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Olympia le Tan celebrates 62 years of Paddington with exclusive clutch bag collection

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The French boutique retailer, Olympia le Tan, has partnered with Copyrights to launch am exclusive Paddington clutch bag collection, based on the first edition cover of Michael Bond’s ‘A Bear Called Paddington.’

The limited edition clutch features one of the most iconic illustrations by Peggy Fortnum and celebrates Paddington’s 62 year publishing and merchandising heritage.

Olympia le Tan is known for its beautifully designed, hand-stitched clutch bags, taking inspiration from literature, art and film. Each collection is limited to 77 pieces and each bag can take up to 300 hours to produce, creating a unique look and feel. 

The deal was brokered by StudioCanal Licensing, the agent for Paddington in France.


Valérie Rolandez-Barrios, director of licensing and partnerships at StudioCanal Licensing, said: “It is such a delight to work on Paddington and help develop the brand in France. Seeing this collaboration with Olympia le Tan come to life is wonderful. The Paddington clutch bag is a beautiful item and the result of a unique partnership.”

Aude Sergent, general manager for Olympia le Tan, added: “Collaborating with Paddington felt natural for our brand. We observed that we are all related to Paddington, we all know his crazy adventures and his unconditional love for marmalade.

“Embroidered on our bags, this classic of contemporary English literature gives us the opportunity to pay a tribute to this mythic book through the original illustration of Peggy Fortnum.”

WildBrain CPLG readies a raft of new UK partners for In the Night Garden

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WildBrain CPLG has signed a raft of new UK toy partners for the popular pre-school property, In the Night Garden, including 8th Wonder, Paul Lamond Games, TOMY, Grabo Balloons and the children’s audio platform, Toniebox.

The latest slate of partners join the current product portfolio as WildBrain CPLG continues to focus on driving “even more exciting initiatives across our integrated platform of content, distribution and consumer products.”

Under the newest developments for the hit pre-school brand, 8th Wonder will develop and launch an In the Night Garden themed plush chair and range of wooden toys, while Paul Lamond Games will develop a new line of games and puzzles for pre-schoolers. Meanwhile, TOMY will apply the license to its hit Aquadoodle mats, and Grabo Balloons will launch new foil balloons.

Completing the line-up, Boxine, the firm behind the Toniebox, has signed for an Iggle Piggle figurine to be used on the audio platform. The launch will provide In the Night Garden audio content, including a narrated story and music.

WildBrain’s premium kids and family AVOD network and studio, WildBrain Spark, also manages In the Night Garden on AVOD platforms including YouTube and YouTube Kids, where it has achieved an average of 15 million monthly views this year.

The brand’s channels now have over 635,000 global subscribers, and episodes are currently available in English, Polish, Arabic, Swedish, Spanish, Norwegian, and Italian. The original In the Night Garden series is also an established fixture in CBeebies’ bedtime schedule, where characters Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka and their friends are an integral part of the sleep time routines for many families.

Emily French Ullah, licensing director hardlines at WildBrain CPLG, said: “In the Night Garden remains front of mind with pre-schoolers and parents alike, as demonstrated by the continued positive response from licensees and retailers, and the strong broadcast and AVOD viewership.

“We’re delighted to welcome these wonderful new partners to the UK licensee base and look forward to seeing young fans across the UK enjoy this engaging array of new products.”

Michael Riley, chief brands officer for WildBrain, said: “In the Night Garden has an eternal quality that continues to resonate with families worldwide, and these new licensees signed by WildBrain CPLG will provide UK fans with more opportunities to celebrate their love of the brand offscreen.

“In the Night Garden is a key preschool property for WildBrain, and we are highly focused on driving even more exciting initiatives across our integrated platform of content, distribution and consumer products that are sure to keep parents and young children engaged and entertained for years to come.”

Sutikki to develop animated and live action series based on the Digital Dream Labs’ hit Cozmo robot

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The children’s entertainment company, Sutikki – best known for the popular UK series, Moon & Me – has inked a new partnership with the US-based educational technology company, Digital Dream Labs, to create, develop and distribute an animated series and live action content based on the robot duo Cozmo and Vector.

Under the partnership, Cozmo has taken its first steps from best-selling toy brand to entertainment franchise with the premiere of its first animated featurette, making its debut on the newly launched Cozmo & Friends YouTube channel

The journey from best-selling toy brand to entertainment franchise starts today with the premiere of the first animated featurette which debuts on the newly launched Cozmo & Friends YouTube channel.  The hub will host a steady flow of innovative and creative content that will further explore Digital Dream Labs’ revolutionary robot creations.

