Coolabi Share Discussion Threads

[iloveit] 10/5/2011 09:01

rubbish ,why is this going down again,all that we are contracts ,deals etc,etc we are brilliant and watch this space ,WHAT ABOUT THE SHAREPRICE!!!!!!
INVESTIGATE NOW !!!!

[orange1] 06/5/2011 07:48

iloveit obviously very happy with the fall in the share price (rubbing his hands together with glee) as the following post reveals:

"iloveit - 12 Apr'11 - 17:22 - 378 of 397

Down again,can you belive this its on its way back to 6p ,ok so maybe we shall get a bargain as price drifts down .rubbing my hands together THIS IS GETTING CHEAPER!!!!!!!"

[iloveit] 06/5/2011 07:31

6p a share ,you was right it has drifted down AGAIN.

[bbd2] 05/5/2011 08:02

Tail wags the dog

Brand management, property lifecycles, partnerships - these are the buzzwords in L&M, where what was once known as 'ancillary' revenue is now the starting point for many children's shows. Josephine Collins reports.

If the path from a creative children's television idea to branded product on a retailer's shelf was once a linear value chain, today that pathway takes a rather more roundabout route.

Licensing and merchandising (L&M) no longer covers what was previously known as 'ancillary' revenue. Today in children's programming, and particularly in preschool, L&M can be the core of the proposition - and an essential element before a series gets the green light.

UK media consultant and former Chorion exec John Collins says: "The inclusion of an L&M programme in the pitch to investors is such a recognised path now that it's difficult to see how there will ever be an alternative route for producers. For broadcasters, sometimes evidence of licensing intent can provide reassurance about consumer demand for the property outside of television, which will drive eyeballs back to their channel."

It is still the case, however, that broadcast commissioners judge a pitch largely on the quality of content, the calibre of the producer, and the show's fit within the portfolio rather than the size of the licensing ambitions, Collins says.

But there are provisos that depend on the show and the territory. In Canada and France, for example, where animation production attracts regional and arts funding, full-on L&M is less important than in the UK and the US.

But diminishing broadcast revenue has given licensing and even product companies unprecedented control in the value chain - and Hasbro's move from making toys to content generation to broadcast through The Hub, its cablenet venture with Discovery Communications, is only part of that story.

Toy companies have, after all, been involved in funding production for some years. What's different now is that L&M is, in some cases, helping to articulate the content. And for the vertical majors, such as Warner Bros and Nickelodeon, the issue is not so much about funding but more about managing a property through its lifecycle, developing it into a franchise and extending it over years and even decades.

Of course, retailers have a powerful place in the value chain, with their buying decisions indicating first success or failure for any property's L&M programme. Received wisdom is that retailers tend to make conservative decisions, particularly during difficult economic times. They stick with what they know so that they can manage inventory more effectively, leaving only a small part of their budgets available for new properties. When a new property comes along they have to be fully convinced of its value.

Warner Bros' Looney Tunes is an example of how an evergreen property can be reinvented, and with the support of retailers. With no new content to drive the property's L&M, the Warner Bros licensing team in Europe came up with a new way of articulating the brand for today's children.

While keeping its focus on irreverent fun, it started to talk about the property in terms of healthy activity for kids, developing the Looney Tunes Active programme whose first offering - a water product from Nestlé - was launched in 2007.

Bruno Schwobthaler (above), senior VP of sales and business development at Warner Bros Consumer Products (WBCP) EMEA, explains: "We sharpened how the story was presented in licensing programmes by using the DNA of the characters - which were dynamic and active and had a variety of physical features - and focusing on those attributes relevant to kids and an active lifestyle."

Existing children's product and food licences were looked at again and there are now some 250 licensees across EMEA, including Europe's largest food direct-to-retail deal with Systeme U in France, a sports apparel agreement with Intersport, and deals with the basketball associations in France and Spain. WBCP claims that Looney Tunes is now Europe's number one active licensed brand.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this story is that the licensing programme has fed back into the new Looney Tunes animated series, which debuts in the US this autumn. One CGI section in each show focuses on physical activity, tying it back into the licensing programme. Effectively, a marketing initiative from the licensing arm of the business has influenced the new content.

Schwobthaler continues: "The two key aspects of successful licensing are reaching a certain level of awareness and reaching a level of relevance. Content used to drive awareness and exposure, and the story created the relevance. In this case, the process was different. The licensing team adjusted the brand story to make it more active, then worked with product manufacturers to make sure that story was being told, and this was followed by the involvement with sports organisations. Retailers became part of the activity as well, and finally we get to a new television series being launched."

