Tag Archives: stationery

PMI Partners with Skydance Animation for “Spellbound” toy, plush and stationery line

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PMI Ltd has announced it has signed a global toy, plush and stationery licensing agreement with Skydance Animation for Spellbound, Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation’s upcoming animated feature film, in a deal brokered by IMG.

Directed by Vicky Jenson (Shrek) and written by Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin (Mulan) and Linda Woolverton (The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast), Spellbound follows a young girl who sets out to break the spell that has divided her kingdom in two. The original score for the film hails from Academy Award-winning composer Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pochontas), with lyrics by Glenn Slater (Tangled). Chris Montan serves as executive music producer.

PMI’s Spellbound line will feature craft, activity and play sets, 2D and 3D plush, talking plush, plush backpacks, capsule toys, stationery such as stampers, pencil cases, toppers and erasers, keychains, figural torches with light-up functions, and a branded matchify card game.

Luis Fernández, Head of Consumer Products, Skydance, says: “We’re excited to partner with PMI to expand the enchanting world ofSpellbound beyond the screen and look forward to delivering engaging experiences for the consumer with these products.”

Omer Dekel, VP International Sales, PMI Ltd, adds: “We are so excited to be teaming up with Skydance Animation and can’t wait to roll out the fabulous Spellbound line we are designing. It’s going to be an amazing ride for all of us! This partnership is another major achievement for PMI and a huge addition to our broad range of popular branded stationary, collectibles, toys and school supplies.”

 

Kate Smith Company celebrating bumper first year in business

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Kate Smith Company, which launched its greeting cards and calendar UK business in spring 2021, is celebrating a successful first year in business, having achieved in less than 12 months what many small businesses dream of achieving over the course of several years.

Kate Smith Company stands for positivity and creating joyful moments with happy faces, simple phrases and uplifting tones. Having appointed Lisle Licensing as their exclusive UK agent in 2020, owners Kate and Ryan Smith entrusted MD Francesca and her team to find best-in-class partners for their business, leaving them time to work their creative magic generating content for categories including greetings, stationery, gift and dated products. It was important to re-design the existing Kate Smith Company ranges as UK v USA humour, style, sentiment and even wording in the greetings sector is vastly different.

Lisle appointed Hallmark Cards for greetings cards, Moonpig for print-on-demand and greetings, plus Carousel Calendars for wall calendars and the diaries, all of which launched in 2021. The numbers speak for themselves:

  • In three Quarters of 2021 Moonpig sold more than 166,000 in cards alone, with sales surpassing forecasts by more than 250%
  • Hallmark sold more than 99,000 cards between June and December
  • Carousel Calendars sold more than 30,000 pieces of the three SKU’s they listed. The wall calendar sold 18,000 pieces alone.

Looking ahead to 2022, Kate Smith Company and Lisle Licensing will together focus on expanding the distribution of existing licenses and broaden the seasonal collections, including Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas. Lisle will also turn its attention to expansion of the Kate Smith Company brand into secondary categories and hopes to schedule meetings at upcoming industry trade shows.

Commenting on the success, brand owner Kate Smith says: “We’re so excited about the launch of our brand in the UK with the help of Lisle Licensing. Bringing on three spectacular licensees in the first year has really helped us spread lots of hugs, high fives and LOLs. We look forward to making humans smile every day through our growing UK product offering.”

Kate Smith Company celebrating bumper first year in business

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Kate Smith Company, which launched its greeting cards and calendar UK business in spring 2021, is celebrating a successful first year in business, having achieved in less than 12 months what many small businesses dream of achieving over the course of several years.

Kate Smith Company stands for positivity and creating joyful moments with happy faces, simple phrases and uplifting tones. Having appointed Lisle Licensing as their exclusive UK agent in 2020, owners Kate and Ryan Smith entrusted MD Francesca and her team to find best-in-class partners for their business, leaving them time to work their creative magic generating content for categories including greetings, stationery, gift and dated products. It was important to re-design the existing Kate Smith Company ranges as UK v USA humour, style, sentiment and even wording in the greetings sector is vastly different.

Lisle appointed Hallmark Cards for greetings cards, Moonpig for print-on-demand and greetings, plus Carousel Calendars for wall calendars and the diaries, all of which launched in 2021. The numbers speak for themselves:

  • In three Quarters of 2021 Moonpig sold more than 166,000 in cards alone, with sales surpassing forecasts by more than 250%
  • Hallmark sold more than 99,000 cards between June and December
  • Carousel Calendars sold more than 30,000 pieces of the three SKU’s they listed. The wall calendar sold 18,000 pieces alone.

Looking ahead to 2022, Kate Smith Company and Lisle Licensing will together focus on expanding the distribution of existing licenses and broaden the seasonal collections, including Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas. Lisle will also turn its attention to expansion of the Kate Smith Company brand into secondary categories and hopes to schedule meetings at upcoming industry trade shows.

Commenting on the success, brand owner Kate Smith says: “We’re so excited about the launch of our brand in the UK with the help of Lisle Licensing. Bringing on three spectacular licensees in the first year has really helped us spread lots of hugs, high fives and LOLs. We look forward to making humans smile every day through our growing UK product offering.”

Designer Clare Mackie re-signs with Caspari

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Whimsical, humorous and “jolly” Scottish designer Clare Mackie has signed with Caspari again to expand her range of greeting cards, stationery, tabletop paperware and more.

“We are delighted to be extending our relationship with the lovely Scottish artist Clare Mackie,” says Gaea Rich, Director at Caspari. “Her beautiful range of humorous and engaging art appeals to such a wide audience and we are really looking forward to continuing our enjoyable collaboration.”

Andrew Levy, licensing agent for Clare Mackie Designs, says: “I have known Clare for many years and always loved her work since noticing it in Country Life magazine. It’s hard not to smile when you see her depiction of animals and everyday events.

“Caspari are a fantastic US-based licensee with a global reach so we can spread Clare’s humour worldwide.”

Atlantyca Entertainment partners with NAKAS GROUP for Geronimo Stilton stationery

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Atlantyca Entertainment has signed a licensing agreement with leading Greek Publisher, Hartini Poli Editions of the NAKAS GROUP, to produce an extensive line of gift and stationery products for their globally popular Geronimo Stilton brand.

The deal expands the relationship between the two companies; NAKAS GROUP is Atlantyca’s publishing partner for Geronimo Stilton Comic Books in the country.

Set to be in stores in Greece and Cyprus by spring 2022, the NAKAS products will include pencils, pencil cases, stamps, puzzles, board games, stickers sheets, mugs, keychains, notebooks, calendars, activity kits, stationery sets and much more.

“We strive to always build on our partner relationships,” says Marco Piccinini, Licensing & Agents Manager, Atlantyca Entertainment. “Geronimo Stilton’s young fans love to have stationery products as part of their school and daily routines.  We are so excited to broaden our relationship with NAKAS GROUP, who are the best at what they do with great detail, and look forward to sharing these products with young children, Geronimo Stilton fans old and new, in the forthcoming year.”

“Bringing what we love out into the world is our top priority,” adds Angelina Papadimitriou, Licensing Coordinator of Hartini Poli Editions. “We are happy to add Geronimo Stilton to our gifts and stationery catalogue. Children in Greece love this sharp reporter and his friends and we look forward to share our new products with all of them.”

The London Stationery Show to make its in-person return this October

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The London Stationery Show is preparing to make its return to the country’s capital this year, as the writing and paper products trade show takes up an autumn slot this October 5th to October 6th.

As well as bringing together all the biggest brands in stationery and gifts this autumn, the team are thrilled at the prospect of uniting suppliers and buyers for the first time in over two years.

“We’re very much looking forward to bringing new and existing customers together to do business face-to-face,” said event director, Alex Butler. “It’s been a challenging time for everyone, but as much as we’ve all adapted to a new digital world, the pandemic really has highlighted the importance of experiencing products in person before buying.

“We know our audience has missed those chance findings – stumbling across an amazing product that you didn’t know you were looking for – that only happen at exhibitions. We can’t wait to welcome everyone back to the Business Design Centre this autumn.”

Some of stationery’s best loved brands are returning, including Cross, Cre8 Tapes, Kaweco, Leuchtturm, Sheaffer, Silvine, Stabilo, Staedtler, uni-ball, Pentel, Zebra Pen, Pukka Pads, edding, Montegrappa, Exacompta, Royal Talens, Ultratape, Manuscript Pen, ClaireFontaine, Avery, Hahnemühle, and Snopake.

The show will also welcome a line up of new brands, including Bark & Rock, Goldbuch, Makers Cabinet, Pixie Crew, Artcadia, London Block By Block, Accent Manufacturing and Carioca, among others. 

The London Stationery Show is taking place from October 5th to 6th at the Business Design Centre. Registration is now open via stationeryshow.co.uk.

Phat Kandi makes licensing move for Spain and Portugal with Mondo TV

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The hit character and lifestyle brand, Phat Kandi, is making its way to the Spanish and Portuguese licensing space thanks to a new partnership with the European content specialist and third-party licensing company, Mondo TV.

A diverse brand that champions individuality, Phat Kandi has found success in the fashion market and is now looking to replicate that across a wider licensing arena. Its output already includes t-shirts, leggings and hoodies, each illustrated in the brand’s unusual design style.

Described as a bold statement brand with an edgy, Japanese twist, Phat Kandi suggests that its style lends itself to consumer products in categories such as fashion, personal care, stationery and digital. Mondo TV will look to take the brand into these categories as it works to secure partners across Spain and Portugal.

