Tuesday, February 24, 2026
spot_img
Home Blog Page 260

Compass Intl. Pictures signs on a raft of licensing partners for the release of Halloween

licensing
-
0
Compass Intl. Pictures signs on a raft of licensing partners for the release of Halloween

During Halloween, “everyone is entitled to one good scare,” so says a well-known quote from John Carpenter’s 1978 iconic film Halloween.

 And this Halloween, hundreds of theaters around the world agree by bringing the classic films John Carpenter’s Halloween, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers back to the big screen this October.

To support this theatrical run and continue to provide fans with new ways to connect with the Halloween brand, Compass International Pictures and Trancas International Films has teamed up with Creative Licensing to sign on a number of licensing partners.

These partners include: American Classics for apparel, Creepy Co for enamel pins, key chains, pendants, art prints and apparel, Licensing Essentials for apparel, Moebius Models for a collectible model kit, Park Agencies for apparel, Surreal Entertainment for beverage ware, glassware, 3D desk accessories and fleece blankets, Starbreeze Studios and Behaviour Digital for an in-game map and character add-on to their existing video game Dead by Daylight.

These add-on features were released on October 25 last year exactly 38 years from the theatrical releaseof the original John Carpenter’s Halloween.

In addition, Starbreeze will run a special promotion during the week of October 24th to support its Michael Myers and Laurie Strode characters in the PC game Dead by Daylight.

Mikael Nermark, Starbreeze COO and head of the Publishing division explains, “We and Behaviour were of course very excited to obtain the ‘Halloween’ license as the characters in the film are iconic.

We knew they would be immediately recognizable in the game. So far, the ‘Halloween’ update release has had tremendous success by quickly jumping to the 4th position on the global steam sales chart in a matter of hours.”

Google launches subscription-based music streaming service in India

licensing
-
0
Google launches subscription-based music streaming service in India

Following on the footsteps of Apple, technology giant Google has launched its subscription-based music streaming service in India.

Google’s push with its music service in India comes in view of Apple’s plan to use services as a bait to lure local users ahead of its big expansion in the country. Apple is offering its music services on Android devices giving it a taste of its ecosystem.

The move aims to build loyalty among the subscribers to remain in its ecosystem and take on local rivals like Gaana and Saavn.

Launched on Wednesday, Google Play Music is priced at Rs 89 a month, compared to Rs 120 for Apple Music. Apple, however, has a student plan at Rs 60 a month which looks to engage first-time users.

Google’s move to charge a monthly subscription for customers of Google Play Music also underscores a shift that Indian customers are likely to pay for a service than consume it with advertisements.

“With Google Play Music subscription, Indian subscribers can listen to their favourite music across a variety of languages, including Hindi, English, Tamil and more. This music can be accessed from any device with your Google Account,” said Elias Roman, lead product manager, Google Play Music, in a statement.

“To make the experience deeply personalised, we’ve plugged into Google’s understanding of context and machine learning to recommend the right music at the right moment based on each listener’s preference, place and activity,” he added.

Google, which dominates India’s internet market as most users come online on smartphones that run on its Android platform, is keen to protect its turf.

Its music service is also available on Apple’s iOS platform and on desktop computers, suggesting an ongoing battle between the two technology giants for dominance in the Indian market.

Indian music streaming services Gaana and Saavn have a paid subscription model but they also earn revenue by offering free streaming of music supported with advertisements. Both firms have huge libraries of local music.

Apple has also begun streaming its music on the entertainment platform of cab aggregator Ola and thereby reached out to its over 25 million customers.

 

Xilam appoints Lansay as toy partner for Oggy & the Cockroaches

licensing
-
0
Xilam appoints Lansay as toy partner for Oggy & the Cockroaches

Award-winning French animation production company Xilam has appointed leading toy company Lansay as master toy partner for its flagship brand Oggy & the Cockroaches.

Primarily, the deal will see Lansay producing and distributing traditional plush, electronic plush, a full line of 3D plastic figurines as well as board and card games in France in 2018.

Observed, Marie-Laure Marchand, Senior Vice President of Global Licensing at Xilam, “We’re thrilled to be working with Lansay. They are a leader in children’s licensing and the ideal partner to launch a collection of toys for Oggy & the Cockroaches’ fans. The serial is a well-known and successful brand in France and across many territories globally and we believe this represents a remarkable consumer products opportunity.”

