Beanstalk to Develop a Global Licensing Program for Outfit7’s Mobile Entertainment Phenomenon, Talking Friends
By Beanstalk, PRNEMonday, June 27, 2011
NEW YORK, June 28, 2011 -
- Beanstalk to
Extend Talking Friends’ Characters into Multiple Product Categories
to Engage Users Offline, Connecting Digital and Physical
Properties
Beanstalk, a leading global brand licensing agency and
consultancy, today announced that it has been selected by Outfit7
as the exclusive, global licensing agency for Talking
Friends, the wildly popular series of mobile applications that
have become a pop culture phenomenon. Beanstalk will be
tasked with launching a worldwide licensing program across multiple
categories for Talking Friends, its series of mobile
applications and its cast of characters including Talking Tom
Cat, Talking Ben the Dog and Talking Gina the
Giraffe, among others.
The Talking Friends franchise, which launched in July
2010, has become a sensation with the media and millions of fans of
all ages the world over. Each of the Talking Friends
apps features a unique, heartwarming, and fully animated 3D
character that comes to life when poked, tickled, and played with
on mobile touch-screen devices for the iOS and Android platforms.
The interactive character repeats everything a user says, and the
apps allows fans to create customized videos of their interactions
with the Talking Friends and share them via Facebook,
YouTube, MSS or email. Over 400,000 videos are spread virally every
month.
Since its launch in July 2010, the Talking Friends
Collection of apps have been downloaded over 135 million times with
upwards of 10 million people a day engaging with one of the
Talking Friends characters. Talking Tom Cat ranked
No. 3 among the free applications on Apple’s App Store for iPhone
in 2010-—ahead of Angry Birds, Google, Twitter and Apple’s iBooks.
The recently launched Talking Tom Cat 2 was downloaded 4.5
million times in the first week and reached the No. 1 chart
position in over 70 countries. More than 15,000 Talking
Friends user-created videos have also been uploaded to YouTube,
generating over nine million views. The Talking
Friends franchise cuts across multiple age groups with millions
upon millions of users every day.
Beanstalk will launch a global licensing program for the
Talking Friends characters with innovative licensed products
that incorporate specific play patterns and interactive features
unique to each character. Select products will incorporate
developmental elements of the characters such as speech, music,
co-ordination, reading, writing and sensory interactions.
Like Talking Friends’ cast of digital characters, the
licensed products will engage users differently depending on the
user’s age and provide the same unique connections and game
experiences that have made the application so popular. The
licensing program will have a two-pronged focus with consumer
products designed for the user demographics — children ages 2-8
and tweens, teens and adults.
“Outfit7’s objective is to combine innovative and creative
design with loveable characters that capture the imagination and
hearts of people of all ages,” said Andrej Nabergoj, CEO of
Outfit7. ”We call our apps the Next Generation of
Entertainment because they were inspired by the new generation of
mobile touch devices, leveraging their advanced technical features
to create simple, engaging apps that people can enjoy alone or
together. We chose to work with Beanstalk because they too
have a history of innovation and the pioneering spirit we seek in
all of our partners, as well as the capabilities and experience
needed to extend our brand across the globe. Consumer products,
both digital and physical, are a key part of our long-term strategy
to expand the franchise across various platforms and
categories.”
The program will extend Talking Friends’ amusing and
engaging cast of characters into a range of product categories
including toys, games, apparel and accessories, social expression,
arts and crafts, electronic accessories, home décor and health and
beauty, tapping into best-in-class licensees. The program will be
available across multiple retail channels including online, mass,
mid-tier, drug, grocery and specialty retailers. Products are
slated to rollout in 2012 with a limited launch for Holiday
2011.
“Expanding the Talking Friends franchise into the real
world through creative and innovative licensing and brand extension
programs is truly an exciting prospect for Beanstalk and
representative of an important emerging trend in the world of
entertainment,” said Michael Stone, CEO of Beanstalk. ”While
video games, digital and online properties have a long history of
brand extensions and licensing, we are just witnessing the tip of
the iceberg for app brand licensing. This is the new frontier
of licensing and we are delighted to be a part of it. Apps
have become such a mainstream part of our lives now that they
occupy the same kind of loyalty and affinity as movies, television
programs and other entertainment properties.”
About Outfit7
With more than 135 million downloads since its launch in July
2010, Outfit7 is the world’s leading creator of mobile
entertainment. Its Talking Friends collection has become a
major phenomenon, with characters featured on ABC’s “Modern Family”
as well as NBC’s “Today Show.” There are currently 11 characters in
the Talking Friends collection including Talking Tom
Cat, Talking Tom Cat 2, Talking Ben the Dog,
Talking Lila the Fairy, Talking Gina the
Giraffe, Talking Baby Hippo, Talking Larry the
Bird, Talking Harry the Hedgehog, Talking Santa,
Talking Bacteria John, Talking Roby the Robot, and
Talking Rex the Dinosaur. Outfit7 has offices in Palo Alto,
California and Ljubljana, Slovenia and is committed to building the
world’s leading next generation entertainment company.
About Beanstalk
Beanstalk, a global brand licensing agency and consultancy,
extends brands through the strategic and creative development of
licensed products. The company works with blue-chip brands and
other high-profile clients to leverage licensing as a strategic
tool to enhance brand awareness, increase consumer touch-points,
and generate revenue. Beanstalk also offers a breadth of additional
licensing services including direct-to-retail program management,
license acquisition for manufacturers, celebrity/expert talent
management, and TransAct™ customized legal and financial
services.
Beanstalk is the licensing agency of record for over 50
world-class brands and has developed thousands of brand extensions
in every major product category, resulting in nearly $2.3 billion
in retail sales in 2010 alone. The company is headquartered
in New York, with offices in London, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami,
and Hong Kong, and affiliates throughout the world. For more
information, please visit
Beanstalk is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. Diversified Agency
Services (NYSE: OMC). Omnicom (
is a leading global marketing and corporate communications
company.
Debra Restler, Beanstalk, Debra.Restler at beanstalk.com, +1-212-303-1146
Tags: Beanstalk, June 28, New York
