Sagoo’s Rilakkuma readies for UK growth with Maggy Harris and Kirsty Guthrie

The Paris-based licensing agency, Sagoo has appointed the KJG’s Kirsty Guthrie and BlueSkye Licensing’s Maggy Harris to manage the UK licensing activity for its increasingly popular kawaii brand, Rilakkuma.

The move has been made as Rilakkuma begins to see increases awareness among European audiences and licensees, spotting an ‘enormous brand potential’ for the IP here in the UK. Both Guthrie and Harris are well-known to the UK licensing industry and together have established a new bespoke licensing sales service for brand owners looking for local development.

The pair will be working closely with Sagoo to manage, expand, and diversify the Rilakkuma merchandise programme, starting with carefully selected retail launches planned from the late summer.

Veronique Pichon, president of Sagoo France, said: “Awareness of Rilakkuma is building fast among European Licensees and consumers and this is an ideal time to grow Rilakkuma and its enormous brand potential in the UK. We’re delighted to have Maggy and Kirsty on board as Sagoo’s ‘Team UK’.

“They both have a wealth of licensing experience and will strengthen our commitment and ability to build successful partnerships for Rilakkuma across our European territory.”

Guthrie has been vocal in the “long-term opportunities” the pair have seen in the UK for the Rilakkuma brand, spanning some of Sagoo’s existing licensed ranges launching in spring next year from Blueprint for stationary, Hype for greetings cards, and Difuzed for apparel and accessories.

Harris, said: “We’re delighted to be working alongside Sagoo to deliver additional licensing strength to their team in the UK. Kirsty and I both have a wealth of experience licensing cute design based brands and we fell in love with Rilakkuma.” 

Created in 2003 by San-X, Rilakkuma got its name from the Japanese words for ‘relax’ and ‘bear’, summing up the characters approach to life and helping it achieve stand out among the popular kawaii brand sector.

Rilakkuma lands second series on Netflix as Sagoo sees licensing programme ‘growing apace’ in Europe

Rilakkuma, the cute Kawaii bear, will be returning to Netflix for a second series, following a successful debut back in 2019 that has given life to a growing licensing programme managed by the independent agency, Sagoo Licensing.

Production of the new stop-motion animated series is now underway with the title Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure. The series depicts an active day of incidents and meetings that take place when Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, Kiiroitori, and Kaoru go to play in an amusement park that is about to close.

San-X’s Rilakkuma brand made its streaming debut in 2019, also on Netflix, when Rilakkuma and Kaoru debuted. The series featured 13 episodes following the duo’s friendship and daily life, as the popular bear went to live in his friend, Kaoru’s apartment.

The fresh content will provide a further boost to the Rilakkuma brand, which is already one of the most popular brands in Japan and is rapidly gaining traction throughout Europe. The growth is largely thanks to the property’s online presence, along with a plethora of new and exciting products coming to market.

Since working with San-X, Sagoo has secured deals with Difuzed for apparel, Graine Créative for arts and crafts, and Pioupiou & Merveilles (Shokid) for toys and gifts, with more to be announced over the coming months. 

Veronique Pichon, president, Sagoo, said: “We’re very excited to see the return of Rilakkuma to Netflix following such a successful debut last year. The brand is growing apace throughout Europe and consumer demand for licensed product is also increasing. 

“We are looking forward to further building the consumer products offering as new fans are welcomed into the wonderful world of Rilakkuma via his latest Netflix adventures.”

Rilakkuma lands second series on Netflix as Sagoo sees licensing programme ‘growing apace’ in Europe

Rilakkuma, the cute Kawaii bear, will be returning to Netflix for a second series, following a successful debut back in 2019 that has given life to a growing licensing programme managed by the independent agency, Sagoo Licensing.

Production of the new stop-motion animated series is now underway with the title Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure. The series depicts an active day of incidents and meetings that take place when Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, Kiiroitori, and Kaoru go to play in an amusement park that is about to close.

San-X’s Rilakkuma brand made its streaming debut in 2019, also on Netflix, when Rilakkuma and Kaoru debuted. The series featured 13 episodes following the duo’s friendship and daily life, as the popular bear went to live in his friend, Kaoru’s apartment.

The fresh content will provide a further boost to the Rilakkuma brand, which is already one of the most popular brands in Japan and is rapidly gaining traction throughout Europe. The growth is largely thanks to the property’s online presence, along with a plethora of new and exciting products coming to market.

Since working with San-X, Sagoo has secured deals with Difuzed for apparel, Graine Créative for arts and crafts, and Pioupiou & Merveilles (Shokid) for toys and gifts, with more to be announced over the coming months. 

