MUMBAI: Hip Brands, the third party licensing banner within The Jim Henson Company, has acquired global licensing rights (excluding the Philippines) to Psyclops.
This is a multiplatform product and online experience for tweens, teens and youngadults, featuring one-eyed characters that embrace the world of music, art, dance, and technology.
The agreement was announced by The Jim Henson Company senior VP of global consumer products Melissa Segal at. Psyclops was first introduced in 2009 in the form of a mobile application that allows consumers to create unique animations and music videos synced to their iPods.
Since then Psyclops creators, product developer Joy Kovaleski and creative director Jeff Muncy quickly leveraged the popularity of the app, introducing unique iPod and iPhone covers featuring the Psyclops characters, and a fully interactive web-based music and dance community.
Marketing and publicity support for the brand has included celebrity seeding at the 2011 Golden Globe Awards and a presence at the MacWorld show. Upcoming support includes a presence at Comic-Con in July.
New video shorts are being produced for the web and an active social media network campaign is in development. Under its global licensing contract, HIP Brands will seek to develop an extensive range of PSYCLOPS branded consumer products in key categories such as toys, designer plush,apparel, home furnishings, stationery, gifts, social expression, personal care, publishing, food and electronics.
Segal said, "In the two years since the creators first introduced Psyclops, teens and tweens have been engaging with these colorful, graphically appealing, one-eyed characters online, and as aunique and distinctive means for personalizing their iPods and iPhones. Psyclops is a fresh, iconic, interactive and immersive pop culture brand, and offers incredible opportunities to tap into the growing youth consumer base on a variety of levels."
Psyclops creative director Jeff Muncy said, "We‘re so happy to be working with Hip. Having worked with the Henson team on other projects, I know first-hand of their ability to deliver a fully developed global licensing programme for Psyclops and we‘re just eager to get started."
