Exim Licensing To Represent Central and South America; Tycoon Enterprises Awarded Mexico; Wild Pumpkin Licensing International to Serve as Australian and New Zealand Agent; Segal Licensing to Represent in Canada.
NEW YORK (September 22, 2009) — 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: KDE), the diversified children’s entertainment and media organization, has appointed Exim Licensing Group and Tycoon Enterprises as Licensing Agents in Latin America and Mexico respectively for Amberwood Entertainment’s Rollbots. Additionally Wild Pumpkin Licensing International will represent the property in Australia and New Zealand and Segal Licensing will serve as the Canadian Licensing Agent.
Rollbots is a computer generated animated series that first premiered this past February on Canada’s YTV and recently made its US television debut on TheCW4Kids Saturday morning program block on The CW Television Network. The series is also complimented by an extensive online gaming world at RollBots.com. The four companies look to establish a licensing program for the property in their respective territories and help build the international portfolio of the emerging brand based on the visually-stunning animated series.
“We’ve had a wonderful history working with Exim, Tycoon, Wild Pumpkin and Segal for many of our biggest brands and we are confident that all four will help us build a strong international licensing program for Amberwood Entertainment’s Rollbots,” said Roz Nowicki, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Licensing, 4Kids Entertainment.\
“RollBots continues to sell internationally and we are excited to have partnered with these proven merchandising agents to help solidify the brand in their respective territories,” said Jonathan Wiseman, Senior Vice President, Amberwood Entertainment.
RollBots introduces the world of Flip City and Spin, a crime fighting ‘bot who lacks a tribe of his own but makes up for it with incredible speed. Spin takes on criminals in Flip City and while on his adventures, discovers many things about himself, including why he has no tribe.
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About 4Kids Entertainment, Inc.
With U.S. headquarters in New York City, regional offices for its trading card business in San Diego, California and international offices in London, 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: KDE) is a global organization devoted to the creation, development, production, broadcasting, distribution, licensing and manufacturing of children’s entertainment products.
Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, 4Kids produces animated television series and films, distributes 4Kids’ produced or licensed animated television series for the domestic and international television and home video markets, licenses merchandising rights worldwide to 4Kids’ owned or represented properties, operates Websites to support 4Kids’ owned or represented properties, and produces and markets collectible trading card games. Additionally, the Company programs and sells the national advertising time in the five-hour Saturday morning children’s TV block known as TheCW4Kids on The CW television network.
Additional information is available on the www.4KidsEntertainment.com corporate web site and at the www.4Kids.tv game station site.
About Amberwood Entertainment
Based in Ottawa, Canada, Amberwood Entertainment is a producer, financier and distributor of high quality animated and live-action television series for the children’s and family demographic. Amberwood’s most recent success, The Secret World of Benjamin Bear has been licensed in over 110 territories worldwide and a 4th season has just been commissioned by Playhouse Disney Canada.
About Tycoon Group
Tycoon Group is a one of a kind consortium of Marketing and Entertainment companies that aligns Licensing & Merchandising, Music & Homevideo, Live Events, and Lifestyle & Wellbeing, grouped together under one roof.
Tycoon’s vision has shaped the Licensing business in Mexico since its inception 19 years ago; and through the opening of extended offices in the Region and key partnerships with equal milestones in Brazil and Argentina, Tycoon offers today the most impactful and consistent operation in Latin America.
Tycoon Enterprises, the L&M branch of the Group, holds today a strategic portfolio of diversified but carefully selected properties of film, TV, sports and lifestyle brands, covering all age groups and demographics, and maintains leadership through a network of strong relationships and good practices.
Additional information is available at www.tycoon.com.mx
About Exim
Exim is an organization dedicated to licensing, promotions and the distribution of products associated with the entertainment world. With 14 offices and 3 divisions managed by local partners in each operating country, EXIM has created and Iberoamerican network, guaranteeing its clients the highest quality of service developing sophisticated regional strategies and executing them locally. Not only licensing and promotions is what EXIM is about, it has also become leader in two very important fields which converge in one whole event, the awareness created though licensing and the closeness between the consumer and its favorite characters: Live Shows and Mobile Content. EXIM’s mission is to provide marketing solutions as well as profitable promotions thorugh a diversity of tools for our consumer product clients and their ad agencies. Being familiar with the complexity of our industry, EXIM introduces a license in a culture itself to be adopted by the consumer as part of their lives.
Additional information is available at www.eximlicensing.com
About Wild Pumpkin
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Wild Pumpkin is a specialist licensing agent operating in the Australian and New Zealand markets. Established in 2006, Wild Pumpkin represents a carefully selected portfolio of local and global brands, strategically choosing partners to nurture as well as maximise each brand’s commercial opportunities and longevity in the market. Wild Pumpkin has built a reputation for representing brands not only with licensees and manufacturers but also communicating with the retail community, ensuring that all stakeholders are fully integrated.
About Segal Licensing
Segal Licensing is one of the largest licensing agencies in Canada representing the biggest and best in entertainment. Segal’s rapid growth and success is based on their results driven approach to client service that focuses on building client’s properties in three areas: Merchandise, Promotional and Retail. Segal is owned by Draftfcb and is a member of the IPG network of Agencies.
The information contained in this press release, other than historical information, consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors beyond the Company’s control, including general economic conditions, consumer spending levels, competition from toy companies, motion picture studios and other licensing companies, the uncertainty of public response to the Company’s properties and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s expectations.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
4Kids Entertainment
Barry Stagg Derek Musso
(646) 822-4257 (646) 822-4263
bstagg@4kidsent.com dmusso@4kidsent.com