Cynopsis: Kids!
05.29.13

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, May 29, 2013, and this is your first early morning briefing.

!MAGINATION AWARDS  LAST CALL

It’s not too late to get your tickets for CynKids !magination Awards luncheon, June 4 at The Yale Club in New York City. For more information, please go to http://www.cynopsis.com/events/kids-awards.

CYNKIDS WEBINAR NEWS

If you missed yesterday’s CynKids webinar GenZ Advertising: Cross-Platform Ad Models to Reach Kids & Parents, you missed great, actionable insights, case studies and wisdom about today’s hottest trends from some of the top deal-makers in our industry. Here, just a few highlights:

–       “The biggest challenge in the kids space is a lot of the content takes so long to develop after it’s been green-lit, and marketers are reluctant to partner with a show until they know it’s a hit,” noted Darcy Bowe, director at Starcom USA. “That’s a timing challenge. Particularly with animation, it could six to 10 months to develop.”

–         Does cross-platform work? Kara Rousseau, SVP, ad sales, at Disney Media Sales & Marketing says YES. “We’ve found the number of platforms in which a campaign exists incrementally lifts brand awareness across platforms,” she said. What’s more, Rousseau shared data culled from Disney ad clients that reported multiplatform advertising moved the needle not only on general metrics like intent to purchase, but also on awareness of more specific messaging.

–         Brands plotting their ad strategy should not discount search and SEO, cautioned David Becker, president of Blue Plate Media Services. With 83% of moms and 51% of kids searching a product after being exposed to it on television, “the greatest thing about search is that it serves as a barometer of how brands are doing,” he said.

MORE KIDS NEWS

Nickelodeon today is staging the grand opening of the 1,000-foot Nick Shop located in Toys R Us in New York’s Times Square. The Shop features exclusive New York-branded products including kids and adult apparel, accessories, plush toys and home goods featuring Dora the Explorer, Bubble Guppies, Team Umizoomi, SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other characters.

Marblemedia is absorbing its sister distribution company with an agreement in principle to acquire Distribution360, founded in 2010. Seven24 executives/D360 co-founders Tom Cox and Jordy Randall will continue to act as strategic advisors. “We look forward to expanding our product offering and fully integrating our distribution arm under the marblemedia umbrella,” said Mark Bishop, marblemedia co-CEO/exec producer and founding partner of D360. Renae Garcia, who just joined marblemedia director of U.S. acquisitions, will oversee all acquisitions in the States. Garcia previously held the position of director, acquisitions and development at FremantleMedia. All international transactions will be overseen by D360’s senior sales exec Kirsten Hurd, who is based out of the company’s Toronto office.

Shout! Factory and Hasbro Studios entered a new worldwide distribution alliance for upcoming animated movie My Little Pony Equestria Girls, produced and distributed by Hasbro. The film will hit a variety of digital entertainment platforms and home entertainment markets in North America and international territories later this year.

The Simpsons are extending their Florida vacation. Universal Orlando Resort will be new home to a new gaggle of attractions featuring Homer, Marge, Bart and company, including Kang & Kodos’ Twirl’n’Hurl, and new items on the Krusty Burger menu. The original Simpsons Ride simulator opened in the park in 2008.

!MAGINATION AWARDS LUMINARIES

Congratulations to children’s entertainer Laurie Berkner, who Cynopsis Kids will honor at next week’s !magination Awards with our Luminary Award for Entertainer of the Year. Berkner will be performing two original songs at next week’s event and shares some insights with us here:

How did you gravitate to writing and performing children’s music?
A year out of college I got a job as a pre-school music specialist at Rockefeller University’s Child and Family Center. I was excited because I love being around kids and I love music. Unfortunately, it wasn’t till I’d already gotten the job that I realized just how much I had to learn about being a music specialist. Eventually, after a long and painful first year, I started to write my own songs for the kids and found a way to communicate with them that was fun for them and for me. The more I wrote those songs and saw how well kids responded to them, the more I enjoyed working on children’s music. After a while I both gave up my adult rock band and quit the all-female cover band I was in and decided to focus solely on children’s music.

