Whirlwind launch for Twister Sisters & Company

With the formation of Twister Sisters & Company, a full-service intellectual property management and marketing firm, former Lucasfilm director of licensing Andre Lake Mayer has corralled a diverse slate of clients and charter ‘consortium’ team of industry professionals. The firm’s client roster currently includes Turner, BattleBots, yoyoninjaboy.com and Spin Games Group. Among those joining the consortium team are Julia Russo Stein, previously director of merchandising and product development for Lucasfilm, and Abigail Williams, former senior VP of licensing and sales for pubco US Media Holdings.

DIC catalog is music to BMG’s ears

DIC Entertainment has signed an international sub-publishing agreement with BMG for its music catalog. BMG will manage DIC works created after July 1, 1998 worldwide, excluding the U.S. and Canada, where DIC will continue to administer music rights through its in-house music division. The DIC tune catalog includes original theme songs, featured songs and background scores to 2,500 half hours of programming, including Sabrina the Animated Series, Madeline, Sailor Moon and Sonic Underground.

Hasbro renames its licensing division

Hasbro’s 3D Licensing has a new name-Hasbro Consumer Products. With offices in London, Australia, France, Rhode Island and Los Angeles, HCP will continue to focus on extending Hasbro’s brands.

Miffy heads to Brazil

United Media has assigned licensing agency International Trading Consultants to bring Dick Bruna’s white rabbit to Brazil, where the company also represents Peanuts, Fido Dido and Lupo Albertto. United Media has also signed TyC Entertainment, which has Nickelodeon properties and Angela Anaconda in its roster, to rep Peanuts and Dilbert in Argentina.

IMG breaks into kids entertainment with Rumpus

Rumpus, creator of animated films, TV series and kids on-line entertainment network Rumpus.com, has retained independent personality, trademark and event licensing company IMG Licensing to leverage Rumpus properties into licensing and merchandising categories worldwide. IMG, with an impressive lineup of sports personalities, models, fashion brands and trademarks, steps up its efforts to build a kids category with the addition of Rumpus; the agency also handles Dennis the Menace.

Alliance Atlantis gets So Smart!

The Baby School Company has chosen Alliance Atlantis to represent its So Smart! brand of preschool videos worldwide. Jennifer Bennett, Alliance Atlantis VP of merchandising and licensing, will be looking to extend the brand into publishing and toys. With over 500,000 videos sold, the So Smart! collection introduces babies and toddlers to shapes, letters, musical instruments and foreign languages in an open-ended format.

StudioCanal goes on-line

Munich-based licensing agency StudioCanal License Deutschland gains a web presence with the launch of www.studiocanallicence.de. The site features information about the company’s licenses (including Teletubbies, Tweenies and Babar), licensees and marketing activities.