Tag Archives: entertainment one

Hasbro joins Festival of Licensing with new Peppa Pig content, PJ Masks toy plans and more

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Hasbro will be joining the Festival of Licensing virtual event – the four-week digital event that will run throughout October and replace Brand Licensing Europe this year – to present the latest opportunities across its portfolio of brands including Nerf, My Little Pony, Play-Doh, Monopoly, Transformers, and Power Rangers.

Also being showcased under Hasbro this year will be the 2020 acquisition of Entertainment One and its popular pre-school numbers Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, and Ricky Zoom.

The licensor will look to highlight its continued efforts to innovate and expand the ways it brings brands to life through music, publishing, promotions, digital and location-based entertainment alongside an array of consumer products spanning key categories, including toys and games, fashion and lifestyle, homewares, health and beauty, FMCG and gifts, and increasingly, personalised products.

Milestone anniversaries, including the 35th anniversary of Transformers in 2021 and the 85th anniversary of Monopoly commencing Q4 2020, give cause for timely celebration and will be leveraged with exciting collaborations, consumer promotions and retail activations.

Meanwhile, it’s game on for Nerf  as the property is on target for rapid expansion across multiple categories. Hasbro continues to cement its position as an active lifestyle and sports brand with cross-generational appeal and huge consumer relevance as health and wellbeing trends prevail.

Next up, the world of Equestria is expanding to introduce a new generation of ponies to a new generation of fans. With more humor, heart, and music than ever before, Hasbro hopes that audiences will be swept away by the new cast of ponies and the incredible adventure that awaits them. Fall in love with My Little Pony all over again when the all-new, computer-animated theatrical feature hits theaters everywhere in September 2021.

It’s still ‘Go Go Power Rangers’ in 2021 as Season 28 of the enduring hit show debuts. Power Rangers: Dino Fury journeys back to the core roots of the brand with the action being led by the original five rangers. The popularity of the show, beloved by so many kids for so many years, is driven by Hasbro’s commitment to new content but also the vast back catalogue which is streamed on Netflix and therefore continually accessed by a huge worldwide audience.

A new global brand theme for Peppa Pig entitled Peppa’s Adventures is kicking off in 2021, as a celebration of all the places that Peppa, her family and friends have visited since the show began. With trips to the USA lined up in the future, combined with a library of existing content, Peppa’s Adventures is a way for fans to explore and discover the world around them.

New series premieres will be rolling out for Ricky Zoom throughout the year and excitement for the expansion of the brand’s consumer products programme – driven by the strength and reach of best-in-class broadcast partners across the region – will follow the phased roll-out of toys in all key markets in 2020, as secondary categories will be available from SS21.

Finally, a robust plan is in place for PJ Masks which will be boosted by Series 4, set to launch this Q4, the Disney+ roll out in multiple territories, and Series 5 global launch coming in 2021. In a first for the company, Hasbro will be launching its first toy range for the brand with a core range of exciting new products hitting retail for AW21.

Hasbro extends Disguise Inc dress-up partnership to European and global market

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The North American fancy dress specialist, Disguise Inc, has renewed its licensing agreement with Hasbro to design and market Halloween costumes for the US and an expanded deal into Europe, for an additional three years. Commencing in 2021, the deal will span the likes of Transformers, Power Rangers, My Little Pony, and Hasbro Gaming.

On top of this, the newly acquired Entertainment One has granted Disguise Inc the rights to Peppa Pig and Ricky Zoom costumes, which will be brought into the company’s 2021 range. It marks the first time Ricky Zoom has entered the dress-up and costumes market.

“We are thrilled to secure such a meaningful partnership with Hasbro with rights to their entire portfolio of brands, and also with our first-ever global expansion with Hasbro,” said Tara Hefter, EVP and GM of Disguise Inc.

“Building on the success of our line of PJ Masks costumes, we will bring fun and innovation to Peppa Pig and the first Ricky Zoom costumes to hit the market. Disguise is proud of our long standing collaboration with Hasbro.

“This also marks us as being the only Power Rangers Halloween Costume licensee since inception. We look forward to our growing relationship with Hasbro and to bring these incredible characters to life year after year.”

Joan Grasso, VP, Hasbro Consumer Products, North America, added: “Disguise excels at bringing our brands to life with their high quality costumes and innovation. We’re excited to expand our partnership to include more regions and more characters from our growing portfolio of brands.”

Disguise’s Hasbro line of Halloween costumes and accessories hits stores in autumn 2021.

