Bulldog Licensing brings its big-name brands to Vegas!

Bulldog Licensing, one of the licensing industry’s leading agencies, has announced its plans for the Las Vegas Licensing Expo 2025*.

Bulldog will again be promoting an amazing selection of brands that have enjoyed success across diverse media. They include the classic – and globally known – property Care Bears, the iconic Me to You character brand, the UK’s legendary Beano comic, the fourth generation of the world-conquering BEYBLADE franchise BEYBLADE X, evergreen hit Sesame Street, the much-loved, classic crime-fighting show Totally Spies, the iconic comedy character Mr Bean, and one of the most successful children’s publishing brands of the past 25 years, That’s Not My….

Care Bears continues to show incredible growth decades after first winning hearts as a greeting card phenomenon and inspiring one of the most successful licensing programmes of all time. With a clear, relatable identity and universally appealing messages of kindness and caring, Care Bears has remained a beloved brand across generations.

Today, the brand’s momentum shows no signs of slowing. Care Bears is driving major retail success across multiple categories—from toys, plush, apparel and accessories to homewares and collectibles.

Recent license agreements in food and beverage gifting, home fragrances, calendars, and DIY knitting and crochet kits are expanding its footprint even further, reinforcing Care Bears as one of the UK’s must-have multi-generational brands.

Carte Blanche’s Me To You has been a popular brand since 1995 and Bulldog is taking the extraordinary reach of Me To You and its signature character Tatty Teddy, the cute grey bear with a blue nose, along with the nursery property Tiny Tatty Teddy, to the next level. Tatty Teddy achieves around $200 million in retail sales value each year.

Recent licensing deals include Brand Threads for nightwear, Pawprint Family for patches and pins and Craft Buddy for arts and crafts kits, joining food gifting (from Kimm & Miller), tech accessories (from Ecell Global) and apparel and babywear (Blues, Poetic Brands). This year also saw a sweet-tasting partnership with luxury biscuit maker Molly’s Bakehouse for a special Limited Edition Mother’s Day Tatty Teddy hand iced biscuit.

The phenomenon that began in Japan as BEYBLADE in 1999, a set of battling spinning tops and launchers supported by a TV series, quickly became a massive hit. The toys launched again in 2008 as BEYBLADE: METAL FUSION in 2008 and then as BEYBLADE BURST in 2015. The latest launch – BEYBLADE X – is the fastest Beyblade ever, boasting a customisable three-piece system, die cast metal battle layer, burst function and brand-new gear system.

The toys have, to date, sold well over 500 million toy units globally and inspired hit animated series, tournaments and a massively successful series of licensing campaigns.

This year sees the ongoing BEYBLADE X World Championship events, running from April until October, a continued multi-language Roblox online gaming collaboration, and a new season of the BEYBLADE X TV series. There’s also an extensive and wide-ranging global BEYBLADE X licensing campaign – with a slight difference; it’s not only aimed at a core market of children to teens but, given close to a quarter century of history, also has strong nostalgia appeal to the adult market.

The BEYBLADE X licensing campaign is addressing multiple categories that range from kids’ and adults’ apparel to backpacks, lunchboxes, stationery, party goods, food, confectionery, publishing, collectibles, digital gaming, apps and much more, supported by promotions involving restaurants, stores and many other partners.

Sesame Street is one of the best-known and most beloved children’s brands in the world, engaging fans of all ages while delivering on its mission to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger and kinder.

Continuing to expand Sesame Street is a key focus for Bulldog in the UK. Working on behalf of the global non-profit organisation Sesame Workshop, the agency has announced numerous deals for Sesame Street as it continues to grow its presence at UK retail targeting both the very young and the adult market.

Recent additions to the Sesame Street licensing campaign include Heathside Trading with a wide range of Sesame Street gifts and novelties, including mini figures, 2D keychains, 3D bag clips, drinking bottles, bobblehead figures and die cast figures, and OddBalls, with Sesame Street underwear and pyjamas for both children and adult fans. The brand features on multiple broadcast and streaming platforms and has a strong social media presence.