Who do you consider your greatest musical influencers?
Ahh. That’s a hard one. There are many. Early on I listened to a lot of cast recordings of Broadway musicals and spent hours trying to be Julie Andrews. Then in middle school, I had a very long one-sided love affair with John Denver. When I hit high school and college, Neil Young taught me that saying something simply is the best way, Joan Armatrading taught me about being soulful, Paul Simon taught me the power of crafting a lyric, The Stones taught me about raw rock ‘n roll, The Beatles taught me about the universality of a song, David Byrne taught me about incorporating musical sounds that I love from other cultures and genres, and Sting taught me about the magic in a song that I can’t even put words to. They were all extremely important to me, but I was particularly blown away at that time by Joni Mitchell. I remember realizing when I heard her that the real feelings that come through in how a song is sung, trumps the perfection of hitting a note – every time.

What’s the best part of returning to television with Sing It Laurie! on Sprout?
I’m so excited about Sing It Laurie! I co-created this short-form animated series with Josh Selig from Little Airplane Productions and a lot of help from Sprout. I think Little Airplane did an amazing job of bringing our 6-year old Laurie to life and has made a beautiful show. I loved the challenge of writing songs that would work for an animated series while trying to maintain my own style and connection with kids that I feel when I perform in concert. I also really loved getting to know the people that I worked with both at Little Airplane and at Sprout. I feel really proud of all of the songs and some of my favorites are still coming up. Look for the one about Laurie’s dog, Jam!

Tell us a little bit about Wanda’s Monster – what’s it like writing a musical?
What a treat! After all those years of listening to musicals growing up I finally had a chance to write the music for one. I loved writing music to move the story along and for each of the different characters. I had never before written music for other people to sing and that was thrilling. I also loved hearing their interpretations of the words. I remember the first time I heard someone in the audience laugh at a line I had written because of how the actor delivered it. It was such a wonderful experience!

What’s one of the craziest things a kid has ever done at a Laurie Berkner concert?
During the song “We Are The Dinosaurs” I pretend to fall asleep, and then the band asks the audience to all yell “Wake up Laurie!” together to get me up. One time, as I was lying there, a 2-year old girl went rogue, somehow made it onto the stage and started shaking me to wake me up. (I had my eyes closed so I really had no idea what was going on.) Apparently she was oblivious to the fact that her parents were trying to coax her down and that the audience was watching to see what would happen. Eventually Susie took her by the hand, led her off the stage and the rest of the room got on with their yelling.

Best advice for upcoming music writers and performers?
Notice what you love and what you do well, and follow those things. It’s a great way to find and hone what is unique about you and your music. 

PROGRAMMING PICKS

Disney Channel’s Phineas and Ferb has featured more than 400 songs since its debut. Now fans will get to relive their favorite musical moments from the series in the special Phineas and Ferb Musical Cliptastic Countdown, hosted by Kelly Osbourne. The show airs Friday, June 28 (9:30pm), and fans can get in on the action by voting for their favorite music videos on DisneyChannel.com beginning May 24. The special will also feature an appearance by Maia Mitchell (Disney Channel Original Movie Teen Beach Movie, ABC Family’s The Fosters).

ABC Family is getting in the game. The net has added another original series to its roster–Spell-Mageddon set to premiere this summer. The series is an hour-long game show where contestants take on hilarious distractions while spelling increasingly challenging words. 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

1 WEEK AWAY!

Cynopsis Kids !magination Awards
June 4 | 11:30AM-2PM | The Yale Club NY

Register before the event sells out!

Join award finalists/winners, support your colleagues + network with the best in the industry! Special guest appearances by Babar the Elephant + Clifford the Big Red Dog.

LICENSING

Firefly Brand Management and Moonscoop are joining efforts to spearhead licensing efforts for two key brands in the U.S. market: kids series Chloe’s Closet, which currently airs in 100-plus markets including Sprout in the States, and Sabrina, Secrets of a Teenage Witch, slated to debut this fall on Hub Network.

Creativity International is teaming with the U.K. retailer Tesco to launch a promo featuring some of the most popular Mister Maker craft packs, based on the arts-and-crafts preschool show created by Zodiak Rights. The monthlong promotion ESCO launched May 16 and will see reductions on Mister Maker craft kits, and a new exclusive Mister Maker Sealife Puppets Kit.

