With the appointment of a trio of top-tier licensees namely The Bentex Group (apparel), Jay Franco (bedding and home décor) and H.E.R. Accessories (accessories), to create new branded products, Genius Brands continues to rope in key partners for its upcoming animated pre-school series Rainbow Rangers.
The Brand is a leading media company that creates, produces and licenses children’s multimedia entertainment content and products for global broadcast, digital and retail distribution.
The announcement of the new licensing partners follows recent news that Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. has licensed exclusive U.S. and Caribbean Basin broadcast rights for season one of Rainbow Rangers which will premiere next year. And also the appointment of Mattel Inc.’s Fisher-Price Toys as Global Master Toy Partner for the brand. Both announcements have spurred strong market expectations for the brand.
Created as the first mission-based action adventure series targeting pre-school girls, Rainbow Rangers is an empowering, exciting, behind-the-curtain peek at the lives of Earth’s First Responders whose mission is to help protect the earth’s environment and its animal inhabitants.
The series seamlessly blends fantasy and action-adventure with relatable, accessible stories about friendship and saving the environment. The Rainbow Rangers–seven girls, each a different color of the rainbow with her own wildly unique personality and special power–band together to save the day whenever there’s trouble for the animals or natural wonders of Earth. Every storyline is designed to show young viewers the importance of working together and that actions both big and small can make the world a better place.
“The marketplace shares our excitement about Rainbow Rangers, especially with the early endorsements of broadcast partner Nickelodeon and our master toy licensee Mattel’s Fisher-Price Toys,” said Stone Newman, Genius Brands President of Global Consumer Products, Worldwide Content Sales & Marketing.
“This bright and colorful series, developed by the best in the business, will delight preschoolers and empower little girls the world over, which is why our licensing program for the brand continues to attract partners like The Bentex Group, H.E.R. Accessories and Jay Franco. We’ve made our list of preferred licensees and will actively pursue agreements, developing a robust global merchandising, licensing and retail program encompassing all key categories to coincide with the series launch,” he added.
As Master Apparel partner, The Bentex Group will develop an extensive contemporary, fashion forward range of collections in all size rangers that capture the color, essence and spirit of this brand.
Jewellery and accessories will play an integral part of the series, as they do in the lives of girls with H.E.R. Accessories creating high quality, cutting-edge and on trend merchandise, including watches, jewelry, hair accessories and other age-appropriate fashion accessories.
Finally, Jay Franco will allow every little girl to turn her room and bathroom into her own Kaliedoscopia (home of the Rainbow Rangers) with a complete offering of bedding, room décor and bath textiles and accessories.
Boasting of a unique and highly-accomplished team of creators from the animated motion picture world, Rainbow Rangers’ creative development and production team includes Rob Minkoff (Disney’s The Lion King director), Shane Morris (Disney’s Frozen co-writer), Tim Mansfield and New York Times Bestselling author and Emmy-nominated writer Elise Allen (Dinosaur Train, Lion Guard, Barbie specials) who is serving as head writer and co-creator. Genius Brands’ Chairman and CEO and multiple Emmy Award-winning producer of more than 5,000 episodes of children’s programming, Andy Heyward, serves as executive producer and Shelly Hirsch as Co-Executive Producer. Legendary Disney Alum Ruben Aquino created key designs.
Aquino has been responsible for the design and animation of many of Disney’s most iconic characters from award-winning films, including The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Mulan and Frozen.
