News
Panini sticks with Thumb Wrestling
Samantha Loveday Jul 1 2008, 9:50am
Firm signs up to create collectable stickers and sticker albums for growing property.
The
licensing deals keep coming for Thumb Wrestling Federation, with
Bulldog Licensing signing Panini to create collectable stickers and
albums based on the TWF characters.
The Panini collection will
be launching later this year, and follows on from strong levels of
interest on the High Street for the toy, apparel, publishing, greetings
cards, calendars and DVD lines, which are all based on the show.
"With over 50 characters, the strongest broadcast platform around and a
strong licensee list, this property has enormous potential," said Mark
Warsop, marketing director at Panini UK. "Just looking at the fun the
design team is having working on the property, you know it will be a
great hit with kids."
TWF features funny, action-packed bouts
of thumb wrestling between a number of zany contestants. The
short-format segments include one-minute wrestler bios, 45-second gags
and three and a half minute thumb wrestling matches.
The competition revolves around 36 original characters which fight for
two teams - the Mighty Dexteras and the Sinistras - in a match up of
good versus evil.
"Thumb Wrestling Federation is quite simply
the biggest collectable opportunity of 2008," added Rob Corney, MD of
Bulldog Licensing. "The classic play pattern of thumb wrestling makes
it perfect for merchandise and its consistent position at the top of
the ratings charts proves the very high interest in the brand.
"We're delighted that Panini is now part of our programme, as this
builds on the success that our other licensees, including Aykroyds TDP,
Sambro and Danilo, are experiencing in their sell-in."