m4e AG appoints Simba Dickie Group as Master Toy Partner for new TV Series Wissper m4e - January 2015

 
The German brand management and media company m4e AG has signed a comprehensive master toy contract with Simba Dickie Group, one of the leading toy manufacturers in Europe, for the new CGI series „Wissper“. The agreement covers the territories Europe, CIS, Middle East and North Africa. Simba Dickie Group will develop, manufacture and distribute a wide range of toy products, including plush, figures, dolls, playsets, puzzles and board games.

Uwe Weiler, COO of the Simba Dickie Group: „We are very pleased to further expand our successful cooperation with m4e AG internationally and long-term.” Werner Lenzner, responsible for license properties within the company group, qualifies ”Wissper” as a highly attractive new property that “combines adventure, humor and emotion and with its charming characters is ideally suited to develop toys.”

„We are proud that the fantastic relationship and experience we made in the past, results in a broader collaboration with our longtime partner Simba Dickie Group. With all the toy possibilities that “Wissper” offers, we couldn’t team up with a better partner for developing the toy line for this girl’s brand.” says Hans-Ulrich Stoef, CEO of m4e AG.

Bernd Conrad, Head of Licensing at m4e AG adds: “The expertise and creativity of Simba Dickie Group will contribute to making “Wissper” an international success story. Now we can start developing a state-of-the-art toy range hand in hand with the production of the TV series – the creative people at Simba Dickie Group together with the animation team: This is real team work!”

With Simba Dickie Group, already the second important pillar for the long-term brand development of m4e’s new preschool property is in place. Last fall the company had announced to have closed an extensive treaty with BASTEI Media, a subsidiary of Bastei Lübbe AG, making the publishing house a co-producer of the series. BASTEI media will join the property globally in terms of book formats as well as apps.

m4e’s new preschool series (52 x 7 minutes) is aimed at young girls in the target group of 4 to 7-year-olds, and it’s currently developed and co-produced jointly with Dan Good and the London-based animation studio Absolutely Cuckoo (“Waybuloo”). Completion is scheduled for end of 2015. The series concerns a perfectly normal little girl called Wissper, although she has a very special talent: She is able to communicate with animals. She is thus in a position to understand their problems and then to assist them. Through secret portals in her parent’s house she can travel to different worlds.