Month: August 2022

Maurizio Distefano Licensing announces retail and licensing growth well into 2023

 

Maurizio Distefano Licensing, Italian agent for the BBC Studios’ property Bluey, has announced a busy second half of the year for the wildly popular animated hit as the Bluey licensing programme continues to grow.

Summer began with the launch of the Fabbri Editori-branded Mondadori book series, including an activity book and three novelty books inspired by episodes from the series. In June Dulcop launched a line of Bluey soap bubbles and Grabo launched fairground balloons featuring characters from the series.

In July PonPon Edizioni with activity arts & crafts albums and magic pen albums hit the newsstands so kids can have fun and colouring as they relax under their sunshades. September will see the publication of the first Bluey magazine in the Italian market, accompanied by fabulous free gifts every month.

And retail activity will accelerate in Q3 2022. Diramix will distribute a Bluey sticker album in kiosks, inside which little fans of the Blue Heeler puppy can use stickers to fill in stories; Multiprint will launch stamp sets for summer and the back-to-school period; Clementoni plans super colour puzzles in different sizes; and Ravensburger will launch jigsaw puzzles featuring scenes from the show.

Christmas and 2023 are already looking busy. Dolfin is planning a very sweet Epiphany 2023 stocking full of treats and surprises and a chocolate egg dedicated to the animated series for Easter 2023. Ciao will launch a Bluey carnival costume in Q1 2023, followed by seasonal themed games. And for meet and greets and special events, SoLuna is onto a winner with a Bluey character costume, which will bring the lovable little puppy closer to her fans.

And that’s not all. Many more announcements and launches are expected throughout this summer and the coming months – sustainability is key with all new products and licensees work closely with BBC Studios to keep this at the forefront and to ensure these requirements are met.

The continuing growth of the Bluey licensing programme has underlined the popularity of the show. Bluey has won the hearts of children and parents around the world since its launch in Australia in October 2018 – and continues to do so.

In Italy Bluey launched on Rai YoYo in December 2021, and then on the Italian YouTube channel in January 2022. Maurizio Distefano Licensing was confirmed as the property’s agent from an early stage and it wasn’t long before the potential of the property was confirmed with a toy line that was launched by Giochi Preziosi in May 2022.

The series has inspired and engaged viewers of all ages around the world. Each episode centres around play, with Bluey and her sister Bingo creating new adventures which draw in their family and friends. The show is praised for its modern yet relatable portrayal of family life and a sense of humour and imagination which draws in both kids and their parents, who find Bluey‘s charm truly impossible to resist!

Joe Brumm, Bluey’s Australian creator, has masterfully blended many ingredients: a playful but down-to-earth tone, a brisk pace, simple, straightforward relatable plots, with a lightness of touch that is never superficial.

“We are proud to have brought Bluey to Italy. It’s a property that clearly had massive potential right from the start as Rai confirmed when it chose Bluey for its programming schedule.” says Maurizio Distefano, president of the agency. “That potential has been more than underlined with the success and growth of the licensing programme. Bluey is a wonderful property with very strong prospects, both now and in the long term.”

2023 release date announced for the first starring role of the wildly popular influencer

 

The first film from the hugely popular YouTuber and TikTokker Charlotte M. is on its way!

 

The young content creator .who has been a hit on the web since 2016 with numbers exceeding one million on TikTok and YouTube, is now the star of the soon-to-be released Charlotte M. – The Flamingo Party film.

 

Produced by Notorious Pictures and directed by Emanuele Pisano, the film, to be released in early 2023, tells the story of young Charlotte, in her first year of high school, dealing with adolescence and much more with her hallmark creativity and spontaneity.

 

In the film the flamingo oasis near her grandmother’s country home, a place she loves, is about to close due to lack of funding. So, together with her inseparable companion Sofia and other friends, she decides to organize a fundraising event to save the oasis: a school dance. But things don’t go entirely to plan – especially after the arrival of a new boy in town.

 

Like the content that has made her popular, the film is about the real life of teenagers, dealing with themes such as great friendship, intense first loves, and above all self-acceptance. These reflect the themes that Charlotte M. herself deals with in an accessible, relatable way for her young audience, not just in her social media content but also in the books and comics she has written and devised, and of course her songs. In fact the film will include two new music tracks performed by the influencer herself.

 

Charlotte M.’s enormous success is down to her ability to reflect real teenage life, making herself a reference point for her peers looking for inspiration. She’s a teenage influencer whose success is founded not just on appearance but on diverse content that includes music, poetry, singing, acting and writing.

 

This project is the latest triumph in a year full of successes that include the release of Charlotte M.’s latest single “Best Friend”, a real fan favourite, and her third book “La Mia Vita Segreta”, published by Fabbri Editori.

 

She’s also a licensing star. Giochi Preziosi has created a fantastic line of backpacks, pencil cases, a diary and stationery based on Charlotte’s unmistakable style for the back-to-school 2022 market, while Easy Shoes has launched a spring/summer 2022 collection of sneakers in four different colours; a new collection is due for the autumn/winter season.

 

Mitama meanwhile has launched a collection of Charlotte M. accessories under the heading Glitter, with stationery items that include notepads, a transparent glitter case and six-colour pen, a slime kit in two colours, a secret diary (with lock), a water bottle and a super fashion bag.

 

Salati Prezios has brought special Charlotte M. crisps to supermarkets; inside each bag are colourful Charlotte M. stickers; Cerealitalia, with the Dolci Preziosi brand, came out with an Easter egg for Easter 2022 and already has plans for an Epiphany stocking in January 2023.

 

In addition, last May Charlotte M. was a guest at Leolandia, the children’s amusement park, for a very exciting special appearance for her fans – known as flamingos – including songs and meet-and-greets.

 

Maurizio Distefano, president of the agency, says, ” It’s very exciting to follow the development of this property, which is constantly evolving and always rewarding, thanks to wonderful collaborations and projects that make the most of the many talents of Charlotte M. And now there’s a new film! Fans will, I suspect, be looking forward with enormous excitement and anticipation to Charlotte M. – The Flamingo Party film ahead its release in early 2023. The Charlotte M. story just gets bigger and better every day!”