Total Licensing Winter 2007 - (Page 108)
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LICENSING MAJOR GROWTH FOR Licensing Asia, held at Tokyo Big Sight
Exhibition Center in October, provided visitors with an excellent snapshot
of the Japanese licensing industr y and, over the three day period of the
show, attracted a little under 9000 visitors specifically interested in
than twenty-five designers and creators who are new to the business.
Interestingly, unlike almost anywhere else in the world, licensed brands
in Japan tend towards either preschool or the 20 to 30 year age group and
this trend was very much in evidence throughout the show floor. From Japan
itself, a number of big names were in attendance this year including Fuji
Television, Cosmo Merchandising, Namco Bandai, Sony Creative, Dentsu and
Sega. To h o k u s h i n s h a have a line-up of both overseas and
home-grown properties including Mr Bean which has been very successful in
Japan and is now gearing up for the launch of the new full-length feature
film. In terms of Japanese properties, Garo is a key animated property.
The television series began airing on TV Tokyo a year ago and has now been
sold into the US and Spain. Interestingly, as happens with so many Japanese
properties, Garo is firmly aimed at a young adult audience. The series airs
in Japan at midnight and, according to Tohokushinsha, has attracted a mixed
male and female audience. Reideen, which will launch this Spring is a
remake of a television series that first aired thirty years ago, and
Thunderbirds, which currently has more than 35 licensees, are gearing up
for the 40th anniversary with a planned exhibition. Again, product is
primarily purchased by adults although Tohokushinsha are now aiming to
lower the age range through new product introductions. Tohokushinsha also
have some very successful brands that may appear unusual to readers
outside Japan. One is a character that has come out of a series of
television advertisements for air-conditioning units. The character, which
resembles a drop of water, now enjoys more than twenty licensees covering
product such as mobile accessories and keychains. A further success for
the company has been their promotional program surrounding Hollywood icon
Audrey Hepburn. According to Tohokushinsha, the Japanese are enormous fans
of the iconic actress and the company now has a number of major promotional
deals in place. Cosmo Merchandising have sold product worth more than 150
million Yen based on their Tony the Tiger and Kelloggs archive program.
With Japan in the grip of a retro phase, the company is also relaunching
Monchichi who has been in the marketplace since the early 1970s, together
with Osamu Goods, with characters from the 1970s and Rock Valley Toys
based on brands from the 1940s.. These also form important parts of Cosmo
business, together with a number of Classic Media properties from the US.
OLC Rights Entertainment is a subsidiary of Oriental Land, who operate and
own one of the largest theme parks in Japan. The company have created a
number of original preschool properties including Nepos Napos, a licensing
– quite an achievement when you consider that the other regional show
held in October - Brand Licensing in London - this year saw an increase in
numbers to a reported 3977 visitors. The show attracted over 90 exhibitors
and whilst the majority were either Japanese brand owners or agents,
notable overseas companies took space this year including Oxford
University and clothing brand Plain Lazy from the UK and art licensing
companies Art Impressions, Lifestyle Licensing and Lassen from the United
States. In all, more than ten percent of exhibit space was taken by
non-Japanese exhibitors. In addition to regular exhibitors, the show
featured a Creator’s Gallery, highlighting the work of more 108 Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Total Licensing Winter 2007
Total Licensing Winter 2007
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