Filling a void in the Nordic home entertainment market, Denmark-based Scanbox Entertainment has created two new children’s DVD labels, putting TV2 kids acquisitions exec turned consultant Lisbeth Mathieson squarely in charge of picking up a portfolio of programming to feed into the effort.

Scanbox Solo targets kids six to 11 content such as Planet Sketch (Aardman) and The Fairly OddParents (Nick), while Milk Moustache serves up preschool content like Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs (CCI), Franny’s Feet (Decode), Peppa Pig (Rubber Duck), Little Princess (TV-Loonland) and Hana’s Helpline (Calon). Mathieson says the goal is to establish Milk Moustache as a trusted brand that busy parents can recognize and count on to deliver wholesome and entertaining content. Hence, the name – a healthy dose of nutrient-rich milk to please parents, mixed with a goofy milk moustache that makes kids laugh.

Scanbox has packaged each acquisition as a series of DVDs (the 39 x half hours of Franny’s Feet, for example, are divided up into nine volumes) that sport kid-friendly handles and translations for all four Nordic regions (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland).

Above and beyond signing deals and prepping the content for shelf life, Mathieson has been working hard to get retailers on-board, a layer she’s not used to dealing with. ‘When you’re in TV, you schedule a show and you’ve got an open line to your users,’ she explains. ‘But there’s a gatekeeper when you’re talking about home entertainment, and that’s the retailer.’ Sell-in overtures involve bombarding retailers with a battery of ratings and property performance measurements as proof that the shows are already well-known amongst parents in the market. To that end, Mathieson has been working at communicating the brand directly to retailers in meetings, as well as getting some consumer print ads into the field.

As for filling out the two brand portfolios, Mathieson is in the market for more boys titles and properties with strong promotional and play pattern potential that would complement and support licensing and merchandising programs.