AG Properties and its licensing agent Exim Licensing are launching a new Strawberry Shortcake QSR promotional campaign with Habib’s and Ragazzo restaurants in 450 locations throughout Brazil.

DIGITAL UPDATE

The developers of popular sites Poptropica and Funbrain this week are launching new website Funbrain Jr., packed with content for kids 2-6 and their parents. Interactive activities include Mushroom Bounce and A-Mazing Words, which help build early math, literacy, computer and problem-solving skills.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Peter Rabbit hops on to CBeebies in the U.K. beginning Monday, June 3. The series, a a co-production among Silvergate Media, Penguin U.K. and CBeebies, recently launched on Nickelodeon in the States… It’s to Russia with love for LazyTown, which is now airing on Boomerang and free-to-air channel Carousel in Russia. Boomerang is also carrying LazyTown Action Time!, and Megalicense, new to the account in Russia, is negotiating for season 3 on Carousel… Robin Hood: Mischief in Sherwood, a series based on the classic tale produced by Method Animation and DQ Entertainment and commissioned by TF1 (France), De Agostini (Italy) and ZDF (Germany), has been picked up by broadcasters in French-speaking Canada and severa European territories. Kids programming distributor PGS Entertainment completed broadcasting deals for the series with Tele-Quebec in Quebec, VRT in Belgium, Canal Panda in Portugal, RTVE in Spain and MTV3 in Finland.

BY THE NUMBERS

Editor’s Note: Due to the Memorial Day holiday, Nielsen ratings were not available by our deadline. We will return with ratings next week.

Weekend box office estimates for the 10 top-grossing kids/tween/teen movies rated G, PG or PG-13, provided by Rentrak for May 24-26, 2013:

Star Trek Into Darkness (Paramount)  PG-13  $38 million (weekend)  $146.8 million (2-week cume)
Epic (20th Century Fox)  PG  $34.2 million (weekend)  $34,2 million (1-week cume)
Iron Man 3 (Disney) PG-13  $19.4 million (weekend) $367.5 million (4-week cume)
The Great Gatsby (Warner Bros.) PG-13  $13.7 million (weekend)  $114.4 million (3-week cume)
42 (Warner Bros.) PG-13  $1.24 million (weekend)  $91 (7-week cume)
The Croods (20th Century Fox) PG  $1.21 million (weekend)  $179.2 (10-week cume)
Oblivion (Universal) PG-13  $815,000 (weekend)  $87.3 million (6-week cume)
Oz the Great and Powerful (Disney) PG $629,000 (weekend)  $232.2 million (12-week cume)
GI Joe: Retaliation (Paramount) PG-13  $400,000 (weekend) $121 million (9-week cume)
Fill The Void (Sony Pictures Classics) PG  $60,436 (weekend) $60,436 (1-week cume)

CYNKIDS SPOTLIGHT

Times Square has a new structure. The Lego Group has erected the world’s largest Lego model, a 1:1 replica of the Lego Star Wars X-Wing starfighter to whet appetites for upcoming premiere of today’s The Yoda Chronicles on Cartoon Network. The massive replica took 32 master builders, 5 million Lego bricks and 17,000-plus hours to complete. The model weighs nearly 46,000 pounds, stands 11 feet tall and 43 feet long, and has a wingspan of 44 feet. After it’s N.Y. stint, the model heads to Legoland California Resort, where it will be installed through the remainder of the year.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: Here’s a tricky one… Was Trixie Speed Racer’s sister or girlfriend? Was Trixie Speed Racer’s sister or girlfriend? Though it was sometimes ambiguous, Trixie was Speed’s girlfriend. Kudos to Brad Stern, Bellavia Blatt, Mineola, NY; Chris Devine Dailey, Simply Devine Marketing Group, Deposit, NY; Marc Morrell, ToonBarn.com, Hoboken, NJ; Sabrina Sparlin.

Today’s Trivia Question: Who played Merlo the Magician in Sid and Marty Krofft’s series Lidsville? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone.)

Cheers — Cathy
[email protected] for Cynopsis Kids!
05.29.13

Roberta Caploe: Editorial Director
Denise O’Connor: Group Publisher, Cynopsis Media
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group

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