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BLE NEW EXHIBITOR SPOTLIGHT: IMPS
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BLE NEW EXHIBITOR SPOTLIGHT: IMPSby Katie Roberts | Email a friend | PrintAdd a commentBookmark with Social network IMPS is relaunching the Smurfs at BLE in time for the new movie from Sony Columbia Pictures in 2011.
The Smurfs made its first appearance in 1958 in a story of Johan & Peewit in Le Journal de Spirou. At first, the Smurfs were secondary characters, but they soon became stars in their own right.
The cartoon was created by Pierre Culliford, better known as Peyo, and in 1984, his daughter, Veronique Culliford founded IMPS (stand 575).
The firm acts as general licensor for the brand and as distributor of the catalogue of 256 animated cartoons of the Smurfs for TV and DVD. IMPS also creates artwork for licensing and creates the Smurfs comic.
The Smurfs is represented worldwide with licensing deals across nearly all categories. One of the strongest products for IMPS has been the Smurf figurines from Schleich, with sales in excess of 400 million and over 500 characters created.
Music has always been key in the world of the little blue characters and in ten years, 16 million CDs have been sold in Europe and over 40 million CDs and records sold since the 70s.
Another key area the brand works well in is in promotional material. Over the last two years, three supermarket promotions have been run in Europe alongside a campaign with Kellogg’s, four with Ferrero, many deals with newspapers and on-pack promotions and competitions with existing licensees.
William Auriol, general manager of IMPS, explains the longevity and success of the brand: “Smurfs are a unique creation with their specific blue colour, the Smurf language and their village. The Smurfs are also vectors of important values such as respect, tolerance, wisdom, social exchanges, dialogues, attention, optimism and faith in the future. Today more than ever, companies need to reposition their image around characters representing those values that consumers turn to.
“Moreover, the Smurfs are universal, present worldwide and timeless. They please to both boys and girl and also to hundreds of millions of adults that grew up with them. The Smurfs are unique in the world to offer a character and universe that appeals on so many levels. In the UK, it has such great heritage and goodwill and the time is perfect for the Smurfs to be reintroduced to what was such a successful territory.”
As such, at BLE, the firm is hoping to expand its UK licensing activity in general. Given the flexibility of the Smurf characters, the firm hopes to increase its representation in several sectors including untraditional sectors for licensing.
To aid it with its UK plans, IMPS has teamed up with The Licensing Company in order to re-launch the Smurfs
.
Auriol continues: “In the UK, we are looking to seed the adult market in the run up to the movie launch. We already have fantastic interest in both the kids and adult sectors and will be working very closely with the licensing company to build a long term programme for both the movie and way beyond.”
Not sure what the BLE expo is and when it is.
Or maybe not?
Is this open to general public .. pay on the door?