Veronique Pichon, president, Sagoo, said: “We’re very excited to see the return of Rilakkuma to Netflix following such a successful debut last year. The brand is growing apace throughout Europe and consumer demand for licensed product is also increasing. 

“We are looking forward to further building the consumer products offering as new fans are welcomed into the wonderful world of Rilakkuma via his latest Netflix adventures.”

Endemol Shine taps Sagoo for Simon’s Cat. MasterChef, and Peaky Blinders in France

The independent licensing agency, Sagoo has struck up a partnership with Endemol Shine Group to represent the popular Simon’s Cat, MasterChef, and Peaky Blinders brands across select categories in France.

The brands join Sagoo’s impressive portfolio, which includes Rilakkuma, Care Bears, Miffy, Emily the Strange and a number of music brands, including The Beatles, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, The Police, Led Zeppelin and more.

The popular animation, Simon’s Cat, made its debut ten years ago in viral video Cat Man Do, by illustrator and animator, Simon Tofield. The charming yet mischievous cat now stars in 100 short black and white shorts, which are watched worldwide in over 100 countries, with 7 million fans on Facebook, 2 million followers on Instagram, and more than 1 billion views on YouTube.

MasterChef, meanwhile, aired for five successful series on TF1 in France and the show has been produced in 63 countries worldwide, broadcasting in more than 200 territories. MasterChef has become a number one rated show from the UK to Australia, Italy to Israel, U to Brazil and beyond. Created by Franc Roddam, the culinary talent show is watched globally by over 250 million viewers, transforming over 100 amateur chefs into professionals. 

Peaky Blinders is an award-winning series for BBC One and Netflix produced by official brand owner Caryn Mandabach Productions and by Endemol Shine Group’s Tiger Aspect Productions. Distributed by Endemol Shine International, five series have aired on the BBC and Netflix with a stellar cast of actors including Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory and Paul Anderson.

Endemol Shine Group represent a range of global ancillary rights for Peaky Blinders and already has an emerging licensing programme in France, attracting a loyal fan base on Arte where it airs alongside Netflix. Endemol Shine already partner with Larousse in France with retail book and gifting ranges. 

Sagoo will now be working across select categories for the three brands and the team will first focus on apparel, accessories, homewares, gifting, promotions and publishing.

Veronique Pichon, president of Sagoo, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Endemol Shine Group on such prestigious brands across a wide audience and we’re looking forward to presenting them to potential licensees to get the consumer products programme up and running in France.”

Jane Smith, director, brand licensing and strategy at Endemol Shine Group, added: “Sagoo has a fantastic reputation of extending brands with consumer products in France and we are thrilled they will represent the three premium titles of Peaky Blinders, MasterChef and Simon’s Cat. France is a key market to strengthen the growth of our brand licensing business and this partnership proves our ambitions for the territory.”

In July 2020, Endemol Shine Group was acquired by Banijay, creating the world’s largest international content producer and distributor spanning 22 territories with over 120 production companies and a multi-genre catalogue boasting over 88,000 hours of original programming.

Sagoo signs fashion brand Difuzed for Rilakkuma apparel, fashion bags and more

The fashion and lifestyle brand Difuzed has partnered with the independent licensing agency Sagoo to launch a range of apparel for kids and adults, as well as fashion bags, backpacks, and accessories, inspired by the Japanese character brand, Rilakkuma.

The new line will include tech accessories including phone cases and tablet and laptop covers and sleeves featuring the popular bear character and his friends. The complete range will retail throughout Europe.

Launched in Asia in 2003, Rilakkuma embodies relaxation and a stress-free lifestyle. The chilled-out bear cub quickly became popular in Japan, Asia and the US as it began life as an illustration on products such as stationery. The licensed merchandise quickly grew, and to date, 5.8 million of the Rilakkuma story books have been sold, while the new apps launched monthly have over half a million members. In total, over 20,000 Rilakkuma products have launched in Japan.

Now a Netflix star and hugely popular on social media, Rilakkuma is beginning to see the same trajectory of success throughout Europe and leading licensing agency, Sagoo, is partnering with best in class licensees to build a robust consumer products offering in the territory.

Jeremy Orriss, licensing director of Difuzed, said: “We are very happy to be part of the lovely Rilakkuma family and we are confident that the cooperation between Difuzed and the Sagoo team will be stress-free just like Rilakkuma and it will create great results. We cannot wait to develop Rilakkuma apparel and accessories collections and have them in retailers all around Europe.”

