The home of great brands
29
Jun, 2017
Trio Of New Partners Sign Up For Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

The hit comedy-action animated TV series, Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir from ZAG is continuing to grow in the licensing sector, with representative Bulldog Licensing recently signing three new deals.

New licensees are Imagine8 for both fashion accessories & jewellery and cross-category ranges, and Sakar for youth electronics including mobile and audio accessories. DJ Murphy, meanwhile, will feature Miraculous in their new mixed brand girls’ magazine ‘Mixit’, which is launching soon. The second issue on sale July 20th will feature a Miraculous covermount.

Miraculous has been attracting legions of fans through an action-packed story that centres on Marinette and Adrien – who have been given the ability to transform into superheroes, Ladybug & Cat Noir. As the chosen ones, they must work together to protect Paris from the evil doings of Hawk Moth and his newly transformed “friendly” villains found in each episode. The series is dominating the kids’ TV scene in the UK, where it is the No. 1 show on both Disney Channel and Pop, where it is simulcast.

The new licensees add to a large and growing programme. Other partners include Bandai (master toy), Gosh! Designs at PMS International (stationery, pocket money toys and creative play), Igloo Books (book publishing), Kokomo (dental and gift sets), Roy Lowe (socks), Maad Toys (colour-me bags and purses), Rubies (dress-up), Gemma International (greetings cards and gift packaging), Aykroyds/TDP (nightwear and underwear), Whitehouse Leisure (amusement plush). Dreamtex are also on board a varied range that includes duvet covers, curtains, towels, cushions and more.

“Miraculous is performing incredibly strongly, reflecting its dominant position in the TV ratings,” says Bulldog Licensing MD Rob Corney. “This growth shows no signs of stopping – we’re dealing with lots of interest from many different sectors and will be announcing more deals soon.”

15
Jun, 2017
Bulldog Bags Two New Licensees For Enid Blyton Programme

Bulldog Licensing has announced that two new partners have joined the licensing programme for world famous children’s author Enid Blyton. Gibsons will be producing puzzles and The Lagoon Group is on board for toys and games, including card and board games.

Enid Blyton’s best-known work is The Famous Five series, but her titles also include Malory Towers and The Secret Seven. Her books have delighted successive generations of British children, sold hundreds of millions of copies, and regularly feature in the top ten list of the best-selling authors in the UK. Enid Blyton also has huge international appeal and is the fourth most translated author in history – after Agatha Christie, Jules Verne and William Shakespeare.

Bulldog Licensing is launching The Famous Five programme this year to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the first book, with greetings cards, stationery, and gift products all on the way. In addition, a series of tongue-in-cheek Famous Five books for grown-ups has been a publishing sensation – regularly topping the bestseller charts.

“We’re delighted to have Gibsons and The Lagoon Group on board,” says Bulldog Licensing Director Vicky Hill. “I’m sure they will do an excellent job in tapping into the huge nostalgic appeal of these timeless classics.”

14
Jun, 2017
Bulldog to license The Crystal Maze brand as one of C4’s biggest hits returns

Major relaunch will see 20 new episodes and multi-category licensing campaign

Bulldog Licensing, one of the UK’s leading licensing agencies, has announced its appointment as UK licensing agent for the relaunched version of one of the 1990s’ most popular TV shows: The Crystal Maze. Bulldog is licensing The Crystal Maze on behalf of producers Fizz TV/RDF and brand owners Banijay, one of the world’s largest independent content creation groups for television and multimedia platforms.

The new series will see teams of five intrepid adventurers on an epic gameshow adventure through four fantastical zones: Aztec, Medieval, Industrial and Futuristic. In each zone the team must tackle Physical, Skill, Mystery and Mental challenges in a bid to win crystals. These elusive crystals each give the team five seconds in iconic The Crystal Dome where they hope to collect gold tokens to win prizes.

The new 20 part series has been filmed out of Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol on an impressive 30,000 square foot set, and will air in spring and autumn 2017, and includes 5 celebrity specials for Stand Up to Cancer. The shows will be hosted by the popular comedian, actor, writer and director Richard Ayoade.

The original show appeared in the 1990s and was a hit for the channel. The show is still fondly remembered over 20 years after it left our screens and was twice (in 2006 and 2010) named Greatest UK Game Show of All Time in polls by the popular information resource UKGameshows.com

Now The Crystal Maze has a life beyond the world of TV, most notably with the The Crystal Maze Live Experience in London and Manchester run by Little Lion Entertainment.

The return of The Crystal Maze is hotly anticipated, which is why Bulldog Licensing, which has a strong track record in entertainment licensing, are thrilled to have been appointed to manage the licensing campaign for the Crystal Maze brand. Bulldog has already targeted a number of early categories for the new show including stationery, gift, apparel and publishing, with many others under consideration. The target markets are likely to be teens, tweens and young adults of both sexes, as well as fans of the original show.

“The Crystal Maze still enjoys fantastically high awareness across many age groups,” says Bulldog Group Managing Director, Rob Corney. “It’s now going to gain a whole new audience with this major relaunch, which, we are certain, will put The Crystal Maze where it belongs: among the great TV shows — and brands — of the 21st century”