Companies that are both producers and licensors clearly have an advantage in that they control the whole lifecycle of the property. Indeed, at Entertainment One (eOne), which produces Peppa Pig in partnership with creator and studio Astley Baker Davies in the UK, L&M rights are an essential part of any coproduction deal it signs.

eOne follows the traditional licensing pattern of waiting for a property to gain a strong following through broadcast before it starts a slow, controlled release of product.

Following the success of Peppa Pig - which grossed £200m (US$320m) through retail in the UK in 2010 and is broadcast in more than 180 territories - Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom (above) is set for a similar roll-out. The property, which is broadcast in at least 150 territories, made £5m via retail in 2010 and eOne is forecasting this will grow to £15m this year.

Olivier Dumont (left), head of eOne Family, whose role covers the development and optimisation of brands, says it is imperative to "release product slowly on to the market, and it's key how you launch in different categories. It has been easier for us with Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom because of the reputation of Peppa behind it. We are able to say, 'It will succeed if you work with us.' That also enables us to manage expectations."

Ben & Holly was broadcast for two years before any children's product was released. Andrew Carley, eOne UK's head of licensing, says: "The temptation is to jump on the back of the broadcast, but we wait for a following and then do a conservative roll-out in product that meets the expectation of the market at every level. Consumers want to find product; they don't like it pushed on them."

However, eOne's Dumont, who describes the business as a brand management company, concedes that the landscape is changing. "There is not so much a new model but what is different is the value of the content itself, and you have to be very flexible in terms of working the model," he says.

Anna Hewitt, head of licensing at UK-based kids' content management group Coolabi, also makes this point. Hewitt, who previously worked on international licensing for BBC Worldwide, says: "With the cost of high-quality TV production going up and the broadcast budgets going down, L&M does often have to be part of the pitch to broadcasters. But you do also get buyers who do not want to be commercial. It's a case of juggling and knowing the buyers you are targeting and knowing what they want in their portfolio."

Hewitt also points out that in today's multi-platform world, entertainment property success can come from the digital world as well as from traditional television programming. Reflecting the WBCP experience, Coolabi is currently seeing a resurgence of interest in licensing for Bagpuss (including toys, left), a property that it manages on behalf of creators Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, despite having no new content. Hewitt says: "Bagpuss has been rediscovered by consumers. Retailers like evergreens. People know them, they have the benefit of repetition and are well established."

Michael Connolly, senior VP of consumer products at Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), agrees. "More and more, it is about looking at a property's relevance between content," he says. "It's important to watch the play pattern first. A property will always be aided by content but doesn't always need it. All our Nickelodeon properties have great play patterns, from Winx, which is all about fantasy, to Dora the Explorer, our great adventurer.

"Ultimately, everyone's looking to build an evergreen, but in order to establish a television-led evergreen, generally speaking, you need time and patience and the property needs to be out there and available to audiences for at least a 12-month period, if not longer. This allows the property to build momentum, gain strong TV ratings - both on the channel and through third-party broadcasters - and really let the show breath. For example, a huge portion of the success we have seen with Dora the Explorer in France can be attributed to the show's success on TF1. When taking any property to retail it is crucial that we have a ratings winner on our hands. Nowhere is this more important than in the UK, which is an extremely crowded preschool market."

WBCP's Schwobthaler contends that the new model is partly the result of what he describes as a more complex landscape, because "audiences have touch-points on multiple platforms. There used to be one way of doing things, and that is certainly changing. The lesson is that there is not a single way of doing things, but multiple ways, just as there are now multiple platforms."

There are also newer players in the preschool market that have come from less conventional backgrounds. DCD Rights has only recently added licensing, including third-party work, to its agenda, rolling out product for its children's science series Richard Hammond's Blast Lab (left).

But among its third-party representation is the long-standing worldwide licensing property Suzy's Zoo, which was originally a greetings card. Like others before it, notably American Greetings' Strawberry Shortcake, Suzy's Zoo is set to be recreated as a preschool animated series, with negotiations now underway with LA producers.

DCD's head of licensing Michael Gottlieb says that increasingly ideas for programming are coming from places other than production studios. "I'm finding ideas from every single source - from movies, publishing, toys and games. If an idea works in one area you can see how it could work in another. Production companies are much better placed if they have merchandise programmes in place, or the potential for L&M is there."

Then there's Universal Music's Belgian division, which in 2010 debuted an animated series called Uki as part of a diversification strategy that also includes L&M. With the help of Belgian design studio Topfloor and animation house Creative Conspiracy, the show first aired on Belgium's Ketnet and Club RTL early in 2010 and is now rolling out to broadcasters internationally at the same time as the L&M programme gets underway.

