At Licensing '99 International -- the trade conference where licensed property owners pitch their entertainment, corporate and art brands to promotional partners and licensees -- most exhibitors emphasized their ongoing franchises, and none of the few new properties on display generated much buzz. Many publishers do business, both as exhibitors and as attendees, at the annual show at New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center, held this year June 8-10.
Within the entertainment sector, television series took precedence over films, led by the year's two most talked-about properties, Pokémon and Teletubbies. (Their licensing agents had signed a full quota of licensees well before the show.) The highest-visibility film property was Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, which has more than 50 North American licensees, including Berkley and Warner Books.
Most of the film properties that were exhibited were based on existing franchises, such as Warner Bros.' The Iron Giant, based on the novel by Ted Hughes and due out this summer. From a licensing standpoint, a film helps freshen the ongoing merchandise effort rather than spurring a separate campaign. "If you label it `the movie,' you're off the shelf in a few weeks," cautioned Joanne Loria, senior v-p at Hamilton Projects, the agent for South Park. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, to be released at the end of this month, serves instead to increase consumer awareness of existing products (including Pocket Books titles) and to spur new-product development.
Nickelodeon's Rugrats (published by Simon & Schuster and Landoll) will star in a direct-to-video film this fall and in a theatrical sequel in the autumn of 2000. Promotions and products reflect film themes, but the main goal is to extend the brand. "This is not just about a movie merchandising program," explained Leigh Anne Brodsky, Nickelodeon's senior v-p, consumer products.
Another film property at the show was Universal Studios' The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, scheduled for summer 2000. S&S (one of 48 licensees on board) has signed to do 30 titles over three years; the first four were published last fall. According to Nancy Cushing-Jones, president of publishing rights for Universal Studios, the next wave of titles will coincide with and tie in to the film, followed by more books based on the classic cartoon.
Corporate Brands Booming
Nearly 30% of the properties exhibited at the show originated in the corporate trademark sector, with licensers and agents displaying brands ranging from Good Humor to Green Giant. The growth in corporate licensing, which has been one of the fastest-rising segments of the business over the last three years, g s hand-in-hand with licensees' desire for long-term, stable properties.
In many cases, it isn't easy for publishers to tie into this trend, however. "That's a difficult journey," reflected Carole Francesca, president of Broad Street Licensing Group. She noted that most corporate marks and characters are perceived as too commercial for children's books, even if they lend themselves to a story line. Loria of Hamilton Projects added that there are also content issues: "A car's a car. You can go into any bookstore and see books about cars. There's nothing unique and proprietary enough to create a book."
There are exceptions, however. M&Ms and Cheerios are both featured in counting books, while several toy brands, including PlaySkool, are the basis of juvenile imprints. Hamilton Projects represents Jumpstart, the top-selling children's educational CD-ROM brand, and has granted two licenses so far, including one to Scholastic for workbooks and early readers.
A number of publishers are also licensing their own brands to outside manufacturers. Scholastic Entertainment, for example, recently launched its first brand-licensing effort. "We felt it was a good time for Scholastic to look at the possibility of extending our name," said Leslye Schaefer, senior v-p of marketing and consumer products. Probable merchandise includes school supplies, arts and crafts and early-learning toys; Scholastic-branded school uniforms will be introduced this summer.
Marc Mikulich, v-p licensing and international development at IDG Books, was seeking nonbook opportunities for IDG's Dummies and Cliff's Notes brands, citing a Wine for Dummies tasting kit or a Barbecue for Dummies grilling kit as possibilities, along with business productivity items.
Berlitz was searching for properties to license (such as entertainment characters to incorporate into children's language-learning titles) as well as potential licensees for the Berlitz brand, especially in travel- or language-related categories.
Nickelodeon plans to use brand marketing to drive sales of licensed books this summer. It will ship Nickelodeon-branded four-sided point-of-sale displays that bring together all S&S and Pocket Books titles based on Nickelodeon's animated and live-action series. "It's a brand-blocking strategy," explained Brodsky.
Authors Amenable
One notable trend at the show was a proliferation of nonjuvenile books and authors available for licensing. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen's Chicken Soup for the Soul was introduced by SloaneVision Licensing at last year's convention and now boasts 20 licensees for products for adults, teens and children.
IMG Licensing launched an effort focusing on Dr. Benjamin Spock's Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care. The agency plans to authorize merchandise including car seats, strollers, apparel, diapers and diaper bags, organic baby foods, cribs and playpens, health supplements and toys.
Barbara Smith, the restaurateur whose first book, from Workman, B. Smith's Entertaining and Cooking for Friends, is in its third printing, was highlighted by Hearst Entertainment, which syndicates her television series, B. Smith with Style. More book titles are being released this year by Random House. Licensing focuses on products for the home; textiles, tabletop items and wall coverings are signed so far.
Deepak Chopra, represented by the Beanstalk Group, will be licensed for herbal supplements, aromatherapy, calendars, journal books, home-related items and music.
Books into Entertainment
Reinforcing one of the most notable trends in licensing over the last two years, several children's and adult book properties are being developed for TV series and/or films. U.K.-based Alltime Entertainment has created an animated television series based on Watership Down. Random House is launching an original publishing program in the U.K. based on the new series and has Australian rights; Alltime was looking for a U.S. publisher at the show, Simon Vaughan, managing director, told PW.
Another U.K. book/TV property introduced for U.S. licensing was The Worst Witch, represented by Global Icons. The live-action series is the number-one children's show in the U.K. and will air on HBO starting in July. Viking Children's Books has held rights to the books in this country for six years but has not exploited them, according to author Jill Murphy. Viking will import the first two of the four 20-year-old classics from its U.K. sister company, with tie-in covers, this summer.
Nelvana Entertainment exhibited the preschool series George & Martha, based on eight books by James Marshall, which was launched on HBO Kids in spring 1999. Products to be introduced in 2000 will include plush, videos and toys as well as books from Houghton Mifflin. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves on merchandising and spoil the property," said Sid Kaufman, Nelvana's executive v-p, worldwide merchandising.
Among the other book-based television shows exhibited at Licensing '99 were Simsala Grimm, an animated retelling of the Grimm fairy tales marketed by German producer Greenlight Media AG, and Microscopic Milton, based on the British book by Tony Garth about the smallest man in the world, which is broadcast on the Disney Channel in the U.S. and licensed by U.K. company Splash!
Upcoming films based on children's books include Sony's Jumanji II and Universal's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, both for the 2000 holiday season, and Eloise, for which S&S granted film development rights to itsy bitsy Entertainment.
For adults, Viacom has signed a number of licensees for collectible products based on Tim Burton's film The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, set for a fall '99 release. Sony is licensing Steven Spielberg's film Memoirs of a Geisha, due at the end of 2000, to be tied to Asian-themed beauty, fashion and home furnishings products.
Other publishing-related exhibitors included Harcourt Brace, which was looking for film deals for storybooks and merchandise agreements for picture books; Golden Books' entertainment division; C&T Publishing, which licenses photos from its quilting books; Copyrights America, which represents British literary properties including Maisy, Paddington Bear and Beatrix Potter; Chronicle Books through its agent Portofino; Marc Brown Studios; The Beginner's Bible; Pearson Education, with its ESL character GoGo; and Jamsa Press, with its Happy & Max book/CD-ROM titles.