Serge Azoulai CEO of Lansay added, “Lansay is a family company that has passionately been bringing branded and licensed products to the French toy and game market for 45 years.

We are recognised for our creativity and the quality of our products, and we are delighted to be partnering with Xilam on Oggy & the Cockroaches. As master toy partner, we look forward to working with Xilam and Lagardère to drive the success of such an iconic franchise.”

Following the re-launch of the show by Gulli in France, Lansay will release its product at retail stores in the country in the first quarter of next year.

Xilam’s recent deal will see Lagardere Active taking on exclusive broadcasting rights in the country for all seasons across their channels Gulli and Canal J. This includes the upcoming fifth season (78 x 7’), ‘Oggy through the Ages’ which will air on Gulli (the number 1 kids channel among 4-10 year olds during day time in October 2016) in September this year.

Season 5 will see Oggy exploring the great epochs of civilization from prehistory, Greek Mythology and the Renaissance, to the Roaring ’20s and beyond, meeting legendary figures on his quest to destroy those pesky roaches.

The brand is distributed in more than 160 countries around the world and is watched in 600 million homes.

 

With Aurora World around, Tokidoki grows list of licensing activities

licensing
-
0
With Aurora World around, Tokidoki grows list of licensing activities

With the appointment of Aurora World for a new line of plush toys Pop cult property, Tokidoki has started growing its licensing activities.

Tokidoki is the Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand created in 2005 by Italian artist Simone Legno and his business partners Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold.

“Aurora World’s incredible product development and execution made it the ideal choice to create Tokidoki plush characters,” said Tokidoki co-founder and CEO, Pooneh Mohajer.

“We are looking forward to working with them to reach more Tokidoki fans everywhere.”

Under this pact, Aurora World will join abundant of licensees to launch a cohesive Tokidoki plush universe at department and specialty stores in the UK later this year.

The line of plush characters will each have the distinctive Tokidoki look.

Aurora World’s director of national accounts, Martin Ringer added, “We are delighted to be working with Tokidoki. It’s such a vibrant, distinctive brand. The initial interest and commitment from retailers and consumers alike has been amazing, he added.

Tokidoki is a wonderful addition to Aurora World’s ever-growing premium licensed portfolio Ringer said later.

 

Bologna Licensing Trade Fair ends on a high

licensing
-
0
Bologna Licensing Trade Fair ends on a high

The licensing market in Italy continues to grow and the number of companies interested in developing licensed products is increasing therewith.

This was proved by the high attendance at the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair (BLTF), the only fair event in Italy dedicated to the trade in licenses for the use of established brands and characters.

This event, in its tenth edition and organised by BolognaFiere, concluded yesterday at the Bologna Exhibition Centre.

The BLTF 2017 involved the participation of 46 exhibitors, representing 800 brands. The key players from the licensing sector in Italy (such as CPLG, Atlantyca, Rai and Rainbow) were in attendance as were the big international players like Mattel, Warner Bros., Turner, Viacom, Sanrio and Hasbro.

During the event, BolognaFiere announced the creation of a new professional event for commercialisation and trade in publishing rights to be held in New York.

Due to take place from the 30th May to the 1st June in 2018, the event will include a section dedicated to licensing, open to Italian and European specialized companies.

According to the Italian Licensing Industry Survey 2017, carried out by PwC in collaboration with the international Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA) and Licensing Italia, in 2015 royalties relating to the trade in licenses and the development of products based on established brands and intellectual property achieved revenues of 1.2 billion euros.

The sector is experiencing notable growth that has almost doubled the volume of business since 2013 when earnings from royalties were worth 680 million euros. The most dynamic business sector was shown to be fashion, which registered 613.9 million euros in revenues from royalties (52.8% of the total). Other important sectors are cartoon characters with earnings of 178.2 million (15.3%), automotive licensing with 101.2 million (8.7%), clothing with 86.4 million (7.4%) and sport with 56.9 million (4.9%).

“The licensing market continues to grow and for ten years our fair has been able to represent the best of this positive trend,” avered Marco Momoli commercial director Italy of BolognaFiere.

During the BLTF 2017 around 30 events, conferences, presentations and demonstrations took place, organized by the Fair and also by the exhibitors.

 

 

Microsoft Corp. signs patent licensing deal with Toyota Corp.

licensing
-
0
Microsoft Corp. signs patent licensing deal with Toyota Corp.

