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Welcome to the New LicensingBook.com

You may notice something different around here.

We’ve updated our website to a new, modern, easy-to-follow design. We’ll still have the great feature coverage we’ve always had on licensingbook.com, but now we’ll have a streaming list of deals in the middle column—much easier for you to see what’s going on in the business on a day-to-day basis. In addition, we’ll have longer, more in-depth feature stories for our main column, and our Twitter streaming to the upper-right hand side of the page.

If you don’t get The Licensing Book, subscribing is now easier than ever. Just click the link at the top right of the page to send us an email. You can follow the other link to see our latest issue online—in this case our Fall 2011 issue, covering Rock & Roll licensing and Brand Licensing Europe.

We’d love to hear from you about the redesign, so drop us a line at bjoiner@licensingbook.com, and happy reading!

—Bryan Joiner
Editor in Chief, The Licensing Book, LicensingBook.com

TLB Digital Issue Now Available!

The Licensing Book’s October 2011 issue, featuring Brand Licensing Europe and a tribute to rock & roll, is now online. The issue covers international brands including Zinkia, Atlantyca Entertainment, and Saban Brands.

Feature: Our annual look at London’s licensing show, with 40 pages covering the biggest companies and properties, and what they’re planning on the world stage.

Feature: Power Rangers Samurai is exploding across the globe, and Saban Brands is expanding at superhero speed. We talk to Kirk Bloomgarden about the fearsome fivesome, as well as Paul Frank’s expansion into China.

Tribute to Rock & Roll: Music touches people in a way nothing else can, and music licensors try to capture that feeling with products that stir the imagination. We’ve got them covered with articles on Fender, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Vandor, Rolling Stone, and The Wildflower Group.

Five Questions with Mind Candy: Darran Garnham, head of global licensing, talks about the growth of Moshi Monsters.

Silver Screen Giants: Sony’s Smurfs and Spider-Man are giants on store shelves and silver screens. We look at Sony’s licensing program for its upcoming blockbusters and children’s films.

Geronimo! Atlantyca Speeds Ahead: Atlantyca Entertainment talks about plans for its properties, including Geronimo Stilton.

ITV Boosts Brands with Licensing: ITV Studios lays out its merchandising deals for Alan Titchmarsh and more.

Pocoyo, Grab Your Passport: Zinkia is shopping Pocoyo to Russia and Turkey.

A Room With A View

The Licensing Book has moved up in the world. We’ve exchanged our third-floor hideaway on Fifth Avenue for a 16th floor workspace on Seventh Avenue. Goodbye Korean food and Museum of Sex; hello F.I.T. and Penn Station.

We’ll keep licensing updates coming over the next few days, but they may be a bit slower than normal because we’re looking longingly out the window at the pretty clouds. The view here is toward the Hudson River, Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, to California, the Pacific Ocean, and beyond.

For your records, our new mailing address is:

The Licensing Book
307 Seventh Avenue, Room 1601
NY, NY 10001

Happy New Year from The Licensing Book!

From our team to yours, have a happy and healthy 2011!

Happy Tuesday from The Licensing Book

Happy four-day work week to you all!

We at The Licensing Book are in a very good mood today! Why, you ask?

1. Our biggest issue of the year is all done, and will be ready in time for you amazing people to get your hands on it at Licensing Show in Vegas next week!

2. The entire Licensing Book team is going to see Conan O’Brien tonight at Radio City Music Hall.

3. I finally remembered to charge my iPod.

4. A second trailer for the super-amazing Scott Pilgrim v.s. the World has debuted, reconfirming the belief of the TLB staff that this movie is going to be freakin’ awesome! (The film will be in theaters August 13). Watch the new trailer here:

TLB is Heading to Vegas!

Whew!

We just finished sending the April/May issue to the printer. It should be in your hands, faithful fans, in about two weeks, and up online sooner than that! Be sure to check it out for our Tribute to TV, Pet Licensing, and other great stories. Also check out our swanky new layout and design elements courtesy of the brilliant guidance of Toy Book Editor in Chief Jackie Breyer!

We’re now thinking about the Licensing Show issue—we’ll be in Vegas before you know it. Please send all awesome Licensing Show-related news, press releases, and artwork to Bryan Joiner at bjoiner@licensingbook.com or Jennifer Sinclair at jsinclair@licensingbook.com, or both of us, by May 3. We can’t wait to read them!

See you in Vegas, baby!

The Next Issue of TLB Is Coming Together

Happy damp Tuesday, out there.

We’re plugging along on our March/April issue, which includes a pet licensing feature, our annual Tribute to Television section, a celebration of Dora the Explorer’s 10th anniversary, a spotlight on an exciting new import, a story about the new DreamWorks movie that brought Vikings into Times Square, and lots more!

If you have any news about any of the things we’re covering, or anything you think we should be covering, let us know! We’ve got lots of ways to get the news out now…facebook, twitter, the blog, the print issues, the online issues (carrier pigeon, smoke signals, Morse code, etc.). But we still need you! So speak up, out there in licensing land!

Hello? Anybody home?