Peppa Pig joins growing raft of licensed characters in the Tonies portfolio

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Hasbro and Entertainment One have signed a new partnership with the popular children’s audio system, Tonies to bring its pre-school property Peppa Pig to the line-up of Tonies characters this October. Through the partnership, a total of nine different Peppa Pig stories totaling over an hour of content is coming to the platform this AW.

Peppa Pig is the latest in a line of big launches for the Tonies brand this year, a company that has seen vast success over the last year having engaged with parents and families in search of entertainment during the UK’s lockdown months.

The new launch engages children in the world of Peppa, George and the cast of Peppa Pig with stories including Peppa Goes on Holiday, and George and the Noisy Baby. The Tonies stories will feature a full cast of voices, music, and special effects from the popular TV series.

Launched in the UK in 2018 by Patric Faßbender and his friend and co-founder Marcus Stahl, the Toniebox is an intuitive speaker system that has gone on to revolutionise story time for children. The Toniebox is a screen-free audio toy with simple controls that boasts an interactive way for children aged three to eight to engage with their favourite stories.

Through its growing portfolio of licensed characters, it is fast becoming a favoured route of engaging children with their favourite licensed IP, too. Kids can listen to each Tonie character’s audio content simply by placing the Tonie character on top of the box.

Tonies UK GM Manon Sel, said: “We are delighted to announce this latest addition to the Tonie-Family, which is sure to excite children and fill their homes with even more audio joy this Christmas. The characters of this hit series join our ever-growing line up of both licensed and Tonie-owned figures and bolster our range of audio content.”

Over 14 million Tonies and 1.5 million Tonieboxes have been sold across Europe since the launch and 2020 started with the exciting announcement of the brands’ expansion to the USA – expected towards the end of this year.

Ricky Zoom is racing onto Australian TV screens for the first time

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Entertainment One has secured new broadcast deals for its latest CGI animated pre-school series, Ricky Zoom, that will see the already popular property race onto TV screens across Australia for the first time.

The 52×11 min episodes from series one of Ricky Zoom are set to launch on Nickelodeon’s pre-school channel, Nick Jr., in Australia from today (Monday, 20 July, 2020), with new episodes airing weekdays at 10am. From November this year the series will also begin airing on Australia’s Channel 9.

Entertainment One’s Monica Candiani, EVP content sales, family brands, said: “We’re proud to be bringing Ricky Zoom to audiences in Australia by extending our partnership with Nickelodeon and welcoming Channel 9 as our terrestrial partner in the region.

“Ricky Zoom is an action comedy adventure series with real heart and these latest deals are testament to the strong appeal of the show.”

Since it debuted on screens in late 2019, Ricky Zoom has achieved strong ratings in multiple markets. Nick Jr. is already home to the show in both the US and UK, while Australia’s Channel 9 joins a growing list of broadcast partners bringing the show to a global audience.

The show currently airs on CCTV (China), Channel 5 Milkshake! (UK), Clan TV (Spain), Discovery Kids (Latin America), Thai PBS (Thailand), Gulli (France), Karusel (Russia), Minika Cocuk (Turkey), NRK  (Norway), RAI (Italy), Spacetoon (MENA), Super RTL (Germany), SVT (Sweden), Treehouse (Canada) and Youku (China).

eOne’s Ricky Zoom speeds onto Channel 5’s Milkshake this April

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Ricky Zoom, the newest animated pre-school IP from Entertainment One, is preparing to speed onto Channel 5’s multi-platform pre-school block, Milkshake, where is will air daily from April 20th this year.

To crank up excitement around the show’s terrestrial launch in the UK, Milkshake! is supporting with pre-promotional on-air exposure and social media support nearer the time of TX.

Entertainment One is backing its latest pre-school property with an investment in PR and digital marketing activity to drive tune-in. Building on the company’s previous success with music releases for Peppa Pig and PJ Masks, eOne is readying the digital release of three Ricky Zoom songs that will include an extended version of the theme tune and two all-new original songs.

The new songs will be available on streaming platforms from mid-April. A nationwide influencer outreach campaign spanning parenting influencers, with a combined platform of 1.2 million across the UK, will promote the positive brand values of fun and family to encourage co-viewing.

“Adding to our existing strong roster of international broadcasters we’re thrilled to be bringing Ricky Zoom to the number one weekday pre-school destination in the UK,” said eOne’s Monica Candiani, EVP, content sales, family and brands.

