New shows, new series, new licensing opportunities in preschool-to-teen markets

Mondo TV, one of the largest European producers and distributors of animated content, will demonstrate its proven success in programming for children at this year’s Brand Licensing Europe, taking place from 11-13 October at Olympia in London. It will also unveil a wide-ranging, original and exciting portfolio of new properties.

Visitors to stand D70 will be able to hear about a rich catalogue of in-house and co-produced properties that provide strong and diverse licensing opportunities for markets ranging from pre-school and young children to tweens and teens, including YooHoo & Friends 3D, Cuby Zoo, Heidi, Bienvenida a Casa, Sissi the Young Empress, The Treasure Island, Adventures in Duckport, Eddie is a Yeti, Bug Rangers, Nori RollerCoaster Boy and Invention Story.

Mondo TV will also be promoting third party properties — notably Yo Soy Franky, a Nickelodeon Latin America live-action production.

Mondo TV has already confirmed a strong broadcast and licensing response to YooHoo & Friends 3D, the brand-new series based on the line of plush toys made by Aurora World. More than 80 million YooHoo & Friends plush toys have been sold since the worldwide launch of the line in 2007, driving enormous interest in the forthcoming animated version.

YooHoo & Friends 3D combines adventure, humour, some very engaging and lovable characters, and a strong environmental theme in a funny and entertaining (52x11’) 3D animated series for 4 7 years old kids everywhere. The first episodes, will reach screens in spring 2017.

With awareness very high already due to the strong presence of the brand in the plush market and discussions under way in the key master toy category, some key product licenses have been already closed as food and personal care and others are close to being finalized in publishing and collectibles, categories. Plush, of course, will be directly managed by Aurora.

Another co–production with Aurora along with EBS and QY, arriving in the autumn of 2017, is the delightful 52x11’-episode comedy-adventure series CubyZoo, an animated TV show for children about cube-shaped animal characters who look like toys but come to life when humans are away — and play a vital but anonymous role in keeping the world in balance. The show debuted on air in March 2016 on EBS of South Korea. Initial licensing opportunities for this property are expected to include a master toy category along with play sets, other toy categories and collectibles.

The first season of Sissi the Young Empress, the adventures of the free-spirited empress who resists etiquette and the duties of the court to follow her heart, was a big success with its target audience of young girls, who loved Sissi’s strong and positive character and identified with her desire to follow her dreams.

The brand-new 26-episode series arriving in spring 2017 will also boost the success of the Sissi licensing campaign. Grandi Giochi, master toy licensee for EMEA, has already produced and distributed a large number of items in its Sissi toy line and is planning for more products for Xmas 2016 as the new “Toddler” doll supported by a massive TV campaign on all the main kids TV channels. Publishing is another important category: colouring books, sticker books, an official magazine, and a Sissi storybook are available or planned. Already at retail are puzzles and board games, easter eggs, epiphany socks, personal care products and a game app “Dress Up Your Sissi”.

But as well as these high quality co-produced or in-house animations, for the first time in the history of Mondo TV, the group is co-producing a live action teen drama through to its subsidiary company Mondo TV Iberoamerica. The 60x45’ series Heidi, Bienvenida a Casa is now in production and ready for 2017. It reinterprets the classic children’s novel, Heidi, written by Johanna Spyri in 1880, adding comedy, humour, and music with some modern twists for a moving and charming story the whole family will love. The series is based on an original idea by the legendary Argentinian writer and producer Marcela Citterio, whose vast portfolio of hits includes a number of international success stories such as Yo Soy Franky, Chica Vampiro and Patito Feo. We rediscover the story we all know about and the universal values that drove the success of Heidi classic — kindness and freedom. The charming and friendly girl who moves from her rural home to the unfamiliar and confusing environment of the big city has now a difference: Heidi’s daily life, friendships and adventures take place in the modern world. There’s no direct reference to modern places or events, however, allowing the series to retain a timeless feel. Instead the show focuses on the characters, their unusual traits — such as their quirky outfits – Heidi’s eccentric hats or Clara’s colourful pyjamas. What will it happen when Heidi discovers she has a great talent for singing? And what will come out in the frantic city life from Heidi’s friendship with Clara, a girl who is afraid to leave the house as she suffers from agoraphobia – her only connection to the world is through social media, but she is an extraordinary musician?

