Iconic 80s children’s cartoon Care Bears is set for further growth in Australia after Licensing Essentials signed a deal with American Greetings Properties (AG Properties) to develop a range of stationery and back to school products locally.
Products include drinkware, lunch bags and water bottles. Licensing Essentials has also released a showbag for the major agricultural shows nationally and will release an exclusive range of water bottles and lunch bags in Coles this December for a limited time.
Licensing Essentials is also working on homewares and stationery for major retailers in the toy, gift and homewares sector. Announcements will be made at the 2014 Melbourne Toy Fair.
“Care Bears are adorable, furry friends, each with a special caring mission,” says Wendy Long, Licensing Essentials marketing manager. “They help teach people to care. We teach our children to place a high value on helping other people, and what it means to care. With the Care Bears brand, children are encouraged to recognise being gentle and caring, to care for themselves and learn how to care for others to make the world a better place.
“In the last 18 months, Licensing Essentials has opened up a children’s division within its licensing business. We felt that Care Bears complimented our existing stable of brands – Skylanders, Angry Birds, Despicable Me 2, DC Comics, Furby and Adventure Time to name a few.”
Care Bears is growing as a brand in Australia with new CGI series Welcome to Care-a-Lot airing weekday mornings on channel Eleven. This is in addition to the recognition it has with older generations.
“Care Bears has a 98 per cent awareness amongst mothers of children between two to five years old. We expect a lot of interest as the TV series has been rating extremely well in its time slot with a new plush line being launched in the last few months,” Long adds.