First Call: Licensing Show Submissions

Licensing Show is started to crest on the horizon — it will take place from June 8-10 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Vegas. That means a few things: meetings, sunshine, old friends, and… The Licensing Book’s biggest issue of the year.

So we’re going to start calling for submissions now, even if we have a whole ‘nuther issue between now and then. Please send new deal/product announcements with hi-res (300 dpi) images to bjoiner@gmail.com by May 3rd. Embargoed material may be sent; our issue will be released at the show, and no information therein will be released beforehand in print or online.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

TLB January/February Now Online!

The January/February issue of The Licensing Book is now online! In this issue, you’ll find:

• A feature on Nickelodeon at 30

• The hottest toys at Toy Fair

• The biggest news from around the industry

• A look at YMI Jeanswear

• Other features including People on the Move, Of Counsel with James Kipling, and a how-to-choose-a-property guide from brand development advisor David Niggli

We hope you like it. Check it out!

Let The Licensing Book Tweet Your News on the Toy Fair Show Floor

The Licensing Book’s booth, #1601, is THE place to be this Toy Fair! If you want to reach the industry, and consumers too, be sure to drop by with your licensing news so we can “tweet” your news to our followers (industry, mommy bloggers, consumers, and anyone who likes licensed toys) and to everyone at the Fair! Simply drop by with your news and we’ll get the word out for you! If you can whittle your news down to 140 characters or less we can blast it to the masses! Be sure to follow @LicensingBook so you can follow our newsfeed! Even if you’re not currently on Twitter and have no idea how to “tweet,” just show up and we’ll take care of getting your message out!

Latest Deals

  • Beanstalk Promotes Allison Ames to President, North America

    Beanstalk has appointed Allison Ames as president, North America. In her new role, Ames will oversee Beanstalk’s operations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and South America. She will continue to report directly to Michael Stone, CEO. Effective immediately, Ames will assume full responsibility for all clients operating in the North [...]

  • Activision Hires Licensing Executives

    Entertainment licensing veteran Ashley Maidy has joined Activision to head the newly formed licensing division. Maidy has more than 16 years of experience, building licensing and merchandising programs for Sony Pictures and Saban Entertainment. In her new role, Maidy will extend Activision’s properties into complementary product categories, as well as [...]

  • Licensed Toys Dollar Sales Rose 2 Percent in 2011

    U.S. retail sales of toys generated $21.18 billion in 2011, a decline of 2 percent compared to 2010 numbers, which totaled $21.68 billion, according to market research company The NPD Group. While the average retail price for a licensed toy was 57 percent higher than that for non-licensed toys, licensed [...]

  • Paul Southern Named Head of Lucas Licensing

    Howard Roffman is passing the baton to Paul Southern as head of Lucas Licensing. Roffman will remain with the company as a senior advisor. Both Roffman and Southern will report to Micheline Chau, Lucasfilm president and COO.  

  • Lionsgate Acquires Summit Entertainment for $412.5 Million

    Lionsgate has completed a transaction to acquire Summit Entertainment for a combination of cash and stock valued at $412.5 million. The transaction unites two studios with powerful brands and complementary assets. By acquiring Summit, Lionsgate enhances its feature film and home entertainment offerings, and further broadens its 13,000-title filmed entertainment [...]

  • Schylling Teams Up with Pretty Ugly

    Schylling and Pretty Ugly released a new Uglydoll Rocket Ride Wind Up Toy that has a lever mechanism instead of a key, stands eight inches tall, and is suitable for ages 3 and up. They also released new youth umbrellas in three styles, Ice-bat, Ox, and Uglydoll Rainy Day, suitable [...]

  • WME Signs Cosmetics Deal for Patti Stanger

    WME Licensing’s client Patti Stanger, an American matchmaker and television producer with her own Bravo TV show, The Millionaire Matchmaker, and the founder and CEO of Millionaire’s Club International, Inc., has signed a license with Hyper Interactive to create a full line of PS I Love You Cosmetics. The initial [...]

  • Jazwares to Manufacture Fruit Ninja Products

    Jazwares is slicing into the mobile app category after being awarded the master toy license for Halfbrick’s popular app, Fruit Ninja. Inspired by Fruit Ninja’s fruit-slicing, action-packed adventures, Jazwares’ new range will include fruit figures and plush, featuring “splat” sound effects, slicing features, ninja blades, and branded bandanas, as well [...]

  • So So Happy License Granted to Commonwealth Toys

    Art Impressions has licensed Commonwealth Toys to produce a line of So So Happy plush toys, beanies, plush backpacks, and related products featuring the brand’s quirky cast of friendly monsters, robots, and other oddball characters. The companies’ first collaborative series will roll out nationwide in May at specialty chains, boutiques, [...]

  • Robin Zingone Appoints The Name Game

    Robin Zingone has named Holly Rawlinson, president and owner of The Name Game, LLC, as the exclusive licensing agent to launch and coordinate a global licensing program for robin zingone brands. The agreement includes the robinzingone signature brand for women, along with tween character brand Cocomimilulu, the kawaii brand loveMe [...]

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