Trans-media entertainment company Atlantyca Entertainment has secured a licensing agreement with Italian confectioner Sorini S.p.A. for the manufacture and distribution of a new line of Geronimo Stilton Kingdom of Fantasy chocolate Easter eggs.

Under the new deal, Sorini will manufacture individual 280 gram chocolate Easter eggs with a surprise inside each egg, and small bags of six-gram chocolate Easter eggs with a surprise inside each bag. Rachele Geraci, Atlantyca’s licensing and agent manager, secured the deal which will result in products being introduced throughout Italy in time for Easter.

“We are pleased to be working with such a well-known company as Sorini on a new line of products that will serve to reinforce the Kingdom of Fantasy property’s position as a fixture among Italian pop culture this Easter,” said Mazzucco.

Licensing@Russia, the new expo that will take place in Moscow on March 14–16, has unveiled the floor and location plan. The event, which incorporates a trade show, conference, seminars, property presentations, and networking events, will run in the same pavilion and in the next-door hall of the Crocus Expo Centre as Toys & Kids Russia. In addition, Licensing@Russia will also run concurrently with the Skrepka Stationery Fair.

According to organizer Goran Krnjak, interest is running extremely high. “Since announcing the move to Russia we have been dealing with constant demands for information from the international licensing community,” Krnjak says.

Licensing@Russia presents an opportunity for anyone looking to become acquainted with the potential offered by the Russian licensing sector. The timing of the event also gives visitors the chance to enhance the value of their visit by attending a number of shows and tapping into the depth of expertise that will be available. For more information, visit www.licensingshowrussia.com or contact Goran Krnjak (goran@creata.hr).

Nickelodeon has restructured its consumer products business to closely align with its core business, with global, cross-platform property plans as the driving force behind the new organizational model. The new structure emphasizes toys and apparel, and retail marketing becomes integral to Nickelodeon’s overall marketing organization.

The strategic business operations, headed by Nickelodeon Group COO Sarah Kirshbaum Levy, will oversee the toys, interactive and consumer electronics, and soft goods, headed by Manuel Torres and Hal Snik. The Nickelodeon digital team—led by Steve Youngwood, executive vice president, digital, Nickelodeon Group—will manage Nick’s U.S. publishing and home entertainment businesses, headed by Paula Allen and Sherice Torres.

Retail marketing, which is overseen by Ron Johnson, will now report to Pam Kaufman, chief marketing officer, Nickelodeon Group. Packaged goods will report to advertising sales partnerships, led by Sharon Cohen, senior vice president of integrated marketing and ad sales, Nickelodeon Group. All international consumer products operations will continue to be led by Michael Connolly and report to Pierluigi Gazzolo, COO of Viacom International Media Networks. Manuel Torres and Paula Allen will have a dual report into Connolly for all international aspects of their businesses. Nickelodeon Creative Resources will continue to lead all creative components, managed by Russell Hicks, executive vice president and executive creative director, Nickelodeon Group.

Sex and the City has inspired a line of signature eau de perfumes created by Givaudan under a licensing agreement  between HBO and JTG Trading Company, which will manufacture and distribute the collection worldwide.  Two new fragrances, “Sex and City” and “Sex and the City by Night,” as well as “Sex and the City” Body Collections sets, will debut in Europe this month.

The new fragrances were developed by three of Givaudan’s perfumers:  Adriana Medina, known for her creations for Gwen Stefani and Ed Hardy; Rodrigo Flores-Roux, who has created scents for Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss and Estée Lauder; and Claude Dir, the fragrance creator behind Bobbi Brown and Tommy Hilfiger colognes.

“The Sex and the City series continues to resonate with women worldwide,” says James Costos, vice president, Global Licensing & Retail at HBO.  “The appeal of the four main characters, who are as unique, complex and trendy as any woman aspires to be, symbolize the show’s eternal allure.  We’re extremely pleased to partner with Givaudan – the global leader in the fragrance industry.  Their elite perfumers have developed fragrances that capture the essence of Sex and the City and JTG Trading Company has the expertise to execute our vision and deliver this collection around the world.”

In our Brand Licensing Europe issue, we talked about the difficulty of breaking into the Russian market. Now Disney has done it.

According to a report in The New York Times by Brooks Barnes, Disney will purchase 49 percent of SevenTV, a broadcast network reaching three-quarters of Russian television households. United TV Holding Russia will remain the majority owner of the channel, which will be rebranded as a Disney Channel and feature classic Disney children’s shows and new programs created in Russia.

This is potentially huge news for a licensing industry that has gained a foothold in western Europe but struggled to find its way against local brands in Russia. The backstory to this deal is probably incredible, and it obviously remains to be seen if this is a harbinger of things to come or whether Disney, with its considerable muscle, managed to place itself far enough ahead of a curve that we won’t see similar deals in the coming years.

Either way, it’ll be interesting.

—Bryan Joiner

Atlantyca Entertainment has signed China’s leading publisher, 21st Century Publishing House, to publish one million Geronimo Stilton books priced for children.