“The show is full of enjoyable all-bike adventures that will ignite young imaginations and we look forward to introducing the colourful world of Wheelford to future fans in the UK ahead of the consumer products rollout later this year.”

The launch of Ricky Zoom on Channel 5 follows a strong debut for the show last autumn on Nick Jr. in the UK where it has been viewed by nearly 1.5 million to date. The show will join Nick Jr.’s promotional slate in Easter with a seasonal episode special set to air for audiences during the school holidays.

The growing broadcast exposure will drive awareness for Ricky Zoom as eOne builds up to the consumer products rollout in autumn which will see additional toys released by master toy partner, TOMY.

Entertainment One to drive growth across LatAm with new toy distribution partnerships

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Entertainment One has secured new distribution deals with toy partners across Latin America as part of a move to drive growth for its portfolio of pre-school properties as the licensor heads to Abrin Toy Fair in Sao Paulo this month.

The company has named Sunny as its master toy distributor for both Peppa Pig and Ricky Zoom in Brazil. Under the deal, Sunny will bring Peppa’s best selling toy lines to retail from the second quarter of the year, including Peppa Pig’s house, vehicles, figurines, and new play-sets.

Sunny is also on board to distribute TOMY’s core collection of Ricky Zoom toys and play-sets focused on core characters, Ricky and his Bike Buddies. The range will debut at Abrin Toy Fair in March 2020 before heading to retail in Brazil from May 2020 followed by a launch in Mexico in the second half of 2020.

Meanwhile, Candide will be adding a new line of vehicles to the latest PJ Masks toy range that debuts at retail for second quarter of the year and other new launches from current licensees include Elka, which will be launching a new 20cm vinyl Catboy figurine, and Grow which will be producing new PJ Masks puzzles for Brazil.

Peppa Pig is a top rated show on Discovery Kids Lat Am where it airs throughout the region alongside FTA platforms TV Cultura in Brazil and Televisa in Mexico. New episodes from series eight have been rolling out across the region with a pipeline of new content scheduled throughout 2020.

Series three of PJ Masks continues to bring fresh episodes to its many fans with series four poised to launch from November 20th 2020 on Disney Junior. Entertainment One’s newest TV property, Ricky Zoom, launched on Discovery Kids Lat Am September 2019 to strong ratings with new episodes dropping throughout 2020 including an Easter special in April 2020 and news of a second series in production.

“Our properties are going from strength to strength in South America and we’re delighted to welcome Sunny as new toy distributor, to further expand our presence in the region,” said eOne’s Murilo Hinojosa, VP Licensing – LatAm, Family & Brands.

“A year-long schedule of new episodes, events and digital engagement will bolster our licensing strategy and we look forward to giving visitors to Abrin Toy Fair an insight into our plans for 2020 and beyond.”

Entertainment One is ‘figuring out what Hasbro brands to bring to the screen’

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Entertainment One is in the process of ‘figuring out which of Hasbro’s brands to bring to life,’ the company has stated following the toymaker’s $3.8bn acquisition of the content producer-distributor at the end of last year.

Speaking at UK Screenings this month, Pancho Mansfield, eOne’s president of global scripted programming, said that Hasbro has a ‘treasure chest’ of IP that the company is looking closely at as it works out what out of the firm’s some 1,500 brands will translate well to screen.

The obvious choices have already been highlighted, with the likes of Dungeons & Dragons, GI Joe, Power Rangers, Action Man, Furby, and Transformers among them.

“We’re just wrapping our arms around it and we’re excited to begin,” Mansfield told Deadline. “We’re going to continue doing what we’re doing and we have this great treasure chest of IP and worlds to bring to life.”

Much of the noise around Hasbro’s acquisition has – until now – been focused on eOne’s slate of pre-school properties such as Peppa Pig and PJ Masks, giving Hasbro a firmer foothold in the competitive yet highly lucrative pre-school content sector.

For a number of weeks, questions have been left hanging over what this meant for the future of eOne’s scripted drama output.

Noel Hedges, executive VP of acquisitions for eOne has now gone some way to alleviate those fears. He told Variety: “Drama is a huge part of eOne’s business and Hasbro bought the business not to shrink it, but expand it.

“If anything, eOne is now supported by a very complementary business. We will support Hasbro’s in-house IP and now find ways of bringing that to screen internally. Hasbro wants eOne to thrive, and from a distribution point of view, they want us to be the portal through which we can take that content to the world.

“Even if it’s a kids’ brand, it could be integrated into a cross-generational family offering. Hasbro is a family business but there is a lot there that isn’t just in the kids’ space.