Veronique Pichon, president, Sagoo, added: “We’re excited to welcome Difuzed on board for the rapidly growing Rilakkuma brand. The property is showing signs of the same popularity in Europe as it has enjoyed in Asia and the US, and these new lifestyle products will be perfect for the Rilakkuma fans.”

 

Sagoo teams with Graine Creative to launch Rilakkuma arts and crafts kits for kids

The independent French agency, Sagoo has partnered with the French arts and crafts specialist, Graine Creative to produce five new kits for older children, based on the hit Japanese character brand Rilakkuma.

The deals adds to a rapidly growing portfolio of consumer products for Rilakkuma – the world’s most relaxed bear cub – in Europe, which already includes homewares from Blanc Cerise, and stationery, bags, accessories, and gift ranges from Blueprint Collections.

The Graine Creative range will initially launch with three products, including a crochet kit, aimed at children aged ten and over. The set includes everything needed for tweens to create crochet versions of Rilakkuma and his friend Kiiroitori.

Meanwhile, the new eraser set is aimed at children aged eight and over and includes plasticine and modelling tools to allow children to create Rilakkuma inspired designs, before baking them in the oven to transform them into erasers. Finally, the FIMO kit for children aged 14 and upwards, allows fans to create Rilakkuma characters to make into keyrings, brooches and various other accessories.

Rilakkuma is one of the top three most popular Kawaii characters in the world and since its launch by San-X in Asia in 2003, the relaxed bear has exploded in popularity and amassed over $2.5 billion in retail sales in Japan alone. The brand is recognised and loved throughout the world and has 359,000 fans on Facebook. Rilakkuma recently also became a star of Netflix, with 13 x 11’ stop motion animations available to watch on the SVOD channel.

Veronique Pichon, president, Sagoo, said: “Rilakkuma is growing in popularity throughout Europe and we are delighted to be partnering with some best in class licensees to bring the brand to retail. We are thrilled to be working with Graine Creative and are looking forward to further growing the consumer products programme throughout the territory.”

Sagoo brokers Rilakkuma kids’ bed linen deal with Blanc Cerise

The household linen brand, Blanc Cerise, has signed a deal with the independent licensing agency, Sagoo, to create new children’s bed linen sets inspired by Japan’s most relaxed bear cub, Rilakkuma.

The new collection from Blanc Cerise consists of two mixed and reversible bedding sets, one for children and one for babies. The first features marine stripes and promises ‘to take girls and boys on an ocean of serenity’, while the second is a sky blue dotted with clouds and will create a cosy, padded nest for toddlers.

Rilakkuma, which translates as ‘bear in relaxed mood’, has in excess of 500 licensees and has reached a total of $10 billion throughout Asia since its launch by San-X in 2003, as well as 14 dedicated shops and a Rilakkuma café in Japan.

The chilled out, stress free bear is one of the top three Kawaii characters in the world, and Sagoo is now establishing a growing and award-winning licensing programme for Rilakkuma throughout Europe.

The consumer products line-up already features a stationery, gift and accessories range with Blueprint; A plush deal with Piou Piou and Merveilles, as well as a new arts and crafts partner to be announced soon.

Veronique Pichon, president, Sagoo, said: “The Blanc Cerise brand is the perfect fit with laid back Rilakkuma and the bedding collection fits with the usual high standard of design and materials, creating a beautiful range. The popularity of Rilakumma in Europe is growing apace and we are talking to a wide range of potential partners to further grow the licensing programme.”

The Blanc Cerise Rilakkuma range will be available on blanc-cerise.com and is selected department stores, including BHV.

Sagoo scoops big win at the Licensing International France Awards

The independent agency, Sagoo received the Best Lifestyle, Corporate or Celebrity Brand award at the Licensing International France Awards where it was recognised for its work with the renowned artist, Keith Haring.

The firm triumphed to take the award earlier this month, fighting off competition in the category from finalists including Mattel and Barbie, Textiss and Freegun, and Sanrio with Hello Kitty.

The bright colours, bold lines and simple subject matters of Keith Haring’s art has made it instantly recognisable and unique as a brand. Haring covers relatable concepts with his work, such as birth, death, love and war, which he conveys using iconic symbols, embodied in everyday figures such as hearts, babies, dogs, waves and more.

Sagoo manages the licensing rights for Keith Haring in France and has built a popular consumer products range across a number of categories and age groups, including apparel, accessories, footwear, sports equipment and more with key licensees throughout the territory.

Veronique Pichon, owner of Sagoo, said: “We are proud that a small agency has been recognised for its work on one of the leading contemporary artists. We are also thrilled to have been able to conclude deals on a global basis for the property with major partners such as Lacoste.”