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Entertainment Rights (ER) Plc the UK’s leading global media group specialising in the origination, acquisition and distribution of children’s and family programming, characters and brands today announces it has signed a global publishing deal with the Penguin Group for new pre-school brand Tinga Tinga Tales™. The deal sees Puffin Books act as the publisher in the UK and control all foreign publishing rights. Grosset & Dunlap act as the publishing partner in North America. The children’s divisions of the Penguin Group are already the number one children’s publishers in market terms in both the UK and Australia and with dedicated offices in the UK, Australia, South Africa and North America and a worldwide network of expert third-party publishing relationships, Tinga Tinga Tales™ is sure to become a successful global publishing franchise. The Penguin Group plans an exciting and varied publishing programme for the brand, including the production of storybooks, novelty books, electronic books, audio books and manuals. Tinga Tinga Tales™ is a brand new animated series (52 x 11) being produced by Tiger Aspect Productions in partnership with leading children’s broadcasters CBeebies in the UK and Playhouse Disney in the US. Aimed at 4-6 years olds, the series will have global appeal and sees a return to traditional storytelling, bringing to screen animal stories that have been passed down from generation to generation throughout Africa. The style of the production is based upon the famous Tinga Tinga art of Tanzania. All images in the series are hand painted by local African artists and then expertly computer animated to produce a wonderful and unique visual experience. Andrew Kerr, Executive Director, Marketing & Consumer Products, UK & International, Entertainment Rights Plc commented: “The strength of Puffin’s product development, international distribution, and marketing capabilities make them the ideal global publishing partner for Tinga Tinga Tales™. With today’s announcement ER will begin to assemble a group of key global and pan-regional consumer product partners for the brand, anchored by the strength of the Puffin relationship. With Penguin globally, CBeebies in the UK and Playhouse Disney in the US already amongst the brand’s key partners, Tinga Tinga Tales™ is brilliantly positioned to become a truly global preschool brand in the years to come.” Francesca Dow, Managing Director, Puffin Books said: “Puffin is delighted to be the UK publishing partner for Tinga Tinga Tales™ which is such a wonderfully fresh and vibrant new property. Tinga Tinga Tales™ is about great storytelling – for children today, everywhere – and that’s exactly what Puffin is all about too. We look forward to creating a truly innovative and fun range of books for all markets globally, building on our success with other characters such as Charlie and Lola. Tinga Tinga Tales™ is a fantastic addition to our global publishing portfolio and cements our position as one of the leading pre-school producer of books. Andrew Zein, Managing Director, Tiger Aspect said: “Tinga Tinga Tales™ is unquestionably one of our most exciting projects to date. As a company we are really happy to be working with ER. This global partnership with Puffin Books and the Penguin Group immediately takes us a step closer to our aim of making sure that the brand is fully exploited commercially across all possible platforms.” ER announced the major new commission of Tinga Tinga Tales™ in June 2008. The series is being produced in Kenya for delivery from autumn 2009 into 2010. ER is managing the worldwide distribution rights for the brand across all forms of media, including consumer products and it will form a key part of ER’s global business plan for the next 7 to 10 years. Tiger Aspect in association with Homeboyz in Nairobi has set up a fully equipped Animation studio in Kenya and employed local designers, writers, musicians and animators to work on Tinga Tinga Tales™. After production completes in 2010 the studio will continue to provide jobs for a new animation industry in East Africa, encouraging the creation of original African content which will work in the International arena. |