MUMBAI: Nelvana, leading international producers and distributors of children’s programming and products, have announced the appointment of consumer products industry veteran Nancy Fowler as senior VP, worldwide licensing.
Fowler will be reporting to Nelvana executive VP of business development Doug Murphy and will oversee licensing, marketing and creative services teams in her new role.
“Nelvana has an exceptional reputation within the global licensing industry,” said Fowler. “I’m genuinely proud to be joining the Nelvana team and contributing to the company’s growing consumer products business.”
Fowler brings more than 16 years of consumer products experience to Nelvana. Recently, as president of Worldwide Consumer Products for Burbank-based DIC Entertainment, Nancy oversaw the development of licensing programs for brands including Madeline, Trollz/The Original Trolls and the relaunch of American Greetings’ Strawberry Shortcake franchise, which has reached over $1 billion at retail. While at DIC, Fowler directed a team that managed more than 700 licensees worldwide, and successfully completed the company’s acquisition effort to obtain the global entertainment and licensing rights to McDonald’s brands.
Fowler has earlier served as vice president of Worldwide Licensing for Viacom Consumer Products, the licensing arm of Paramount Pictures Corporation, where she was responsible for a variety of entertainment brands, including Star Trek, South Park, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Tomb Raider. Prior to her eight-year stint at Viacom, Fowler established the licensing division of Alliance Atlantis and was director of marketing for SEGA of Canada.
“Nelvana has made enormous strides these last three years, emerging as a world-class consumer products organization stewarding global brands such as Babar, Beyblade, Miss Spider and now The Backyardigans,” commented Doug Murphy, “We are delighted to welcome Nancy back to Canada and very excited to add her talent and experience to our licensing team.”
Nelvana has also announced several promotions in its licensing division. Mark Northwood, formerly VP of Licensing for North America, is now VP of licensing, the Americas. Previously manager,international licensing Lily Yan is upped to senior manager, international licensing. And former licensing coordinator Lisa Green has been promoted to account executive, licensing.
Nelvana’s is owned by Corus Entertainment, a Canadian-based media and entertainment company. Corus is a market leader in both specialty TV and Radio. The company’s other interests include music, television broadcasting and advertising services.
Tag: Doug Murphy
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Veteran licensing expert Nancy Fowler joins Nelvana
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Nelvana & British Telecom partner for video-on-demand deal
MUMBAI: Nelvana, producers and distributors of children’s programming and products owned by Canada-based Corus Entertainment, has inked a video-on-demand agreement with British Telecommunications Inc. (BT) in the UK.
Coming on the heels of recent North American partnerships with Comcast and Rogers (along with preschool broadcaster Treehouse), this deal widens the scope of Nelvana’s on-demand initiatives to include Europe.
Maggie and the Ferocious Beast (episodes 1-15), Little Bear (episodes 1-15), Babar (episodes 1-15), Max & Ruby (episodes 1-15) and The Fairly Odd Parents (episodes 1-15) are among the initial family entertainment programs Nelvana will make available to BT’s next-generation TV offering, slated to launch by late summer/fall 2006, states an official release.
BT customers will be able to access a range of on-demand film, music and television programming combined with interactive and communication features with no mandatory monthly subscription fee. The service will be combining access to digital terrestrial channels through the aerial with broadband-powered video-on-demand, the release adds.
“It’s an exciting time for content producers as the promise of on-demand services and next-generation TV platforms is realized through providers such as BT,” says Nelvana’s executive VP of business development Doug Murphy. “This deal opens the European video-on-demand market to Nelvana’s deep library of animated family programming, and we are proud to have gained this foothold with an innovative partner like BT.”
BT Retail TV Services CEO Dan Marks adds, “We are building a fantastic entertainment offering for the entire family and are very pleased to have signed this agreement with Nelvana, which will bring their extremely popular, high-quality and family-friendly animated programming to our service and our customers.” -
Nelvana to scout for partners at Toy Fair; inks deal with Enemes
MUMBAI: With North American broadcasters on board for its new 2-D animated comedy Grossology, Nelvana will be on the hunt for toy partnerships at Toy Fair 2006.
Nelvana has also entered into a partnership with Korean studio Enemes for the production, distribution and merchandising of 3-D animated fantasy-adventure series Z-Squad.
“This property naturally lends itself to the novelty toys, confectionery and activity toys categories, and we’ll be looking for partners that can translate the irreverent humour and gross-out action of this series into a unique and engaging merchandising program,” said Nelvana executive vice president business development Doug Murphy.
“This futuristic series explores the universal adolescent themes of social status, friendship and finding your place in the world, with fantasy, adventure and magic woven throughout a captivating storyline. Z-Squad combines all of the elements necessary to creating an aspirational brand that lends itself to a whimsical toy line,” said Murphy.
Targeted for kids ages 6 to 14, the show chronicles the adventures of tween girls Chaney, Haemi and Jeanie, and their newfound, cuddly alien counterparts (Zoots) as they search for 144 enchanted crystals in a quest to save the Earth and Z-Nation from a cast of bumbling baddies.
“Enemes is thrilled to have this opportunity to partner with Nelvana. With our first original animated series Z-Squad, Enemes hopes to become the flag bearer of the Korean animation industry, particularly in the 3-D arena,” said Enemes president and CEO Jin Choi.
After previewing the brand to potential toy partners at Toy Fair 2006, Nelvana will market Z-Squad to broadcast buyers at MipTV.
The company recently inked 26-episode broadcast agreements with Discovery Kids in the US and YTV in Canada for Grossology.
Based on the book series by Sylvia Branzei, the show follows the crime-solving adventures of brother and sister team Ty and Abby Archer, who report to the secret government Department of Grossology.
Nelvana is currently sourcing US partners and expects to make announcements early in 2006 around their popular preschool consumer products program Max & Ruby.
Nelvana knew that it had a loyal audience for Max & Ruby, consistently a top-ranked program on Canadian Treehouse. But it wasn’t until live character events began drawing record crowds of up to 5,000 attendees that the company realised the brand’s merchandising potential.
“Max & Ruby, our two favorite bunnies, have taken the Canadian licensing world by surprise. We plan to launch in the US next year and expect the same level of industry and consumer buzz,” said Nelvana vice president licensing, the Americas Mark Northwood.
Max & Ruby airs on Treehouse in Canada and Nickelodeon’s networks in the US. Max & Ruby DVD titles distributed under the Treehouse Presents label by Nelvana Home Entertainment and kaBOOM! reached platinum-level sales in their first year (2004-2005).
Products from Canadian master toy partner Danawares debuted in major Canadian retailers in spring 2005 and continues to perform well. The program expands this holiday season, and product from Adorable Kids (sleepwear) and Dan River (bedding) is slated to hit shelves in 2006.