Sutikki’s initial focus will be on Cozmo, an expressive little robot with a mind of its own and a one-of-a-kind personality that evolves and learns over time. Cozmo blazed a trail when it launched in 2017 earning the top spot for the best-selling toy on Amazon US two years in a row and the best-selling toy on Amazon in the UK and France in 2017.

Sutikki plans a comprehensive content campaign, initially on its dedicated YouTube channel, leveraging its experience and expertise in building highly engaging brand franchises that speak to the discerning, tech savvy kids of today. The short-form videos will tap into the production company’s ability to engage consumers through compelling storytelling and to showcase IP on a global scale.

Beyond plans for new video content, Sutikki is planning to launch a global consumer products program. Digital Dream Labs’ pre-order for updated versions of both of their popular consumer robots opens on 20th November 2020 ahead of the holiday season with the new robots hitting retail in Spring 2021.

“We’re looking forward to introducing Cozmo and friends to the world,” said Hannah Mungo, CEO, Sutikki. “Cozmo is an extraordinary character who is not only an educational asset and friend for children, but also full of play and exploration. We are extremely excited to tap into the unique characteristics of DDL’s amazing robot line through creative content and bold new consumer products that will form the blueprint for what is certain to be one of entertainment’s most exciting future franchises.”

Digital Dream Labs is a global leader of creating hands-on educational technology for children of all ages. The high-tech firm specializes in creating engaging, language and system-agnostic products that connect with kids of all ages. Its line of robots are more than simple educational tools and have already gained an online following that sets the stage for a successful evolution into the entertainment realm.

“It’s been a real pleasure for our team to watch the animators capture Cozmo’s unique personality,” added co-founder and CEO of Digital Dream Labs, Dr. Jacob Hanchar. “We’re really excited to see this partnership grow and know that families around the world will welcome Cozmo into homes across many different interactive touchpoints.”

Bulldog Licensing lands Little Brother Books and Texco for Moose Toys’ Kindi Kids

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The European agency, Bulldog Licensing, has secured two new deals for the global toy company, Moose Toys and is pre-school doll brand, Kindi Kids, as the IP’s YouTube series hits 82 million views online.

Little Brother Books has inked a new deal to produce Christmas, seasonal, and activity annuals for the popular toy brand, while Moose Toys plans on more content and product launches for spring/summer 2021.

Also joining the growing Kindi Kids consumer products portfolio is Texco, who will be launching a range of bedding and home textiles, including duvet sets, curtains, bean bags, towels, cushions, and fleece blankets. Each launch will use images of the Kindi Kids pre-school characters, along with scenes from the YouTube original content.

The latest licensees join as Bulldog Licensing, who manages the UK rights for Kindi Kids, witnesses a continued and ‘overwhelming’ positive reaction to the brand from both retail and licensees. The team is now building a portfolio of carefully selected partners across all categories.

Meanwhile, Moose Toys is putting plans in place to ensure momentum for the brand continues to grow, with the season three webisode now on YouTube and additional distribution platforms coming in 2021.

Vicky Hill, brand manager, Bulldog Licensing, said: “We are delighted to welcome Texco and Little Brother Books to the exciting Kindi Kids programme. The brand is surpassing all expectations and there is an enormous amount of activity planned to keep the preschool audience engaged.

“Kindi Kids is the number one large doll brand in the UK and with a fantastic, expanded range on the market for AW2020 we are seeing phenomenal sales. Consumer demand for licensed product is huge and we are excited to launch the new ranges to retail.”

Early Learning Centre partners with Poetic Brands for baby, children’s wear and accessories

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The Early Learning Centre brand is expanding into baby, children’s wear and accessories, thanks to a new licensing partnership with the clothing specialist, Poetic Brands. The partnership has been brokered by the Early Learning Centre’s licensing agency, Riverside Brands.

The new ELC collection will incorporate baby and children’s wear products, including baby layette fashion, as well as accessories such as baby changing bags and slings in the baby collection. In the children’s category, Poetic Brands will launch children’s daywear, as well as accessories including luggage, beach towels and bags, and flip flops.

Having traded in a number of guises since 1974, the Early Learning Centre has become a destination retailer for expectant mothers, new parents and beyond. Currently owned by The Entertainer, ELC operates both online and within The Entertainer stores with a vision to support parents with their child’s early years learning and development through play.

Anne Bradford, director, Poetic Brands, said: “When we heard about the opportunity of establishing ELC as an apparel collection, we jumped at the chance to come on board and work with Ash [founder of Riverside Brands] and The Entertainer on this project.

