PURPOSE-DRIVEN TOY BRAND MELISSA & DOUG AND VIACOMCBS ANNOUNCE LANDMARK GLOBAL LICENSING PARTNERSHIP
Co-Branded Product Line Slated to Hit Retail Fall 2021
NEW YORK – November 19, 2020 – ViacomCBS Consumer Products (VCP) and
Melissa & Doug, the purpose-driven global toy brand, have signed an exclusive licensing partnership to deliver
PAW Patrol® and
Blue’s Clues & You! co-branded toy product lines for Fall 2021. The toys will be designed to educate and empower preschoolers through active engagement with a focus on problem solving and creative thinking.
This global partnership with ViacomCBS is the largest licensing agreement Melissa & Doug has ever signed, marking a major milestone for the company. Through the partnership, Melissa & Doug will bring innovative and imaginative toys to retail that will span multiple categories focused on learning and education.
“Melissa & Doug has been at the forefront of children’s toys for over 30 years. We are thrilled to collaborate with them to create products based on the beloved PAW Patrol and Blue’s Clues & You! IP that continue to inspire imagination and hugely impact children’s growth and learning,” said Dion Vlachos, Executive Vice President, Licensing & Retail, ViacomCBS.
From its beginning, Melissa & Doug has been a purpose-driven company committed to providing a launch pad to ignite imagination and a sense of wonder in all children so they can discover themselves, their passions, and their purpose. Recently, Melissa & Doug announced their alliance with the American Academy of Pediatrics to champion the health benefits of open-ended play and provide tools and resources for parents to make it an essential part of children’s everyday lives.
“We’re excited to work with a company as iconic as Nickelodeon, one that shares in our mission to make the world a more playful place through thoughtfully researched and designed products and content,” said David Henderson, Chief Commercial Officer of Melissa & Doug. “The characters of PAW Patrol and Blue’s Clues & You! will help us introduce our hands-on, skill-building toys to an even greater number of children.”
PAW Patrol is one of the most popular preschool shows on television in the U.S. The CGI-animated series, produced by Spin Master Entertainment, follows a pack of heroic rescue pups—Chase, Marshall, Rubble, Skye, Rocky, Zuma, Everest and Tracker—who are led by a tech-savvy boy named Ryder. Together, they work hard to show the people of Adventure Bay that “no job is too big, no pup is too small!” The series features a curriculum that focuses on citizenship, social skills and problem solving.
A remake of the groundbreaking, curriculum-driven interactive series
Blue’s Clues,
Blue’s Clues & You! has a new generation of preschoolers searching for clues with beloved puppy Blue, fellow pup Magenta, and new live-action host Josh (Josh Dela Cruz). The series features new CG-animation for Blue and Magenta, brand-new elements and refreshed iconic items from the original series including an updated Handy Dandy Notebook equipped with smartphone technology and the return of fan-favorite characters.
About Melissa & Doug
From classic wooden toys to crafts and pretend play,
Melissa & Doug products provide a launch pad to ignite imagination and a sense of wonder in all children so they can discover themselves, their passions, and their purpose. Recently, Melissa & Doug announced it is proudly partnering with the American Academy of Pediatrics to foster early brain development and to champion the health benefits of open-ended play through their joint Power of Play alliance.
About ViacomCBS Consumer Products
ViacomCBS Consumer Products (VCP) oversees all licensing and merchandising for ViacomCBS Inc. (Nasdaq: VIACA, VIAC), a leading global media and entertainment company that creates premium content and experiences for audiences worldwide. Driven by iconic consumer brands, VCP’s portfolio includes a diverse slate of brands and content from BET, CBS (including CBS Television Studios and CBS Television Distribution), Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and Showtime. With properties spanning animation, live-action, preschool, youth and adult, VCP is committed to creating the highest quality product for some of the world’s most beloved, iconic franchises. Additionally, VCP oversees the online direct-to-consumer business for CBS and Showtime programming merchandise, as well as standalone branded ecommerce websites for Star Trek, SpongeBob, South Park, and MTV.
About Spin Master Corp.:
Spin Master Corp. (TSX:TOY) is a leading global children's entertainment company creating exceptional play experiences through a diverse portfolio of innovative toys, entertainment franchises and digital toys and games. Spin Master is best known for award-winning brands PAW Patrol®, Bakugan®, Kinetic Sand®, Air Hogs®, Hatchimals® and GUND®, and is the toy licensee for other popular properties. Spin Master Entertainment creates and produces compelling multiplatform content, stories and endearing characters through its in-house studio and partnerships with outside creators, including the preschool success
PAW Patrol and 10 other television series, which are distributed in more than 160 countries. The Company has an established digital presence anchored by the Toca Boca® and Sago Mini® brands, which combined have more than 25 million monthly active users. With over 1,800 employees in 28 offices globally, Spin Master distributes products in more than 100 countries. For more information visit
spinmaster.com or follow on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
@spinmaster.
# # #
Melissa & Doug will continue to evaluate licensing as ‘an area of growth for the firm’
The global toy maker, Melissa & Doug has expressed its plans to continue to evaluate licensing “as an area to grow its reach”, as it looks for the right platforms through which to reach more parents and children.
The traditional toy specialist hit a major milestone last month when it revealed the details of its ‘biggest push into the licensing space to date,’ through a partnership with ViacomCBS Consumer Products to launch a range of PAW Patrol and Blue’s Clues & You co-branded toys.
The move was billed by the toy maker as its latest steps towards international expansion, offering the firm a ‘larger platform to reach more parents and children’ with the messaging around the benefits of hands-on, open-ended play that has become somewhat synonymous with the Melissa & Doug portfolio.
Speaking with ToyNews, the firm has stated that licensing will be an area the company will continue to monitor and evaluate as an area of growth wherever its supports the core mission statement of Melissa & Doug to promote play.
“Right now, we’re focused on and excited about the roll our of the products with Nickelodeon in Fall 2021,” said Dave Henderson, chief commercial officer at Melissa & Doug.
“As a company, we seek opportunities with brands that align with our core values, and like Melissa & Doug, PAW Patrol and Blue’s Clues & You! are grounded in fostering imaginative play, problem solving, and creative thinking.
“The partnership affords us a larger platform to reach more parents and children with our message about the benefits of hands-on, open-ended play. If a child’s love for Marshall or Blue is what introduces them to our brand and the joys of imaginative, tangible, unstructured play, I will consider that a win.”
With licensing representative of around 44 per cent of the global toy category’s revenue, and ViacomCBS – Nickelodeon’s parent company – itself, a top ten toy licensing company, the partnership is certainly more than a little appetising.
The toys designed under the partnership – for both PAW Patrol and Blue’s Clues & You – will be developed to educate and empower pre-schoolers through active engagement, with a focus on problem solving and creative thinking.
Henderson, said: “Both toy lines will showcase the same exceptional quality, attention to detail, and unexpected twists on classic play patterns that have made our brand a favorite of parents and children alike for more than 30 years.
“By partnering with these established properties, we are able to reach 350MM families worldwide, connecting with new audiences and introducing them to the Melissa & Doug brand.
“We will continue to evaluate licensing as an area to grow our reach where it makes sense and only if it supports our message about the benefits of hands-on, open-ended play,” he added.
Keep an eye out for the full interview feature with Melissa & Doug’s Dave Henderson in ToyNews soon.
###
More Nick: Nickelodeon Updates Icons, Sets New Characters for 2021 | Next-Gen Nick!
Originally published: Thursday, November 19, 2020.
