Here’s a roundup of additional news that has come out of Licensing Show today. Keep up with announcements through our Twitter feed, @LicensingBook.

Ink Makes Its Mark at the Homey Awards

Brand licensing specialist Ink, formerly Kidz Entertainment/EEMC, is celebrating a triumph at the prestigious Homey Awards. The Homeys are special awards given annually by Fox Consumer Products to its partners for outstanding achievement. Ink, the leading brand licensing agency for the Nordics and Eastern Europe, has for the first time won the Fox Agent of the Year award. In recent years Ink has successfully launched licensing campaigns for such Fox classics as the wildly popular Ice Age and The Simpsons, along with mega-hit Avatar, into markets as diverse as Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Fox Consumer Products has been rewarding its partners around the world with the Homey Award for outstanding achievements in movie promotion for more than 12 years. The award is given in three partner categories: retail, licensing, and advertising.

FremantleMedia Enterprises and Condé Nast Join Forces to Extend Brand Platforms

FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) and Condé Nast today announced a partnership that grants FME North America licensing rights to well-known lifestyle brands Self, Golf Digest, and Epicurious. FME plans to explore opportunities to extend the established magazine and Internet brands into consumer products, and potentially to additional platforms including television.

Warner Bros. Consumer Products Enlists Alter Ego Designer for Jewelry Line

Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) announced Wednesday a partnership with Alter Ego designer Erika Walton for an affordable collection of women’s high-end jewelry featuring characters from Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, and the DC Comics Super Heroes. The jewelry is designed using both vintage and new toy products to create this new whimsical line of accessories featuring the Warner Bros. characters. The Looney Tunes and DC Comics collections, which include necklaces and bracelets, are available now on the Alter Ego website and at high-end boutiques across the nation.

Paul Frank Collaborates with Robert August on Limited Edition Surfboards

Saban Brands announced today that Paul Frank, the iconic lifestyle brand, and Robert August, the legendary surfer and shaper, have partnered to create 30 limited edition surfboards. These two companies were able to take the best attributes of their industries and combine them to create something design-driven and collectible. Paul Frank’s character prints are applied graphically to Robert August’s surfboard shapes.

These limited edition surfboards cannot be bought. They will be made exclusively available for charitable fundraisers, silent auctions, and a summer promotion contest hosted by Paul Frank. Fans who visit any of the Paul Frank stores in the U.S.—including locations in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and South Coast Plaza—can enter to win one of the unique surfboards. Online promotion will also happen on PaulFrank.com and the official Paul Frank Facebook page. The limited edition surfboards feature Julius and Skurvy scatter prints in various colors finished off with a co-branded lament. These 6-foot-6-inch surfboards are designed for surfers of all skill levels.

Saban Brands announced Tuesday the start of preproduction on a Christmas special featuring Julius and other beloved characters from the Paul Frank brand. This prime-time event in the spirit of The Simpsons and with the heart of Modern Family is designed to enhance family entertainment and fun for viewers of all ages when it makes its debut in December 2012.

Saban Brands has brought on a successful team of producers to bring this project to life, including Mike Reiss, the Emmy-winning producer of The Simpsons and writer of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and the upcoming Ice Age: Continental Drift, as well as the Emmy-nominated producing team Erik Wiese and Cynthia True. Wiese was a writer/director for the pop culture phenomenon SpongeBob SquarePants, and they both served as co-creators and executive producers of Amy Poehler’s hit show The Mighty B! on Nickelodeon.

Saban Brands and Paul Frank will also produce new flash-based shorts that tap into pop culture in real-time, offering hilarious takes on current events. Additionally, Saban Brands plans to produce several perennial specials for 2013, including Easter and Halloween.

CafePress, specializing in custom printed merchandise; SIGG, a manufacturer of reusable beverage bottles; and Paul Frank Industries have partnered for a line of environmentally friendly water bottles featuring an array of Julius the Monkey designs. Consumers can select from the categories green, fashion, music, and holiday.

