Entertainment One (eOne) has unveiled the new licensees and promotional partnerships that will fuel growth and brand awareness for its pre-school superhero property PJ Masks in the UK.
The licensor will expand the footprint of PJ Masks in the UK when it welcomes five new partners to the UK consumer products programme taking the total number of licensees to 34.
New partners that would launch products from spring 2018 include HTI for diecast, novelty and role play toys, Kinnerton for confectionery, Greencore for celebration cakes, VMC for accessories, Walltastic for wall stickers and Kokomo will mark the brand’s entrance into health and beauty aisles with all year round and gifting ranges.
These partners will follow a number of licensees currently preparing to roll out new product ranges across the UK. Partners poised to launch at UK retail include Character Options (arts and crafts), VTech (ELA), Sambro (stationery and creative play), Blues (apparel), William Lamb (footwear) Amscan (fashion dress-up and balloons) and IG Designs to launch a sticker play range.
Alongside these product launches, eOne is gearing up for the brand’s first DVD release of Time to be a Hero on 30th October when a new and updated release of the PJ Masks: Time To Be A Hero app is also scheduled to launch.
Anchoring the rollout of multiple product launches in the UK, eOne has a fun-packed calendar of promotional consumer activity to drive fan engagement.
This autumn one of the UK’s most popular preschool dance classes, diddi dance, will be running ‘PJ Masks Super Dance Party’ classes to raise money for the brand’s charity partner, Youth Sports Trust.
From October 30th – November 5th 2017 more than 600 diddi dance classes nationwide will participate in week-long ‘PJ Masks Super Dance Party’ classes. More than 6,000 little dancers under 5 will take part and will also receive a PJ Masks fundraising activity pack.
This will follow eOne’s recent successful collaboration with Oxygen Freejumping, where special PJ Masks themed ‘Jump Adventures’ activity sessions were hosted for kids under 5 throughout summer 2017 at venues in Acton, Croydon, Leeds, Manchester, Southampton and Wigan. These proved to be extremely popular and Oxygen reported that over 18k kids attended the sessions during the summer holidays which accounted for a 38% uplift in ticket sales for the same period the previous year. Brand awareness was further boosted in the summer with a weekend of PJ Masks meet and greets at Paulton’s Park theme park in Hampshire.
eOne will continue to drive experiential activity this October half term, when they host a PJ Masks screening party in central London for some of the UK’s biggest parenting influencers. The event will generate excitement for the new consumer product ranges in the lead up to Christmas and give bloggers an exclusive sneak peak at what’s to come in series 2 of the show which hits TV screens in 2018.
Katie Rollings Head of UK Licensing at eOne Family said, “The strength of our initial retail sales has created huge enthusiasm for PJ Masks and these new partners will open additional retail channels for the brand in the UK. With strong promotional partnerships generating excitement and awareness on the ground, we look forward to taking the property to new heights in 2018.”
Since products first launched at UK retail in February 2017, the PJ Masks licensing programme has been attracting widespread critical acclaim.
The brand’s UK master toy partner Flair Just Play recently scooped the highly coveted award for Best Licensed Toys and Games at the 2017 Licensing Awards, the firm’s PJ Masks Headquarters Playset also secured a spot in both the Argos and Tesco Top 10 Toys for Christmas list. The brand’s burgeoning app portfolio is also attracting accolades. The PJ Masks: Super City Run app was awarded Silver in the Made for Mums 2017 Toy awards and PJ Masks: Moonlight Heroes gaming app has just been announced as a finalist in the prestigious 2017 TIGA games industry awards.