“In the initial year of setting up the business it has been so important to us to look for new opportunities to the market and the ELC brand absolutely ticks this box. Our team has a huge amount of experience across both baby and toddler and they are looking forward to creating a unique apparel collection at retail.”

Ashley Holman, MD, Riverside Brands, added: “We have had a fantastic initial response to the Early Learning Centre licensing opportunity since announcing it a few months ago and it is really exciting to be partnering with Poetic Brands, as they really understood the vision we have for the brand from the outset. We are confident this will be the start of a very successful partnership for all involved.”

Arts and crafts firm Craft Buddy lands major Disney licensing partnership

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The arts and crafts specialist, Craft Buddy, has struck up a major licensing partnership with Disney to bring a raft of new licensed Crystal Art lines to market in spring next year. The range will be based upon some of Disney’s most iconic and popular characters.

The license will be available in a range of kits and sets across Craft Buddy’s established Crystal Art range (also known as diamond painting or diamond art), targeting an audience of children aged eight and upwards. Kids and adults across the UK will now be able to create pieces of wall art, cards, notebooks and more.

The technique used to produce sparkling Crystal Art is similar to painting by numbers with each design featuring a numbered, adhesive template. Using the magic pick up pen (included), artists can simply lift up the coloured crystals and place them on the corresponding dots. The result is a piece of rhinestone art which can be kept or gifted to loved ones.

Famous Disney characters will feature across all areas of the Crystal Art portfolio with more designs and products being added to the collection across the year. Disney fans can now re-create iconic movie characters using Crystal Art in four new Notebook designs: “Pride Rock” scene from The Lion King , “The Little Mermaid”, “Classic Minnie” and “Moana”.

Crystal Art Canvas Kits are available in a host of different sizes and multi-character designs, each pre-mounted on wooden frames making them easy to display. Four 30x30cm kits featuring a host of instantly recognizable Disney family favourites will launch as part of the new collection: “Elsa, Anna & Olaf”, “Lion King Family”, “Pooh and Tigger” and “Minnie and Mickey”.

Larger designs include three 40x50cm Crystal Art Kits “The Lion King Medley”, “Beauty and the Beast Medley” plus “Lady & The Tramp” alongside a 70x70cm Kit featuring “Frozen Friends” and a dazzling 90x65cm “Disney Princess Medley” design.

“This is an incredible range that we can’t wait to bring to market and which we have worked extremely hard to develop in partnership with the team at Disney,” said Gary Wadhwani, co-director at Craft Buddy UK Ltd.

“Crystal Art is a creative medium which appeals to all ages and through which we can see characters and scenes brought to life in dazzling formats. It lends itself perfectly to re-creating those iconic and much-loved Disney characters and we are already seeing huge potential at retail for this extensive range.”

Utilising their extensive fan base across their company social channels, Craft Buddy ran a survey earlier this year to find out which Disney characters their consumers would love to see integrated into their hugely successful Crystal Art collection.

Winnie The Pooh came top of the list of favourite characters chosen by their consumer base followed by Mickey and Minnie, Bambi and the Lion King; all of which feature heavily across the new licensed range.

Hasbro launches Peppa Pig audio stories across Amazon Prime, Apple Music, and Spotify

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Hasbro has revealed its plans to release a series of new Peppa Pig audio stories across multiple digital streaming platforms around the world, including on Amazon Prime, Apple Music, and Spotify from today (Monday, November 23rd) onwards, with plans for more to come.

Marking a new first for Peppa Pig, the ten audio stories will be narrated by the familiar voice of John Sparkes and will be based on some of the most popular stories from the animated TV series. They will be available in English language only and will launch in batches of two every two weeks.

Titles under the portfolio of audio stories include George’s New Dinosaur, Shake, Rattle & Bang, Mr Bull’s New Road, Whistling, Nursery Rhymes, Secret Club, Pirate Treasure, Grandpa Pig’s Greenhouse, Noisy Night, and Bedtime Story.

 “We want to be wherever our fans are with great content and our move into audio-first content reflects that,” said eOne’s Esra Cafer, SVP global brand management.

“What we’re really excited about is just how good these stories are. They capture all the values, storytelling and humour of our brilliant show to give our listeners a wonderfully immersive audio story experience – we can’t wait for Peppa fans to discover them.”

 The launch will be supported by an extensive marketing campaign across social and digital media including the brand’s own high reach digital channels.

This latest deal follows the huge success of the brand’s first digital music album release, Peppa Pig: My First Album, in July 2019 which has hit more than 24 million streams worldwide and inspired a licensing range for teens in Urban Outfitters this autumn in the US.

