Tag Archives: Olympics

WWE taps skateboard brand Enjoi for exclusive new range as the sport readies for Olympic spotlight

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WWE has tagged in the California-based skateboard brand, Enjoi as its latest licensing partner in a new deal that will see the creation of a special collection of skateboard decks featuring a variety of WWE Legends.

The partnership was first revealed on the popular skateboarding podcast, The Nine Club and will see the likes of WWE Hall of Famers Jimmy Hart, The Junkyard Dog, and Gene Okerlund feature on the first wave of decks, with additional decks featuring WWE Legend Undertaker and WWE Hall of Famers Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man Randy Savage, and Jake the Snake Roberts.

The first wave of decks will be available exclusively on thenineclub.com, while wave two will be released on enjoi.com.

The collaboration between WWE and the skateboard brand arrives during a spike in interest in the global skateboarding scene. For the first time, the sport is to be featured at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this year, placing it well within the spotlight for global audiences, while the pandemic has driven a worldwide resurgence in the hobby as audiences have either returned to the sport or taken it up for the first time under social distancing measures.

Here in the UK, skateboarding has been subject to a sweeping surge of interest, with the number of active participants somewhere between seven to nine per cent higher than the year prior. In fact, the UK skateboarding body, Skateboard GB has reported 2020 as the sport’s ‘first sell-out year in history’.

Last month, the US toymaker Jakks Pacific launched a partnership with The Heart Supply’s signature collection of ‘do-gooder brand’ skateboards, developed by the founder of Element Skateboards himself, Johnny Schillereff with the aim of making quality skateboards more inclusive, accessible and affordable to all audiences.

Meanwhile, Enjoi has previously collaborated with a diverse range of brands, including KISS and My Little Pony to create special skateboard decks for fanbases around the world.

Enjoi celebrated its 20th anniversary last year and was named Transworld’s Team of the Year in 2016.

Bravado fires up the fans with Team GB apparel and accessories ahead of Tokyo Olympics

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Bravado, the merchandise and brand management division of Universal Music Group, has secured a deal with Team GB to design and distribute official, branded merchandise ranges to the UK retail market. The launch will coincide with the team’s efforts in the 2020 Olympics this summer in Tokyo.

Fans will be able to show their support of the nation’s Olympians through a ‘multi-layered offering’ that will span both online and in-store, as well as luxury, with high-end capsule collections scheduled to run later this summer. The range will feature athleisure, apparel and accessories boasting never before seen designs.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will take place in Japan from 23 July until 8 August 2021. Team GB will take part in 40 sports, with over 370 athletes due to represent their country.

Keith Taperell, vice president retail and sales, Bravado UK, said: “We can’t possibly be more passionate and excited about this collaboration. With such a testing year behind us, we look forward to the creativity, optimism and patriotism that accompanies this project. The unity and inspiration the Games conjure the world over, is just what we all need.”

Paul Ellis, head of licensing and retail, Team GB added: “Team GB is delighted to be working with Bravado to tap into their design and retail expertise to excite the fans with great product ranges as the nation get behind the team with the Games set to take place in just under a month.”

More details on individual capsule collections will follow in the coming weeks.

Team GB partners with Micro Scooter in latest deal from The Point. 1888

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The hit outdoor and wheeled toys brand, Micro Scooters has partnered with Team GB to launch an officially licensed range of Team GB Micro Scooters, now live on the Micro Scooters website.

Developed under a partnership brokered by the UK licensing agency for Team GB, The Point. 1888, the new range of Micro Scooters includes three variations: The Classic Team GB Micro Scooter, The Sprite Classic Team GB Micro Scooter, and the children’s Mini Micro Team GB Deluxe Scooter.

Prices on the new line range from £79.95 to £159.95. The partnership with Team GB marks the first licensed deal secured by Micro Scooters

In an announcing made via The Point. 1888 online platform, head of product and brand, Janine Richmond, said: “For me, this was a dream partnership with such paralleled values. I’m genuinely a massive fan of Micro Scooters – they are perfectionists with the quality of product and branding, which I’ve experienced first-hand having now bought most of their range for my children.”