Microsoft Corp. has signed a new patent licensing agreement with Toyota Corp. that includes broad coverage for connected car technologies. The said agreement would build on Toyota and Microsoft’s strong partnership that includes their collaboration on the Azure-based Toyota Big Data Center.

The patent agreement is another example of the important role intellectual property (IP) plays in ensuring a healthy and vibrant technology ecosystem.

“Microsoft invests $11.4 billion annually in research and development and for more than 30 years has been developing innovative technologies that are powering today’s connected car experiences. When you look across telematics, infotainment, safety and other systems in today’s connected cars, you find Microsoft technologies and innovation,” said Erich Andersen, corporate vice president and chief IP counsel of Microsoft’s Intellectual Property Group.

“Microsoft doesn’t make cars; we are working closely with today’s car companies to help them meet customer demands and we’re pleased to announce the licensing of our patented technology to our partner, Toyota today,” Andersen added.

“This is an exciting time in the industry, and we believe that to create the best, most immersive connected car experiences, automotive makers should partner with technology leaders like Microsoft,” expressed Tokuhisa Nomura, executive general manager of Toyota’s Advanced R&D and Engineering Company.

“Through this patent partnership between Toyota and Microsoft, we will be able to innovate faster to deliver new, contextual and immersive experiences to our customers,” he concluded.

Since Microsoft launched its IP licensing programme in December 2003, it has entered into more than 1,200 licensing agreements.

 

Scentco boosts its Disney licensed products tying up with Car 3

licensing
-
0
Scentco boosts its Disney licensed products tying up with Car 3

With the addition of Disney Pixar’s Car 3, twelve year old Scentco, based in California, is in the process of boosting its Disney licensed products offering.

The range boasts a four pack of coloured smencils, a smencils cylinder and ‘sketch and sniff’ stickers for fans to try out scents which are now all ready to pre-order.

David Allan, sales and marketing director at DKL, said, “Scentco scented stationery did amazing throughout 2016 with record high sales. Launching the Cars 3 license is very exciting as we have already had a huge interest from the trade.”

“We are working on other Disney licences to keep the momentum going,” he added.

Cars 3 scents include blackberry, pineapple, cherry and cola for fans to enjoy.

 

IPL 2017 begins today with a clash between Hyderabad and Bangalore

licensing
-
0
IPL 2017 begins today with a clash between Hyderabad and Bangalore

Finally the day has arrived when the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets underway this evening at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium with defending champion Sunrisers Hyderabad taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in what can be treated as repeat of last year’s final.

It may be recalled that the two had clashed in last year’s final clash in Bengaluru, in which Sunrisers Hyderabad went on to become winners.

Cricket fans, both on the grounds or watching the games on TV, will wait for the now familiar sound of the bugle to play with every hit boundary or sixer or a fall of a wicket with a lot of enthusiasm.

Since it had won the title sponsorship of the IPL for two years in 2015, Vivo Electronics will be the title sponsors of this year’s tournament too. Thus the league will be officially known as the Vivo Indian Premier League.

Now, isn’t this the right time to have a  quick look at the decade-long journey of the much-loved cricket tourney?

The Indian Premier League (IPL), the professional Twenty20 cricket league in India was founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007 in association with Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Every year, the tournament is played during the months of April and May by franchise teams representing Indian cities.

The IPL is the most-attended cricket league in the world and ranks sixth among all sports leagues. So much had the the tournament gained in popularity in three years that in 2010, it became the first sporting event in the world to be broadcast live on YouTube.

In 2015, the brand value of IPL was estimated to be US$ 4.5 billion in 2015 according to American Appraisal, a division of Duff & Phelps. According to the agency, the value of brand IPL jumped to $4.16 billion after the 2016 edition as against $3.54 billion in 2015.

The tournament will be spread over 47 days across 10 venues. The schedule has been designed in such a way that each team plays 14 matches of which seven would be played at home venues.

As per the norm, the final will also be played at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on 21 May.

The season will also witness IPL returning to Indore for the first time since 2011. The venue of the qualifiers and eliminator will be announced at a later date.

Rising Pune Supergiants will take on Mumbai Indians tomorrow  (April 6) in Pune.

This IPL, the players to look out for would be M S Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Ashish Nehra, Ben Stokes, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Matt Henry and Tymal Mills among others.

