Corus Entertainment's Nelvana and The Clifford Ross Company Announce Nelvana's Acquisition of World-Renowned Babar Character Brand.Business/Entertainment EditorsTORONTO and NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 2001 Nelvana and The Clifford Ross Company Enter Into Five-Year Administration Deal Corus Entertainment's Nelvana and The Clifford Ross Company today announced Nelvana's acquisition of all proprietary rights to Babar, the world's most popular elephant. The rights were acquired through The Clifford Ross Company from Laurent de Brunhoff, son of Babar creator Jean de Brunhoff Jean de Brunhoff (December 9, 1899 – October 16, 1937) was a French writer and illustrator known for co-creating Babar, which first appeared in 1931. The stories were originally told to their son by his wife Cecile de Brunhoff. , on behalf of the de Brunhoff family. The Nelvana acquisition includes 100 percent of all trademarks and copyrights to the Babar property, as well as the de Brunhoff family's financial interests in the brand. The de Brunhoff family has reserved certain publishing rights, which will allow Laurent de Brunhoff to continue publishing his own Babar books with Abrams, Hachette, and other publishers around the world. The Clifford Ross Company will continue to act as Mr. de Brunhoff's literary agency. The Clifford Ross Company will continue its relationship with Nelvana as joint licensor of Babar Merchandising merchandising Element of marketing concerned especially with the sale of goods and services to customers. One aspect of merchandising is advertising, which aims to capture the interest of the segment of the population most likely to buy the product. worldwide. At the same time, the companies have entered into a five-year agreement calling for Nelvana to administer the substantial Babar merchandising program on behalf of both companies. In signing the agreement, Michael Hirsh, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Nelvana, says: "This brand has enormous potential which can now be fully leveraged by Nelvana and The Clifford Ross Company. In France, Babar is among the top two most-recognized children's brands among youngsters under three. The heritage of the Babar portfolio promises longevity longevity (lŏnjĕv`ĭtē), term denoting the length or duration of the life of an animal or plant, often used to indicate an unusually long life. in the market." Nelvana, in association with The Clifford Ross Company, has also produced the Babar TV series and feature films with various co-production partners. The broadcast, home video and theatrical rights to the animated programming have been sold worldwide. One hundred merchandising licensees are presently signed to the property. The world's most popular elephant celebrates his 70th Anniversary this year with celebrations in France and Japan, where the brand continues to perform strongly. In regard to this major transition, Clifford Ross notes: "It is a very exciting moment in the evolution of a beloved classic. We believe that the consolidation of rights and the streamlining of the merchandising program will lead to more focused support for the program's licensees around the world and greater opportunities for the character in the marketplace. It is a source of pride for both companies that Laurent de Brunhoff and his family have entrusted us to carry on the Babar tradition which they have sustained and enriched since the character's creation in 1931." Nelvana is a Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. TSX: CJR.B NYSE: CJR is a publicly traded Canadian media and entertainment company. Corus is a market leader in specialty television and radio with additional assets in pay television, advertising and digital audio services, television Company. Corus Entertainment is one of Canada's leading entertainment companies with operations in radio, specialty, pay, conventional and digital television. It also owns Nelvana Limited, one of the world's largest animation production and distribution companies, specializing in children's and youth programming, related media content and consumer products. Corus is also prominent in the digital music and advertising markets. A publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. , Corus is listed on the Toronto (CJR CJR Columbia Journalism Review CJR Career Job Reservation CJR Culpeper Regional Airport (airport code, VA) CJR Commodity Jurisdiction Request .B) and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of (CJR) Exchanges. Corus can be reached on its website at www.corusent.com. The Clifford Ross Company was formed in 1985 by New York artist Clifford Ross to enable him to explore entertainment and media projects separate from his own artistic endeavors. His artwork is represented in numerous public and private collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum Guggenheim Museum, officially Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, major museum of modern art in New York City. Founded in 1939 as the Museum of Non-objective Art, the Guggenheim is known for its remarkable circular building (1959) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. , and the Whitney Museum of American Art Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York City, founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. It was an outgrowth of the Whitney Studio (1914–18), the Whitney Studio Club (1918–28), and the Whitney Studio Galleries (1928–30). . He is currently represented by the Sonnabend Gallery in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . With the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Mr. Ross recently founded the Vaclav Havel Noun 1. Vaclav Havel - Czech dramatist and statesman whose plays opposed totalitarianism and who served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and president of the Czech Republic since 1993 (born in 1936) Havel Award, to recognize and protect members of the creative community around the world. NOTE TO EDITORS: Color art available upon request or at www.nelvana.com/publicity. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion