The Adventures of Paddington coming to MENA

Paddington, the lovable bear who stole the show at the recent star-studded Platinum Jubilee concert in London, is coming to MENA, thanks to family entertainment media company Spacetoon.

In collaboration with STUDIOCANAL, Spacetoon will broadcast season 1 of 3D animation series The Adventures of Paddington on its Spacetoon TV Channel and Spacetoon GO online streaming service, in September this year. The series will be available with Arabic dubbing.

STUDIOCANAL’s Beatriz Campos, SVP Global Sales and Production, Financing, says: “We are delighted that Paddington, the world’s favourite bear, will be travelling to the Middle East to embark on exciting overseas adventures thanks to our friends at Spacetoon. He is adored by millions, both young and adult audiences, and we are sure his kind, optimistic and easy-going stories will charm all viewers throughout the region.”

 

‘The Adventures of Paddington’ scores a host of Italian licensing deals

The Adventures of Paddington has secured its first Italian deals since launching on kids’ TV channel Rai YoYo earlier this year, helping Paddington firmly establish his presence in the Italian market. The deals were secured through The Copyrights Group’s agent in Italy, Rai Com, the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of Rai.

Edizioni Play Press will be publishing a range of magazines across a variety of formats, to be available in kiosk channels early next year.

Puzzles and games will be launching in Italy with Clementoni, in a deal that spans multiple territories across Europe from Q1 2022.

Rai Com has also renewed the agreement with Hopplà for character costume events in the Italian market. Paddington and Hopplà have had several years of successful partnership, with Paddington hosting English language workshops alongside meet and greet events and rides on Paddington’s train.

These partnerships follow the successful launch of the series on Rai YoYo, where The Adventures of Paddington airs three times daily, with audience peaks exceeding 200,000.

UNICEF will also be launching Paddington’s Postcards in Italy this October. Paddington’s Postcards offers children and families the chance to learn about other children around the world with Paddington, whilst also contributing to raising life-saving funds for UNICEF. Paddington’s Postcards is already available in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and Italy will be the first non-English-speaking country in which UNICEF will pilot the successful initiative.

The Copyrights Group is a full-service international IP development agency offering strategic worldwide brand development, licensing and retail expertise. Vivendi is The Copyrights Group’s parent organisation, which operates in Italy and around the world.

Rainbow Designs unveils innovative new pre-school toy line for The Adventures of Paddington

Rainbow Designs has lifted the lid on its new range of pre-school toys based on the new The Adventures of Paddington TV series. The innovative toy range has been developed by Phat Mojo and distributed in the UK by Rainbow Designs.

The new collection has been designed to engage a new generation of fans who are discovering Paddington for the first time through the new TV series.

Arriving this October, the highly-anticipated Adventures of Paddington preschool toy range will feature a soft and cuddly Deluxe Paddington Plush, standing at 33cm tall and wearing his famous red hat and duffle coat with real toggles, that can be removed for extra play value. The range will also feature fun and collectable 22cm soft toys of Paddington wearing his famous coat and hat and Paddington in his pyjamas, as well as Paddington figurines with movable arms, in outfits from the series and a super fun Double Decker Play Bus Set.

The successful The Adventures of Paddington television series is already proving a success with pre-schoolers, scooping Nick Jr’s number 1 show in the afternoon at launch and is still the number three show overall on the channel with 1.6 million viewers from March to June.

From October the popular series will also be aired on the free to view, Milkshake channel.

Zara Grindrod, sales director at Rainbow Designs, said: “Paddington is a wholesome, kind, adventurous and fun-loving character and his endearing adventures that he embarks on each episode very much appeals to that three to six age range.

“The new Adventures of Paddington toy range is all about inspiring preschoolers, igniting their imagination and encouraging learning through play by re-enacting Paddington’s adventures as well as creating their own escapades with Paddington.”

Rachel Clarke, SVP UK, licensing and retail at The Copyrights Group, added: “Paddington TV is a great new adventure for the Paddington brand and we are delighted Rainbow are bringing in the fabulous toy range from Phat Mojo to the UK market. We are excited to see this range launch along with the other innovative Adventures of Paddington ranges and categories launching from our partners.”