Beano is a recent addition to the Bulldog portfolio, but in every other sense it boasts extraordinary longevity, making it the world’s longest-running weekly comic, entertaining generations of children for over 86 years. A Beano is sold every eight seconds, and in addition to its healthy magazine and annual circulation, Beano reaches millions of fans and audiences across a range of touchpoints which includes Beano.com, YouTube, FAST TV channels, the Beano app on Amazon Kids+, an animated TV show, and an ever-expanding range of fiction titles and activity books. For every generation, Beano is a gateway into reading for fun, sparking creativity and imagination across all platforms and channels.

Beano’s strong brand recognition, driven by its humour and iconic characters, has boosted a growing licensing list that ranges from publishing (Farshore), apparel (Blues, Spike Leisurewear, Oddballs), and toys and games (Kap Toys) to greeting cards, costume characters and dress-up (Danilo, Hype Cards, Rainbow Productions and Smiffys).

Anniversary celebrations for Beano’s beloved characters also attract huge media attention and are a strong focus of the Bulldog-led campaign. Britain’s greatest superhero, Bananaman, celebrated his 45th anniversary this year, with Beano gearing up for Dennis’s 75th anniversary in 2026, and the brand celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2028.

Beano’s multi-generational appeal has also inspired the creation of a new style guide, bringing the brand into adult markets, which is a strong focus of the Bulldog campaign.

Produced by Banijay Kids & Family label Zodiak Kids & Family France, the animated spy-fi series Totally Spies! originally ran from 2001 for six seasons, hooking a generation of young fans with its iconic aesthetic and powerful female leads. A new, seventh series launched in multiple territories last year across Europe, Latin America and the US, with an eighth season already in production. A young adult live-action television series is also in development, boosting a licensing focus which for Bulldog is targeting a strong adult nostalgia market alongside brand-new fans attracted by the show’s humour, excitement and confident female leads.

Bulldog Licensing has also been appointed by leading children’s entertainment powerhouse Banijay Kids & Family as UK licensing agent for Mr Bean – the iconic comedy character that has been wildly popular for 35 years in both live-action and animated formats, on TV and in films.

Mr Bean tries to solve apparently minor problems presented by everyday tasks and often causes major, and hilarious, disruption in the process. The visual and often non-verbal comedy that drives the character has ensured there have been no language barriers to a success that has brought Mr Bean high awareness and enormous popularity in TV, films and online in over 200 countries.

Imagery from both live and animated formats informs a licensing campaign which targets both kids and adults, with plans for product across multiple categories including (to name only a few) homeware, stationery, t-shirts, toys, collectables, bags and greeting cards.

Published by Usborne, That’s Not My… is the bestselling touchy-feely book series for babies and toddlers and a gifting favourite for new-borns as their first book. Featuring bright pictures, with patches of different textures, the books are designed to develop sensory and language awareness. There is also a little white mouse for children to spot on every page.

The humour, bright colours and distinctive That's Not My… illustrations have inspired a delightful range of babywear/accessories, kidswear, apparel, footwear and luggage from some of the UK’s major names in licensed apparel. Other licensed products currently available include wall stickers, bags and a gift range. That’s Not My… is firmly established as an evergreen property that is a part of the childhood of millions of children and, having now launched at retail in the US, the fan base is growing. Bulldog is targeting a wide range of categories, ranging from toys and apparel to nightwear and games for the US, while continuing to build on the already established UK licensing programme.

Like Beano That’s Not My… has strong experiential potential. In 2024, with the launch of That’s Not My...Farm, children’s activity farms hosted scavenger hunts for families. Meanwhile That’s Not My Shark… inspired a partnership with SEA LIFE centres to distribute activities to families throughout May 2024. In the same month an interactive event at SEA LIFE London Aquarium encouraged families to follow trail guides to locate five touchy-feely characters.

Bulldog Licensing Group MD Rob Corney says: “We’re looking forward enormously to returning to Vegas where we plan to promote our skill in managing diverse properties that today range from book, card and comic publishing hits to major successes in gaming, TV, film and streaming. This is, as ever, a great opportunity to highlight our brand portfolio and success to an international audience.”

*To organise meetings and discuss opportunities during the Las Vegas Licensing Expo 2024, please email Bulldog Licensing Group MD Rob Corney at robc@bulldog-licensing.com