Finally, coming to the merchandises that each team come out with, KXIP like always will come up with a native flair offering Lassi Da Gilaas, customized mugs and team badges, MI has phrased their merchandise well offering wristbands, pillow cases, hand fans and Malinga hairdos. DD has kept abreast with its range of t-shirts, bags, slides and autographed bats and balls. RCB, being Vijay Mallya’s team will make a splash of their merchandise that includes caps, helmets, hooters and customized t-shirts for kids, men and women. Riding on the stardom of Shah Rukh Khan, KKR will sell defrays slippers, caps and replica jerseys. It also has emphatically expensive golden helmets. Similarly, SRH has a vast range of merchandise as well.

With a lot of merchadises on offer from various teams, we will have to wait and watch for the final outcome as far as the revenue by way of sales of the merchandises on offer is concerned

Our guess is as good as yours.

 

 

 

 

NFL taps IMG to serve as its licensing agent

licensing
-
0
NFL taps IMG to serve as its licensing agent

In its zest to broaden its horizons, the National Football League has asked the International Management Group (IMG) to serve as its exclusive licensing agent across select markets in Europe and Asia.

Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, the NFL will broaden its presence internationally through new product initiatives and more.

IMG will also target a range of distribution channels and price points including local men’s, women’s and children’s apparel, accessories, home décor, fast fashion collaborations and food and beverage.

Akash Jain, vice president, international commercial development, NFL says that they were excited to partner with IMG to grow its brand presence internationally through new product initiatives.

“We look forward to offering fans an expanded consumer products portfolio, further enhancing our relationship with our growing fan base,” he added.

The National Football League is the world’s No. 17 largest licensor with an estimated $3.5 billion in retail sales in 2015.

This year’s report which examines licensed retail sales in 2016 will be made public next week.

“Football is America’s most distinctive and unique sport export,” says Bruno Maglione, president, worldwide licensing, IMG. “Its international appeal is growing rapidly both as a sporting competition as well as at a more visceral level that transcends sport. The fans are already there, and now is the time to expand the breadth and accessibility of the NFL’s consumer product offering. We are proud to be entrusted with that

In its

 

Rajnikanth’s Robot 2.0 is ‘Made in India film’

licensing
-
0
Rajnikanth’s Robot 2.0 is ‘Made in India film’

Mostly, large-scale Bollywood films with lots of VFX or animation to boast of have a lot of foreign elements in them like foreign locales, foreign technical personnel, foreign visual effects (VFX) technology and VFX artists.

But, Rajinikanth’s Robot 2.0 is an entirely Indian film. A big-budget film with a difference, it is shot entirely in India, all technical heads are Indians as is most of the VFX technology used in the film and so also the VFX artists.

Slated to be the most expensive Indian film ever made and poised for an October release in seven languages (including Japanese, Korean and Mandarin), this  Rs 350-crore film will be a truly Make in India themed movie, its makers have said.

Make in India is one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s key policy initiatives that seeks to encourage manufacturing in India.

It is being rumoured that the PM had had a word with Rajinikanth a few months ago when work on Robot had just begun and had suggested that the much-anticipated film can/should promote the Make in India theme.

Raju Mahalingam, COO, Lyca Productions, makers of Robot 2.0 has revealed that the film has been entirely shot in Delhi and Chennai. He further said that though as a group, they were UK-based, but it was decided to shoot everything in India this time.

People keeping track of the film know that the climax of the film was shot at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi while the rest at the EVP film city in Chennai.

The attempt to give a futuristic feel to the movie has resulted in high production costs but the quality of filming will make many Indian cinemas shift to 3D screens. Mostly, films are shot in 2D and then converted to 3D. This movie is shot entirely using 3D techniques. This is being done for the first time in India,” Mahalingam revealed.

Animatronics technology and use of helicams to show action scenes between Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar will be among the visual high points of the movie, Mahalingam added.

At this point, it would be interesting to note that another film of Akshay Kumar, who plays the villain in Robot 2.0, is slated for release this year. This film titled Toilet: Ek Prem Katha has also been inspired by another high-profile scheme announced by the Prime Minister that of Swachh Bharat. The film releases in August

 

1...259260261...297Page 260 of 297

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

Licensing Corner is ‘The First Magazine in India on Brand Licensing & Brand Extension Industry’. We have developed a niche as the only platform dedicated to cover all the latest happenings, news on brand licensing, brand extension, brand partnerships, licensed merchandise, limited editions & capsule collection news!

Contact us: advertise@licensingcorner.com

FOLLOW US

Licensingcorner © All Right Reserved