Franchise creation is important for international growth. If a property succeeds across television and licensing in one country, usually where it originated, then the property's uptake by licensing partners in other countries is more likely. And when a property can be licensed across different categories in a number of places, the stronger product categories or territories can support the weaker ones.

VIMN has recently acquired Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) and aims to develop it into a franchise. Connolly says: "As always, we'll be leading with content first on TMNT - this is really about taking a property that has longevity, putting it through the Nickelodeon toaster and re-energising it for today's audiences. We'll look carefully at how the property is resonating and build the consumer products to consist of all relevant categories, from action figures to apparel."

And for Warner Bros, too, building franchises is key because it has so many classic children's animated titles in its portfolio. "Franchise management is very important for us," says Schwobthaler, "because the core of our business in EMEA is classic properties; Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo and Tom & Jerry account for the bulk of our revenues."

Naturally not all L&M succeeds. There are many examples of when the promises of the figures on paper fall very short in the market. Coolabi's Hewitt (left) points out that the whole industry is still looking for the next Teletubbies, but Connolly cautions: "Needless to say, not every preschool, animation or live-action tween show resonates as a popular property immediately, and some may never equate to a strong consumer products business. It's all about really knowing and understanding your property, and of course, most importantly, your audiences and shoppers."

And as more ideas come from different points on the value chain, it puts studios under pressure, too. Consultant Collins says: "Where a lot of production firms currently have in-house idea-generation at their heart, it may be that over time the trend moves towards producers doing more 'work for hire,' producing for publishers, toy manufacturers and other licensees that rarely have their own in-house production capabilities.

"This will mean that the work will continue to be there but it won't necessarily be the work that inspired the creation of the production company in the first place. I imagine that quality show ideas will continue to arise from production companies, but in order to cut through and be noticed, they will need to be a lot more commercial in their outlook from the beginning if they are to find willing investors."

Josephine Collins
27 Apr 2011
© C21 Media 2011

[iloveit] 04/5/2011 16:01

take a look ,

[iloveit] 26/4/2011 13:19

looks like someone on the way out ,AGAIN.
JOB ,hmm ANNA not what we expected or company not good enougth for her wanting to stay ,or is this another post available at shareholder expense and comforting another silk lined pocket to keep .

[orange1] 23/4/2011 14:35

Job vacancy first appeared on 4 April. Hmm....

[orange1] 19/4/2011 23:03

Oh, I don't know about that. Another fundraising (the company is hardly flush with cash) could see the shareprice head further southwards.

[lord gnome] 19/4/2011 22:29

Nope - just no reason to buy! One or two small sells and down goes the share price One or two buyers and it will soon be back up again.
At 6p the historic PE is 15. About right. It will, however, be a long time until we get our next IMS or actual figures. Until then, nothing much is going to move the share price

[iloveit] 19/4/2011 16:36

Tanked down,serious obviously something creeping about as shareprice sniffing something fishy, a bad rns maybe?

[stevestallwood] 18/4/2011 15:39

RE 383 - Yup!

Re 384 - you won't have to wait too long, (or should that be 'to short'?).

[iloveit] 18/4/2011 12:39

damn this is so boring,maybe i should of got out or will just have to wait now ,maybe i could get in sub 6p for a nice top up.

[lord gnome] 15/4/2011 19:33

On the way down?

[stevestallwood] 15/4/2011 15:06

It hit and passed your 20p target 3 years ago.

[palace andy] 15/4/2011 12:04

what are you basing your 20p target on? Have you ever thought that if everything is in line then the price will remain as it is?

[iloveit] 15/4/2011 07:59

yes its drifting down again ,who said 6p shortly ,its obvious there is no support here and most are not interested in this stock .
What does this stock have to do to get thiss shareprice to reach my 20p target?
All is reported ok at the office,results,contracts,deals,everything is in line and flowing well yet shareprice does not hit anywhere need my target.
This has been going on now foe too long ,something not quite right about the growth of this stock,any views?

[stevestallwood] 14/4/2011 17:10

.....AND CHEAPER!!!!!!!!

[iloveit] 12/4/2011 17:22

Down again,can you belive this its on its way back to 6p ,ok so maybe we shall get a bargain as price drifts down .rubbing my hands together THIS IS GETTING CHEAPER!!!!!!!

[iloveit] 11/4/2011 08:15

Not Long now as we await POOPYCAY debut,roll on hopefully this now on the radar list ,any buying from now i feel is a very positve accumalation of stock i feel.Big BUY chuck would be nice.

[stevestallwood] 08/4/2011 16:47

See post 371 - at that shrinkage I say 'they ARE a seriously small company'