Crayola® and General Mills Join Activision’s Robust Licensing Portfolio for Its Award-Winning Skylanders Franchise
February 14 2014 - 3:59PM
Business Wire
#1 Best-Selling Kids Video Game Franchise of
2013 Worldwide1 Increases Licensing Footprint to More Than
175 Licensees
Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of
Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), announced today an
impressive roster of global licensees for its award-winning
Skylanders franchise. Landmark new relationships with Crayola® and
General Mills underscores the popularity of the Skylanders property
and drives the expansion of merchandising program into new
categories. Activision’s robust licensing portfolio, featuring more
than 175 licensees, is set to deliver meaningful brand extensions
for the #1 kids’ video game franchise in the world1.
(Photo: Business Wire)
“The relationships we have formed with Crayola and General Mills
showcase how strong Skylanders has become in just 27 months,” said
Ashley Maidy, vice president of global licensing and partnerships
for Activision Publishing. “The brand association that comes along
with these category giants expands the property’s reach outside of
our traditional channels worldwide and fosters a deeper connection
with our fans.”
As a result of these collaborations, a number of exciting new
products and promotions will come to market this year,
including:
- Activision and Crayola will
introduce unique Skylanders-branded color and activity formats. The
specialty line will include Crayola’s signature formats including
Color Wonder, Giant Coloring Pages and Xtreme Coloring, among other
new platforms and will be available this holiday at top retail
channels worldwide.
- Starting in June, a new promotion with
General Mills will release Skylanders-shaped Fruit Flavored
Snacks to fans all over North America. This relationship marks
Activision’s first entry into the category and will bring six
character favorites, including Chompy, Gill Grunt, Jet Vac, Kaos,
Stealth Elf and Eruptor to grocery stores, supermarkets, drug
stores and mass market retailers.
New and returning licensees will launch product assortments in
2014 including: POWER A (Carrying Cases & Game
Accessories), Mad Dog Concepts (Sleepwear), ABG
Accessories (Headwear & Cold Weather), Thermos
(Lunch Kits & FUNtainers™), FAB (Backpacks & School
Supplies), PTI (Easter), American Greetings (Party
Goods & Supplies) and Rubie’s Costumes (Halloween).
Activision’s rich licensing and promotional announcement comes
on the heels of a successful 2013 for the Skylanders brand.
Skylanders figures outsold all action figure lines worldwide in
2013 for the second consecutive year, beating out the top three
action figure lines combined2. Having surpassed the $2 billion mark
in sales, including 175 million toys sold worldwide in just 27
months1, Skylanders is now in the top 20 video game franchises of
all time1 and continues to set benchmarks for the toys-to-life
category.
About the Skylanders®
Franchise
The award-winning, $2 billion Skylanders franchise pioneered the
toys-to-life category in 2011 with the debut of Skylanders Spyro’s
Adventure®. The game originated a new play pattern that seamlessly
bridged physical and virtual worlds across multiple platforms and
became the top-selling kids’ videogame of the year. In October
2012, Skylanders Giants™ further evolved the genre and added the
mega-sized Giant Skylanders and LightCore® characters to the
collection of interaction figures. Skylanders Giants was awarded
the “e-Connected Toy of the Year” at the 13th Annual Toy of the
Year (TOTY) Awards. The franchise’s latest innovation, Skylanders
SWAP Force™, launched in October 2013 and introduced an all new
play pattern – swapability. The game was developed by Vicarious
Visions and is rated E10+ by the ESRB. www.skylanders.com
About Activision
Publishing
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision
Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and
distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.
Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil,
Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Sweden, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore,
mainland China, Hong Kong and the region of Taiwan. More
information about Activision and its products can be found on the
company’s website, www.activision.com.
© 2014 Activision Publishing, Inc., SKYLANDERS, SKYLANDERS SWAP
FORCE, SKYLANDERS GIANTS, SKYLANDERS SPYRO’S ADVENTURE, LIGHTCORE,
and ACTIVISION are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.
1Based on revenue, according to The NPD Group, Gfk Media
Control® and Activision internal estimates, including toys and
accessories, life to date
2Based on Activision internal estimates
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20140214005884/en/
PMK•BNCMichele
Wyman310.854.3264michele.wyman@pmkbnc.comorActivision Publishing,
Inc.Dior Brown424.744.5864dior.brown@activision.com
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