The Pokémon Company marks first Zavvi partnership with new capsule collection for the online retailer

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The Pokémon Company International is partnering with the online retailer Zavvi to launch a special European Pokémon capsule collection across adult apparel, footwear and accessories.

Launching on November 30th, the collection marks the first collaboration between the two, with a range that comprises 19 items including sweatshirts, T-shirts and hoodies featuring iconic images from a selection of the original 151 Pokémon.

Fan favourites such as Pikachu, Squirtle, Jigglypuff and Bulbasaur adorn the range, which mixes black and white tonal designs with bright pops of colour. Prices range from £20 – £60 or €22 – €67 and the collection is available exclusively online at Zavvi.com.

Strong support for the launch includes a Zavvi homepage takeover, influencer gifting, a social media campaign and a marketing push with a dedicated photoshoot.

Mathieu Galante, licensing director EMEA at The Pokémon Company International, said: “We are delighted to team up with Zavvi. As the home of pop culture, they are an ideal partner as we continue to expand Pokémon fashion into the online space. This stylish and distinctive new collection further builds Pokémon’s status as a real fashion favourite with a widespread and enduring appeal.”

Pokémon’s collaboration with Zavvi is the latest in a string of sought-after capsule collections with partners ranging from high-street giants H&M, Zara, Bershka and Uniqlo to adidas, Original Stitch and leading designers including GCDS, Jeremy Scott and Bobby Abley.

Further recent Pokémon activity includes the launch of The Crown Tundra, the second expansion for the hugely successful video games Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, and the release of the latest Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion, Sword & Shield—Vivid Voltage.

In 2021, Pokémon marks its 25th anniversary, which will be a continual celebration of the iconic and evergreen brand throughout the year.

Cornwall’s Beer Buddies details launch of Original Stormtrooper bottle opener range

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Cornwall’s own Beer Buddies – the designer and distributor of character wall-mounted bottle openers – is preparing to launch its fourth licensed product taking the form of the Original Stormtrooper from the first ever Star Wars film.

The launch arrives as the latest addition to Beer Buddies’ ICON range, a collection that to date features the likes of Motorhead, Iron Maiden, and Judge Dredd Beer Buddies bottle openers.

The range was set to launch earlier this year, but suffered delays owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The company has now confirmed that its Original Stormtrooper line will launch on December 4th.

Based in Helston in Cornwall, Beer Buddies has become synonymous with the men’s gifting sector, and has been met with a surge in demand for product over the course of the year.

“We’ve been inundated with Star Wars fans wanting to know the release date,” said Richard House of Beer Buddies. “They don’t have long to wait now, December 4th is the day.”

 Like all Beer Buddies ranges,  the artwork for the packaging has been executed by the Falmouth designer and illustrator Elly Jahnz of Foxcub Studios.

“The packaging itself is very important to us for ecological reasons, we use virtually all cardboard and keep polystyrene and plastic to a minimum so its easily recyclable,” said House. “Once again, Elly from Foxclub Studios has done a brilliant job.”

The Stormtrooper project has taken a year to get this point as the company has had to work with extended production deadlines and transport delays due to the Covid restrictions.

“We think the wait has been worth it,” House concluded.

Mattel’s Hot Wheels races onto Roblox with the launch of Hot Wheels Open World

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Mattel’s popular Hot Wheels brand is racing onto Roblox thanks to the launch of Hot Wheels Open World, a racing experience that allows players to race, collect, and earn over 80 different cars at launch.

The game is the result of a partnership between Mattel and Roblox and has been developed by Gamefan. It encourages players to take part in quests and stunt challenges, as part of a mission to bring Hot Wheels to a new audience of gamers.

“We’re incredibly excited to bring Hot Wheels to life for millions of fans around the world on Roblox. The Roblox platform unlocks digital experimentation and play, which are core to the Hot Wheels brand,” said Andrew Chan, head of digital gaming at Mattel.

“Hot Wheels Open World provides a creative sandbox for Hot Wheels gamers of all ages to play and compete online together.”

The Roblox is recognised for allowing players to create and programme their own games, and early speculation suggests that this will be an element brought into the new title. Hot Wheels is known for its creative and customisable track building, as well as its collectability.

The game also utilizes an open world, letting players drive around a vast map in search of stunts, racetracks, and hidden items, whether they’re inside volcanoes or on the beach.

Hot Wheels Open World is out now for Xbox One, PC, and Mac, and will be out later for iOS and Android.