Julius and his friends are traveling to Mexico. Paul Frank Industries announced today a licensing partnership with Fashion Depot, a division of Intermoda Fashion Group in Mexico and Latin America. Fashion Depot will debut the Paul Frank collection for infants, toddlers, boys, and girls at department stores in August. Fashion Depot will debut its collection for juniors and young men next year.
Paul Frank images will be captured on tees, polo shirts, tank tops, sweaters, pullovers, skirts, shorts, jackets, shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, hoodies, leggings, coordinates, overalls, Bermudas, jeans, rompers, dresses, coats, jumpsuits, pants, onesies, swimwear, pajamas, and underwear.

Paul Frank Industries’ international expansion is bringing the iconic American brand to Latin American countries including Brazil, Chile, Panama, and Venezuela.

Animals worldwide will be able to sit, stay and play while wearing the latest fashions from Paul Frank. Paul Frank Industries has partnered with 26 Bars & a Band, a modern pet accessory company, to manufacture a line of products inspired by Paul Frank’s signature design tradition.

The line includes accessories such as beds, charms, collars, and leashes. The products will be available for purchase at Paul Frank Retail Stores and boutiques that carry 26 Bars & a Band items in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. The debut collection will hit stores this month. To celebrate the launch of the line, Paul Frank and 26 Bars & a Band will host a launch party in Los Angeles on June 27.

Global licensing agency Gator Group and fashion brand Paul Frank Industries today announced that, after a successful transition from manufacturing into licensing, the companies have ended their worldwide agency representation agreement.

In 2007, Paul Frank and Gator Group began discussions to transition the brand’s manufacturing and direct sales operations to a fully licensed business model. After more than two years of partnership and the successful positioning of the brand throughout the world, it made sense for both parties that Paul Frank Industries take back the responsibility for leading the company’s operations, licensee, and retail management.

“Gator Group has provided Paul Frank with a solid foundation of great partnerships, setting us on a positive trajectory that will ensure that our brand will continue to flourish and maintain its value for decades to come. We are grateful for their contribution and wish them the best with their rapidly growing business,” says  Mossimo Giannulli, Co-Owner of Paul Frank Industries.

Through the representation agreement, Gator Group established an innovative and non-traditional approach to licensing art-based properties in partnership with Paul Frank. Rapidly establishing the company as a leading fashion/lifestyle brand with sales in over 52 countries worldwide, Gator Group secured and managed nearly 80 licensing arrangements for Paul Frank in over 25 product categories—including 38 Paul Frank retail stores—in just over two years.

“Our partnership with Paul Frank has marked an important chapter in our evolution as an agency. When we began this program, we saw great potential in Paul Frank’s unique sense of humor, colorful artwork, and iconic characters for a broad range of product categories in multiple distribution channels. I am proud of the quality of work and marketplace results we have achieved for Paul Frank and our wonderful licensee partners throughout the world and wish them all of the best in their future plans,”  says Geoff Rosenhain, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gator Group.

Do you love chocolate? Do you love cute little cartoon monkeys? Who doesn’t?

Paul Frank Industries has partnered with Nestlé to introduce the limited-edition Paul Frank Nestlé Crunch bar. The collaboration marks Paul Frank’s debut in the confections retail environment.

Under the agreement, a Nestlé Crunch bar will be tucked inside a colorful gift envelope that doubles as a holiday card. The unique packaging features holiday artwork and the characters from the Paul Frank collection, including Julius the Monkey and Worry Bear.  The piece is finished with a special note where a heartfelt message can be written.

The Paul Frank Nestlé Crunch bar will be available exclusively at select retailers, including Paul Frank stores, beginning November 2010.

Paul Frank Industries has announced a partnership with 26 Bars and a Band. The company will manufacture a line of Paul Frank-branded pet products including beds, bowls, charms, collars, dog tags, harnesses, and traditional and retractable leashes. The products will be available for purchase at Paul Frank retail stores and boutiques that carry 26 Bars & a Band items in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

“The style of both companies is similar, and more importantly, the business values and ideals are similar,” says Sandi Kaneko, Co-Founder for 26 Bars & a Band. “We share the same influences in art and design. Moreover, both businesses started the same way… small and out of their garages.”
“Paul Frank has always had a soft spot for animals and fashion. Being a dog owner myself, I am constantly looking for hip pieces for my dog that reflect my own fashion sense.” adds Ryan Heuser, president of Paul Frank Industries.
Paul Frank Industries continues to cultivate licensee relationships as a result of its strategic partnership with licensing agency Gator Group.