Tuesday, January 08, 2019

Entertainment One Announces New Hires in China to Drive Growth for Family & Brands Throughout Region

Entertainment One Announces New Hires in China to Drive Growth for Family & Brands Throughout Region

Pengchong XU has been named Vice President – China, Licensing, Family & Brands and Frida Zhang joins as Vice President – China, Marketing, Family & Brands


Peppa Pig

LONDON: Entertainment One (eOne) has announced new hires in its effort to expand its newly-launched Shanghai office, strengthening the Company’s global infrastructure and extending the reach of its growing portfolio of successful preschool properties across China.

Two new leadership positions have been appointed to the Shanghai office, effective January 2nd, 2019. They will work alongside the existing Shanghai-based brand protection team and existing locally appointed agents, with a dedicated focus on the expansion and rollout of eOne’s preschool animated properties Peppa Pig, Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom, PJ Masks, and the soon to launch property, Ricky Zoom, in China.

Heading up the consumer products team, Pengchong XU has been appointed as Vice President – China, Licensing, Family & Brands. In his new role, XU will lead the commercial team tasked with driving merchandise sales across eOne’s growing brand portfolio. He will manage relationships across all key licensing and retail accounts that will spearhead eOne’s growth strategy, in addition to overseeing a network of licensing agents across the region. XU brings extensive experience of IP franchise building that spans over 20 years working across licensing, product marketing and category management at Walt Disney, Philips and Siemens, and joins eOne from Pearl Studio (formally Oriental Dreamworks) where he was General Manager of Ancillary Business.

Frida Zhang joins as Vice President – China, Marketing, Family & Brands a highly experienced brand marketer with 20 years of experience who has held positions at Mattel, SC Johnson, L’Oreal and Coca-Cola. Zhang has extensive expertise across brand management, marketing communication, commercial strategy, and franchise building. Zhang will head up brand marketing including the strategic development, management, and growth of Shanghai-based marketing business, oversee consumer marketing strategies and communication programs, and local creative asset direction across all eOne’s Family & Brands franchises in China.


Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom

eOne also announced that Iwen Lee will join the Shanghai team based in the role of Manager – China, Product Development, Family & Brands. With both softlines and hardlines experience across Family brands, Lee will oversee the approvals of licensed products for the market and will report to XU.

“We’re in the midst of a significant period of growth here at eOne, and our family brands have performed exceedingly well in the past 12 months,” said eOne’s Olivier Dumont, President, Family & Brands. “I’m very proud that we’re strengthening our presence in China by making strategic new hires that will bring invaluable expertise and leadership to drive growth and market penetration in this key territory. The teams based on the ground in our Hong Kong and Shanghai offices will help underpin the success of our brands and build an infrastructure to support their continued growth for many years to come.”

eOne’s Family & Brands division recently reported revenue growth of 29% in the previous six months with its much loved preschool property Peppa Pig demonstrating strong sales in new markets. eOne now has offices in both Shanghai and Hong Kong and the licensor is preparing for a busy year ahead for the brand in China in 2019. There is significant activity planned to mark the Chinese New Year celebrations for The Year of the Pig in February 2019 which will be anchored by the first Peppa Pig theatrical release in Chinese cinemas in partnership with Alibaba and an exclusive merchandise launch of related products. The company also recently inked a retail partnership with Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Tmall that will feature Peppa Pig in Tmall’s Super Brand Day promotion on January 8.

Peppa Pig airs on Nick Jr. and Viacom’s Channel 5 Milkshake in the U.K., and on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. channels globally.

Peppa Pig is created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker and produced by Astley Baker Davies Ltd and Entertainment One (eOne). The animated preschool show is one of eOne’s key properties. In 2017, it announced that 117 new episodes were entering production, which will start airing in 2019 and take the total episode count to 381.

Commissioned by Nick Jr. UK, Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom airs in more than 130 countries, including the UK (Channel 5, Nick Jr.), the US (Nick Jr.), Canada (Treehouse), Australia (ABC), Spain (Clan TVE), Italy (RAI), Brazil (TV Cultura) and Mexico (Televisa).

eOne’s Family & Brands division delivered a 29% revenue increase to US$97.5 million in the first half of 2018 due to continued strength from Peppa Pig (up 18%) and PJ Masks (up 44%).

About Entertainment One

Entertainment One Ltd. (LSE:ETO) is a global independent studio that specialises in the development, acquisition, production, financing, distribution and sales of entertainment content. The Company’s diversified expertise spans across film, television and music production and sales; family programming, merchandising and licensing; digital content; and live entertainment. Through its global reach and expansive scale, powered by deep local market knowledge, the Company delivers the best content to the world.

Entertainment One’s robust network includes international feature film distribution company Sierra/Affinity; Amblin Partners with DreamWorks Studios, Participant Media, and Reliance Entertainment; Makeready with Brad Weston; unscripted television production companies Whizz Kid Entertainment and Renegade 83; live entertainment leaders Round Room Entertainment; world-class music labels Dualtone Music Group and Last Gang; and award-winning emerging content and technology studio Secret Location.

More Nick: Peppa Pig to Introduce Preschoolers to a Live Orchestra in 'Peppa Pig: My First Concert'!

Additional source: Kidscreen.
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