ESPN and NBA Launch New Collection
ESPN Consumer Products and the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced the introduction of a new line of co-branded merchandise based on the network’s NBA on ESPN RV advertising campaign. The NBA on ESPN collection brings the personality and energy of the RV campaign to life with a full assortment of products, from apparel and headwear to sporting goods and novelty items. The products will be available at ESPN Zone locations, the NBA Store in New York City, NBAStore.com, NBA City, NBA team retailers, Academy, Champs Sports, Dick’s Sporting Goods, FootballFanatics.com, Macy’s, and Modell’s to coincide with the start of the NBA Playoffs.
The NBA on ESPN collection features products from several NBA licensees, including: T-shirts and hoodies from VF Imagewear; retro-influenced lifestyle T-shirts and hoodies from Sportiqe Apparel; fitted and adjustable hats by New Era Cap; novelty street signs and pennants from Wincraft; and exclusive basketballs from Spalding. For the playoffs, VF Imagewear and Wincraft have also introduced player nickname items, while Sportiqe has produced illustrated T-shirts to give fans the opportunity to showcase their favorite teams and players.
Telemundo Launches Licensing Program
Telemundo, a producer of content for Hispanics in the U.S. and audiences around the world, announced the launch of a licensing and consumer products program. Telemundo has signed agreements with licensing partners The Richline Group, Inc., IDT Telecom, and Arrow Home Fashions. In close association with these new partners, Telemundo will develop lines of jewelry,
prepaid calling cards, and home fashions.
In the coming weeks, Telemundo will launch branded initiatives in jewelry, sports, and home furnishings, with other categories including fashion and apparel. The first to launch is a
Telemundo jewelry line that will center on fine and costume jewelry based on the network’s established brand, Club de Noveleras, as well as highly-rated novela El Clon and La Reina del Sur.
Very shortly, Telemundo viewers will be able to purchase Telemundo-inspired bath, bedding, and home furnishings for adults and children. The full line of home décor products by Arrow Home Fashions will include fashion bedding, window treatments, bath accessories, towels, and table linens tied to the network’s established brand names including Mujer de Hoy and Futbol Estelar. The home décor products will launch this fall.
Big Tent Entertainment, the licensing agent for the Telemundo brand, brokered the deals on behalf of NBC Universal Television Consumer Products Group.
Discovery Launches Animal Planet Book Program
Discovery Communications announced that it has entered into a global licensing agreement with Bonnier Publishing. Through the deal, Bonnier will develop an extensive line of Animal
Planet-branded books, which will launch at retail in spring 2011. Capturing the “all things animal” theme of Animal Planet, the new book program will emphasize the cool and edgy nature
of the network. It will include a wide variety of books appealing to children from 3-13 including unique novelty, reference, and activity book formats featuring both domestic and wild animals.
The book products will be created simultaneously on two continents by three different companies within the Bonnier Publishing group-Templar Publishing UK, Weldon Owen Australia,
and Five Mile Press, Australia.
The program was introduced to U.S. and co-edition partners at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair held in late March 2010 in Italy.
In the U.S., the deal was brokered on behalf of Animal Planet by its licensing agent, the Joester Loria Group.
Breyer to Launch Elvis Collection at BreyerFest
This summer Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., and Breyer Animal Creations, a division of Reeves International, Inc., join forces to launch Breyer’s Elvis Presley Collection of the horses of Graceland at the model horse maker’s annual festival, BreyerFest, to be held July 23-25 at the Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, Ky. The Breyer Elvis Presley Collection is a tribute to Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s favorite horses, past and present. The collection will be launched to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the birth of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Priscilla Presley will join in the celebration on July 23-24 to share her love of horses and support of equine welfare.
BreyerFest will also launch the opening of the Elvis Presley Graceland Stables Exhibit at the International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park. The exhibit, borrowed from
the vaults at Graceland, will include Elvis’ saddles and bridles, video footage of the family riding, and other historic archival materials on loan from the stables at Graceland. The exhibit will open BreyerFest weekend and will be on display throughout the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, to be held Sept. 25-Oct. 10.