Created by the fashion designer and digital artist, Mel Williams, Phat Kandi is aimed at all consumers regardless of age, gender or social backgrounds.

Meanwhile, the appointment for the Phat Kandi brand is the latest addition to a growing list of prestigious third-party representations for Mondo, which also includes the international hit brands The Gruffalo and Feisty Pets.

Julia Gutiérrez, licensing manager, Mondo TV for Iberia, said: “We are very excited about this collaboration with Phat Kandi. We needed an iconic and lifestyle brand in our portfolio – and this is just what we were looking for.

“We are confident that the market will respond with the same enthusiasm. We can’t wait to bring Phat Kandi and its amazing creative assets to consumer products in Iberia.”

Mel Williams, creative director at Phat Kandi, added: “We are delighted to have Mondo TV represent Phat Kandi across the Iberia Region. The Mondo team are hands-on, which we’re thrilled about, and very enthusiastic about Phat Kandi – which we love.”

Geronimo Stilton lands children’s notebook success with Italy’s Blasetti

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Geronimo Stilton has landed on a new range of kids’ notebooks courtesy of a new partnership between Atlantyca Entertainment and the Italian paper goods manufacturer, Blasetti. 300,000 units of the new Dinosaur and Dinomania themed notebooks have already been distributed across the region.

The limited edition collection is currently available across 2000 stationery stores throughout Italy.

The colorful animated covers feature pictures taken from a special style guide with the same title, inspired by the adventures of Geronimo Stilton on Meteor Island, the place where dinosaurs never became extinct.

The notebooks are intended for kids personal and school use, as well  as, for games and research when joining their favorite mouse journalist on great adventures.

Derived from an idea by Elisabetta Dami, Geronimo Stilton is the character for whom Atlantyca Entertaiment manages international publishing rights as well as the global animation and licensing rights for the IP.

The Geronimo Stilton book series, published in Italy by Piemme publishers, has become a global hit with over 161 million books sold worldwide and three animated series co-produced with Rai Fiction and distributed in over 130 countries.

Art Ask Agency partners with Moleskine for Frida Kahlo luxury notebook range

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The Barcelona-based licensing firm, Art Ask Agency, has landed yet another partnership for the female icon Frida Kahlo having secured a new deal with Moleskine and the launch of three luxury notebooks.

The collection is designed to inspire fans to seize the creative moment and express themselves in words or drawings. Each colourful notebook in the collection reflects Frida Kahlo’s vibrant artistic approach and introspective nature. It has been billed as ‘a unique and sophisticated Moleskine interpretation, featuring iconic elements and quotes.’

With a fully comprehensive digital and physical marketing campaign, under the title of “Explore your own reality”, this range will create high visibility for the officially licensed products and for Frida Kahlo.

Selected physical stores will present the collection with full in-store installations at iconic retail sites in Milan, Rome, London Regent Street, Paris, LA, San Francisco, New York, Beijing and Shanghai. Fans are also invited to take part in the Frida challenge, to create a self-portrait that represent themselves portraying the true you, entries closing November 28th.

Additionally, there is a full spread editorial on Frida Kahlo in Moleskine’s magazine FOLD, distributed worldwide and online. https://www.foldmagazine.com/frida-kahlo-self-expression-liberation

“This launch is truly one of my dearest dreams come true. Moleskine is the height of quality and heritage when it comes to notebooks and I am the number one stationery freak,” said Maria Strid, owner of Art Ask Agency.

Simona Sbarbaro, Moleskine brand and communication director, added: “Frida Kahlo was truly a legendary woman and her legacy reverberates to this day, as her work and life continue to inspire and touch the lives of so many.

“Moleskine is immensely pleased to join forces with the Frida Kahlo Corporation in a celebration of this truly remarkable artist and woman with a Limited Edition Collection dedicated to her.”

London Stationery Show to work with the show’s founder on new direction and future of the annual event

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The team behind the London Stationery Show, Ocean Media has detailed a new move that will see it collaborate in partnership with the show’s founder himself, Chris Leonard-Morgan to work on the future development of the show.

Leonard-Morgan will work with the event director, Alex Butler as special advisor on the direction that the London Stationery Show goes in from this point. He is recognised as a stationery champion, well known in the industry and a Liveryman and guide at the historic Stationers’ Company in the City of London.

“The team and I are so pleased to be working with Chris,” said Butler. “We’re very much looking forward to what the future holds for London Stationery Show and know that Chris’ experience and knowledge of the market will prove invaluable in driving the show forward.”

For more information on London Stationery Show or to find out how you can get involved visit www.stationeryshow.co.uk or contact the team at stationeryshow@oceanmedia.co.uk.