The agreement grants 21st Century Chinese-language rights to The Little Book of Nature, a book about ecology, for distribution to bookstores throughout China. The deal was brokered by Sara Wang, chief representative of Atlantyca’s foreign rights sales division office in Beijing.

The new book was created to attract Chinese children to visit bookstores and learn the principles of respect for nature and the environment from the words of Geronimo Stilton, Italy’s most famous mouse-author. One million Chinese-language books will be distributed throughout China at a value price designed to encourage young readers to experience the joys of reading.

Nickelodeon Consumer Products International signed a new deal with New Jersey-based consumer electronics retailer Sakar Interational to launch internationally a branded consumer electronics line inspired by Nickelodeon’s live-action series Victorious. Announced today by Michael Connolly, head of consumer products, VIMN, at Brand Licensing Europe, the two-year agreement will run until the end of December 2013 and covers all regions including Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America.

The extensive Victorious range will comprise the same products internationally as for the U.S. and will be aimed primarily at girls ages 6-11. Included for retail are digital/video cameras and accessories, portable DVD players, digital keychain photo frames, clock radios, MP3/MP4 players, CD players and boomboxes, karaoke machines and other youth electronics devices. Also on sale will be a range of computer accessories, iPhone and iPod kits, and speaker docs, as well as headphones and video game accessories. Products will now be available across major European markets including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland/Eire, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, Australia, Canada, and Mexico.

The Victorious range will be available in mass-market toy shops and department stores, specialty toy stores, office supply retail outlets, convenience stores, electronics stores, pharmacies, and video game stores.

Chiquita Brands, an international marketer and distributor of fresh food products, appointed Beanstalk as its licensing agency.

Chiquita is the No. 1 consumer-preferred banana brand globally and has more than 90 percent brand awareness in its key European markets. Beanstalk is tasked with developing the strategic licensing program for Chiquita in quality food brand extensions across Europe and the Middle East. Nancy Bailey & Associates manages the Chiquita Licensing Program in the U.S. This is one of the first global assignments resulting from the merger of Nancy Bailey & Associates and Beanstalk in December 2010.

Ciarán Coyle, Beanstalk’s managing director, international, said, “This is an exciting time for the Chiquita brand. Consumers’ fast-paced lifestyles today demand convenience but also quality and freshness. There is an increasing awareness of and focus on natural ingredients and eating for health. There are significant market opportunities now for a brand such as Chiquita, renowned for its commitment to freshness and real fruit taste, to innovate and add value to the food categories with the inclusion of its high-quality fruit.”

Beanstalk will be exhibiting at the Brand Licensing Europe trade show at London Olympia, October 18-20, stand No. D055.

Atlantyca Entertainment announced this week the inauguration of the Geronimo Stilton Scholarship Program, a €10.000 fund created to encourage women to study international business and trade exchange between Italy and China.

The scholarship will be awarded to two women, one from China and one from Italy, who are pursuing Master of International Business degrees. The Chinese student will be invited to attend the Master of International Business (MIB) of Università Cattolica di Milano. The Italian student will be invited to attend Fu Dan University of Shanghai. Both students will be offered a full year of study in international business at these prestigious universities.

The Italian student will be chosen this month, and the Chinese student will be named in March.

“We are eager to encourage more young women to enter the challenging field of international business in an even more challenging market like the Chinese one with a scholarship that will help young women achieve independence in a field typically dominated by men,” said Atlantyca Entertainment CEO Claudia Mazzucco “To invest in this educational endeavor demonstrates our confidence in the Chinese marketplace, a country that continues to offer us enormous success and tangible business opportunities.”

Mazzucco was bestowed with the 2010 Manager Woman Award by Fondazione Italia Cina, in recognition of her continued dedication to creating and implementing a flow of innovative ideas to consistently support the expansion of children’s literacy between China and Italy. Fondazione Italia Cina in partnership with Milano Finanza, bestowed the award at the annual awards ceremony held November 2010 in Milan.

Atlantyca Entertainment maintains an office in Beijing, which opened in 2010, dedicated to business development activities with primary focus in publishing and translation rights internationally. Atlantyca represents some of today’s leading literary properties, including Mondadori’s top properties and works with leading publishers including Qingdao Publishing, Tianjin Chinese World Books, and People’s Literature Publishing House. Translation agreements, for the company in China, surpassed more then 360 in Atlantyca’s first year of establishing the office.

Gil Scott-Heron said that “the revolution will not be televised.” Now we know why. Follow the logic: If television rots your brain, as some people have said, who does that harm the most? You, obviously, but beyond that, I’d have to say zombies. Zombies, like koala bears, sustain themselves on a single food source. Human brains, eucalyptus leaves, what’s the difference? A big one, actually. Televise the revolution, even if it’s a zombie revolution, and it’s just bad eating.

It’s hard out there for a zombie, but it’s not all bad. European retailer C&A will launch an Extreme Zombies apparel line in its 1,400 stores in Europe. Extreme Zombies, aimed at boys 8 and up, boasts a new style guide, and worked with IndieGo Distributions to complete the deal, which was brokered by MGL Licensing.

I, for one, welcome our zombie overlords.

—Bryan Joiner (has a small brain)