The new range lands just months away from the much-anticipated Tokyo Olympics 2020 that, having been postponed owning to the pandemic, will take place this July under the same branding. It is expected that a massive 94 per cent of the UK population will be following the games this July and August.

“We know fans want to feel more connected to the brands they love,” continued Richmond. “The Olympics inspires us to become more active and get outside, so this is a great way of getting closer to the action through product.

“It’s so exciting to see the concepts coming through – the product range has surpassed all expectations. The Micro Scooters team are fuelled with amazing ideas of how to get interaction with their product whether on the track; through school programmes or fanZones; they are hugely committed to making this a success and are a joy to work with ….watch this space.”

Peppa Pig supports Team GB at Tokyo Olympics in new campaign as children’s ambassador

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Hasbro has detailed a new collaboration with Team GB in the UK that will see Peppa Pig join the British Olympic team as a special children’s ambassador to get kids excited for the summer Olympics in Tokyo. The event has been rescheduled from 2020 to 2021, a move that was forced by the world’s lockdown measures.

Big Inspiration for Little Piggies is a new campaign designed to get the nation’s kids moving and into the spirit of the Olympics – set to be one of the most watched sporting events of the year next year – by cheering on their favourite national athletes.

The campaign will be underpinned by a roster of live events, retail activations, digital content, and bespoke merchandise.

“With a year to go until the Olympics there couldn’t be a better time to inspire young kids and their families to get active,” said Hasbro’s Marianne James, VP EMEA consumer products. “Our Big Inspiration for Little Piggies campaign is a great opportunity to tap into the enormous interest surrounding the Olympics to both support the Team GB athletes and nurture a lifelong love of sports in the younger generation that will leave a lasting legacy.”

Partners are already lining up to produce exclusive new consumer products across categories including toys, apparel and accessories, stationery, home gifting and publishing.

The campaign will span multiple touchpoints with a brand-new bespoke style guide featuring innovative new designs that put Peppa and all her friends right into the action with unique sporting outfits and active wear to inspire a range of Team GB licensed merchandise for children, placing the preschool brand in good company with Team GB’s official mascot, Pride The Lion.

New branded content is also being developed across digital channels that will harness the popularity of Peppa Pig and Team GB by encouraging children and families to take advantage of the global sporting event and promote an active, healthy lifestyle.

Throughout summer 2021, Hasbro will be readying a packed calendar of interactive marketing activities that will see Peppa Pig model her very own Team GB kit at various events across the country, sports-related meet-and-greets, experiential displays, retail activations and fun competitions hosted at multiple locations.

The collaboration will kick off with a digital presence in Team GB’s inspired community campaign I Am Team GB from 23rd – 30th July to capitalise on the should-have-been Olympic buzz, and get kids enthusiastic about getting active with Peppa Pig.

Postponed Olympic and Paralympic Games to keep Tokyo 2020 trademark for merchandise and licensing partners

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The postponed Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 are to maintain their trademarked names in a bid to alleviate concerns around merchandise and licensing partnerships, despite the event being moved to 2021 amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Olympic Committee and the 2020 Games’ host nation, Tokyo, reached the decision last week to postpone the global events scheduled to take place this summer as the world continued to deal with the ongoing issue of the coronavirus.

The weighty decision was the subject of much speculation in the weeks leading up to the announcement, as it faced major reluctance to not hold the Olympics and Paralympic Games in Tokyo this year. The move has marked an unprecedented course of action as this is the first time in its 124 year modern history that the Olympic Games has been delayed.

The games have before been cancelled altogether in 1916, 1940 and 1944 during World War One and World War Two.

Among the many elements surrounding the Olympic and Paralympic Games to be affected by the decision, of course, are its many merchandise and licensing partners now in various stages of development, production, and distribution of the official Tokyo 2020 consumer products.

A spokesperson from the IOC told Licensing.biz that while conversations with licensees have only just started, what is known is that the Games “will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, so that the trademarks are not changed.”

“We are, of course, working in close collaboration with all of our licensees to ensure the success of their respective collections launch,” they said.

“As you certainly know this is an unprecedented situation and the first time in Olympic history that the Games will be postponed.”

The IOC intends to keep the industry updated on developments.