

The European agency, Bulldog Licensing – which manages the consumer products programme for Sesame Street in the UK and Eire – has signed the deal with Rubie’s to develop adult, children’s and pet lines for the dress up and accessories range.

Rob Corney, Bulldog Licensing MD, said: “Sesame Street has a special place in the hearts of all generations throughout the UK, so the new partnership with Rubies Masquerade is a great addition to the consumer products portfolio. The characters are part of the nation’s fabric and will make fantastic dress-up products.

“Sesame Street showcased its brand power with the 50th birthday celebrations last year and this is carrying through with activity throughout 2020 and beyond. The licensing programme is seeing significant growth in the territory with new partners, new categories and increased listings, a trend which is set to continue with retailers looking to back the brand in increasing numbers.”

Fans of Sesame Street can catch Elmo’s World and Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck on Tiny Pop. With over 25 million fans across its social media channels, over a million of whom are in the UK, Sesame Street continues to engage with both children and adults alike.