Classic Media Announces Pivotal Agency Relationships For Key Pre-School Brands In Europe

BRANDORA Editorial Staff - April 2010

CPLG and KIDZ Entertainment Tapped to Drive Company's Pre-School Portfolio Pan-Regionally

Classic Media, today announces the appointment of two of Europe's leading merchandising agencies – CPLG and KIDZ Entertainment - to represent and develop the Company's key pre-school brands throughout Western and Eastern Europe.

CPLG has been appointed as the Company's Western European licensing and merchandising agency for Classic Media’s newest pre-school brand Tinga Tinga Tales™. The show made its UK Broadcast debut on CBeebies in February 2010, and with key European broadcast dates imminent, CPLG will immediately begin managing the licensing and merchandising rights for the brand across France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. CPLG will work with the brand’s existing panregional master toy partner, Bandai, and existing global publishing partner Penguin Group (Puffin Books, UK), both of whom are set to launch product at retail in the UK later this year.

In addition to CPLG, KIDZ Entertainment will also take on and manage Tinga Tinga Tales across all of the Nordics and Eastern Europe, including Russia. The addition of Tinga Tinga Tales to KIDZ’ portfolio marks the growth of an already successful partnership with Classic Media, which is further expanded with the extension of an existing representation agreement for Postman Pat®. Excitingly, KIDZ will also represent Classic Media’s other new pre-school brand, Guess with Jess® which debuted on CBeebies (UK) in November 2009, and whose key pan-regional partners Fisher Price (Master Toy) and Egmont (Publishing) will launch product in the UK in Summer 2010.

Andrew Kerr, EVP, International Marketing & Consumer Products – Classic Media, commented: 'I am very pleased and excited to announce two such significant partnerships for our key pre-school brands across Europe. CPLG and KIDZ are industry leaders across Europe, each possessing remarkable levels of local expertise, brand management nous and in-house creativity - our pre-school portfolio couldn't be in better hands'.

Katarina Dietrich, CEO of CPLG Ltd, commented: ‘We are proud of working with Tinga Tinga Tales, it was love at first sight when we first discovered the project in development. The whole CPLG team is very excited to develop a consumer product program to reflect the innovative and appealing style of the brand.’

Morten Geschwendtner, Chairman - Director Of Business Development, KIDZ Entertainment, commented: ‘We have worked with Classic Media on Postman Pat for many years and continue to see growth, so we are of course delighted to extend our relationship to include Classic Media’s wonderful new pre-school brands, both of which we feel have a very strong future.’