An event of special interest for content creators looking at the L&M space, The 2nd Mipcom Junior Licensing challenge held in partnership with License! Magazine, at the Noga Hilton in Cannes (France) witnessed some great ideas and concepts being pitched.
Of the thirty five shows entered, five made it to the finals and were presented to the jury on the closing day of Mipcom Junior. The jury comprised Fisher Price SVP for Licensing and New Business, Stan Clutton, ABC Consumer Publishing and consumer sales GM Grahame Grassby, Spin Master founder Ronan Harary, Alternative Branding CEO Alexander Mayaud and Al Ovadia Associates President Al Ovadia. The pitch was moderated by deputy managing director of Children’s programming for BBC Worldwide Helen Mc Aleer.
The jury selected the winner according to the following criteria:
-Uniqueness and overall appeal of the property (innovation, character development etc)
-The look, story and themes of the show
-Distribution plans and/or broadcast plans
-Clear potential for licensing (franchise potential)
-Suitability/match of property with identified audience target
-Merchandising potential
It was an engaging experience watching the producers pitch their content.
Having already sold 80,000 copies amongst 11 titles,The Ooshes a charming rainbow tinted universe with elements of nature forming the cutest of characters looked like strong contenders. The presentation too was impressive thanks to Lavinia’s World’s advance preparation of a whole set of soft toys based on the ensemble cast of the series. The idea of displaying amidst background nursery rhyme kind of music did have its impact.
Amongst Jury comments, Alternative Branding CEO Alexander Mayaud stated that,”You have strong story telling but believe that the characters need to stand out a bit” commenting on the relatively similar looking toy cast.
BRB International (Spain), which had got in the honors at the First Mipcom Licensing challenge entered a very interesting property this time around too. The entry Khudayana came in with the additional impetus of being awarded top project at the cartoon forum just a week ago.
If Ooshes was a soft focused pre schooler, Khudayana was edgy and targeted at teenagers. And the most interesting part (especially for Indian readers) was that the story was set in a mystical Hindi world. Make a guess at the villan’s name? Ravan! The art styles which included lotuses, turbans and bindis were a sight to see.
The tagline of the series too rings a bell: ‘So it was, so it is and so it shall be’
Indian studios have a clear message here, if we don’t create IP based on our culture and art, the International studios will.
But to be fair to the BRB guys, other than the story and art inspired by Indian culture they have taken the character design beyond the ordinary and also come up with an interesting storyline which has motorbike competitions and is themed around learning to be an important person in one’s own house before stepping out to take charge of the world.
Next pitch was Flux Deluxe Productions Ltd./Santoro London – UK’s Flux Deluxe. Set on a tropical urban beach in the heart of the wildest city on earth, Santoro’s series was chic, trendy and stylish. The character design and storyline did look interesting too.
The series looked hep and one just felt that today’s kids might just catch on to that theme. The plush haversack and Flux Delux apparel too had an element of fashion to it.
Executed in Flash, the art and design of Spazzmania’s The Adventures of Andy Applebutter was retro Hanna Barbera look.
The long format show had each episode featuring an adventure focused on issues like emotional bullying and loss of a pet or near one etc and was targeted at 3 to 7 year olds.
One could immediately familiarize with characters such as Cha Cha Cola and Billybob which seemed to be a definite plus for the show in terms of acceptance.
And now for the winner ‘Bali’ from Planet Nemo Animation (France).
Now doesn’t he look cute and lovable.
Created by France based Planet Nemo Animation, Bali is themed around a kid’s life in the city and has been adapted from a book property with over 18 titles published in French.
The main character, Bali is an urban puppy and even tyhough the series has a lot of characters Mom, Dad, Alea and Tamara, the storyline goes deep into Bali’s relationship with his father.
Pitching his show to the jury Planet Nemo Animation CEO Frederic Puech pointed out that Bali as a series stood for Creativity, Family, Friendship and Cultural Diversity. All this amidst modern themes.
The depth of characterisation, the values that the show stood for and the endearing character design made Bali get the jury nod as this year’s winner. Arriving at a decision however was tough for the jury and even as the jury sat to decide on the winner, three of the entries The Ooshes, Flux Delux and Bali were running neck to neck in an on the spot audience poll.
Speaking to Animation ‘xpress, Puech commented, “It’s a great platform to be on and its even greater feeling to win. We have already cut a few deals and now with this victory we expect some more spotlight on Bali.”
License! Editor-in-Chief Joyce Ann Cooney said, “We have worked with Mipcom Junior to develop an international jury of stalwarts from this field ranging from professionals from the toy industry to retail experts to broadcasting.”
“While judging the licensing potential of a brand one has to keep in mind, that licensing sensibilities differ from territory to territory and not only at a global level but also within the US. Wile shortlisting the final five for the jury to judge from, I kept in mind certain criteria such as freshness, uniqueness and innovation,” she added.