Heidi, Bienvenida a Casa is being positioned as a flagship property by Mondo TV, with major licensing opportunities for 2017 in many areas, from fashion apparel and accessories to publishing and gifts. Mondo TV manages the licensing rights for the world with the exception of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.

The Treasure Island (26x26’) brings together the ever-popular theme of pirates with a new and thrilling reimagining of the story of Robert Louis Stevenson’s young hero Jim Hawkins and his incredible adventures searching for treasure. Mondo TV is expecting a strong licensing showing after this property reaches screens. It arrives in a number of territories in autumn 2016, with further launches planned for spring and autumn of 2017.

A number of arrivals for younger viewers are also imminent. They include Adventures in Duckport (52x11’), targeted at children age 4-8 and featuring many of the characters from the wildly popular Suzy’s Zoo, saving the day or getting into trouble (and sometimes both), in a series of funny, exciting tales.

Now Adventures in Duckport brings these characters to life for TV. The plans are to have the show ready for debuting on air in the autumn of 2017 and, like the design brand, its endearing characters and engaging plotlines are certain to inspire success in numerous licensing and merchandising categories as well as across a wide range of broadcast territories. An Adventures in Duckport licensing and merchandising strategy is now in place. It will be led, not surprisingly, by publishing and toys, but numerous other categories are being discussed.

Many more highly promising titles for the very young are also taking centre stage at D70. They include a delightful animated short-form non-dialogue series called Eddie is a Yeti (52x3’ - ready for April 2017), in which a little girl befriends a very unusual animal and tried to keep him out of trouble. In Bug Rangers, a 52x11’ show available in early 2018 and full of humour and funny stories, a group of insect friends — Squiggz, Cosmo and Flutter — experience the challenges and fun of being bug-sized in a human-sized world. There’s another unusual angle on life’s challenges in the animated family adventure drama from Korea, Nori RollerCoaster Boy (52x11’ autumn 2017), in which a cute little rollercoaster living in Nori Park rollercoaster city has to defend his home from scheming bad guys. All three shows have enormous licensing potential in the pre-school and 4-6-year-old markets across toys, puzzles, publishing, games — and even dress-up!

Another new series — Invention Story — won’t be arriving until 2018, but is already creating a buzz. This major project will see the production of some episodes by 2017

The story takes place outdoors, in a forest full of joy and magic, near a town called Carrot Town. The main character is an intelligent, very thoughtful and creative fox, who, in each episode, comes up with a new invention. By following the little fox in its efforts to build each new invention, our young audience will be encouraged to discover the secrets of science and its principles. This 3D and HD comedy and action series will offer a marvellous combination of fun and learning that is expected to attract strong interest in the two years before it reaches our screens with its enormous potential across both play and learning-related licensed product.

Mondo TV also manages the licensing rights for Yo Soy Franky in Italy where the first season was previewed by the kids’ TV channel Boing in January 2016 gaining amazing ratings. A second season is coming in autumn 2016. Franky looks like an ordinary teenage girl — but she is actually an android. Her mission is to camouflage herself among humans and experience their lives. But she will have to cope with something unexpected: human emotions. Dealing with love, friendship and dislikes, Franky will learn how to manage the complicated world of feelings around her without crashing her system!

Matteo Corradi, Mondo TV CEO, says: “We always come to BLE with a great selection of new and established programmes, but this year’s portfolio is one of our strongest ever. These exciting properties cover a wide variety of themes in both animated and live action form, and will appeal to a wide range of age groups. They are all original, inventive, high quality shows that will also inspire excellent licensing opportunities across many categories.”