Princess Sam Entertainment Group has appointed Laurent Taieb to manage licensing for its hit kids’ adventure-comedy-fantasy Tara Duncan as it transitions from publishing phenomenon to screen success.
As Head of Licensing for the Princess Sam Consumer Products division, Laurent Taieb will bring more than thirty years of proven operational experience in sales and marketing, entertainment products, international brand marketing, consulting and, of course, consumer products and licensing, to the Tara Duncan campaign. As well as running his own successful consulting business he has worked for Viacom, Nickelodeon, CPLG, Fox Home Entertainment, Ideal Loisirs, and iconic motoring brand Motul.
Created by Tara Duncan author Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian with the aim of exploiting the IP of her multi-million selling saga for twelve-to-fifteen-year-olds, Princess Sam Entertainment Group is now building on the successful arrival of series one of Tara Duncan, developed and filmed by the Princess Sam Pictures division, in multiple territories in the past year, led by Disney and Gulli in France, with many more to come.
There’s certainly a strong market awareness to build on. First published in 2003, Tara Duncan is the tale of an ordinary girl from Earth with extraordinary powers who discovers she is heir to the throne of the Meme empire.
She soon finds herself on OtherWorld, a magical planet where she learns how to control her powers and goes to school (where she is supervised by a dragon!), meets new friends, the MagicGang, and tries to thwart the ambitions of the evil Magister who wants to steal her magic and conquer OtherWorld. She also has a personal quest: to return her grandfather to normal after he turned himself into a dog by mistake!
The books have been a massive hit – tens of millions of copies have been sold worldwide – and now the animated series is taking the tale to another level using state-of-the-art, 3D CGI motion capture technology, more than 170 artists recruited from the global feature film industry, and advanced innovations to deliver an experience like no other: beautiful, astonishing and fantastic but also exciting, engaging and very, very funny. It also boasts a diverse and engaging cast of characters, led by the very brave, very positive and very slightly accident-prone Tara.
Laurent Taieb has been bought in to manage the next phase of the brand strategy as the property evolves from books and TV in the coming months to the development of licensed consumer products.
Already multiple attractive design elements have been painstakingly developed to offer opportunities across such categories as toys & games – including fashion dolls, plush, action figures, roleplay and playsets –stationery, home textiles, apparel, fashion accessories, beauty & personal care, food & beverage, gifts and more.
Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian says: “Since 2003, the magical adventures of Tara Duncan have amazed tens of millions of readers around the world. This fabulous adventure comedy fantasy is the ideal inspiration for a unique animated show and this breathtaking series is unlike anything that has come before. It is time for us to amplify that success and bring long-awaited products to our fans. We are pleased to welcome Laurent Taieb to lead that task.”
Laurent Taieb says: “The launch of the new show provides the perfect starting point for an equally imaginative and appealing licensing campaign. I’m looking forward enormously to bringing Tara and her amazing world to multiple licensing categories for her millions of young fans worldwide.”
Laurent Taieb