The term "licensing partnerships" has come to mean much more than the relationships between licensors and licensees. As more and more studios integrate the licensing discipline into their own operations, new partnerships have developed internally among departments and across traditional job functions.

In our special report on licensing and merchandising, we trace the evolution of a number of licensing programs as they developed within leading studios. Each story begins when the licensing and merchandising departments first became involved in a property and then tracks the campaign as licensing and promotional partners join in culminating in the presentation of the property at Licensing '97 International in New York.

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The creation of Mummies Alive! and its licensing campaign began spontaneously one summer during DIC Entertainment president Andy Heyward's family vacation in 1995. Heyward visited the Egyptian Mummy Collection at The British Museum in London, and his kids "went crazy over the mummies," says Joy Tashjian, president of worldwide merchandising and sales at DIC. Thanks to Heyward's imagination working overtime, the idea for a kids series was born.

"At that time, we had a tremendous relationship with [Ghostbusters producer] Ivan Reitman, going back 10 years to The Real Ghostbusters series, which ran for about four years on television and generated over US$500 million in toy sales," says Tashjian.

Seeking a repeat performance of that successful partnership, Heyward and his marketing team Michael Maliani, senior vice president of development, and Robby London, senior vice president of creative affairs searched for an idea to which Reitman would lend his name.

The process took some time. Rietman shot down every concept they had. "He's very selective an active partner, not the kind of producer that just signs off on things," says Tashjian. Heyward finally found the perfect opening to pitch to the producer in January 1996, when the Mummy exhibit traveled to Los Angeles. Reitman and his kids accompanied Heyward to the exhibit, and Reitman showed "some real enthusiasm," says Tashjian.

The mummies concept has now evolved into a boys action-figure line and an action-adventure series for children age four to 10.

Currently, the team is growing the licensee list, but not too quickly. "We're not looking to build it so large that each licensee is given fragments. We want the property to be well supported, but we want the licensees to reap the benefits of a good solid program," says Tashjian.

How the campaign started:

January 1996 to June 1996

From these early conceptual seeds, the show and licensing plans are fleshed out, and the early concept is presented for the first time at the Licensing Show.

First Licensee

The Hasbro Games Group comes on board as the master toy licensee in October 1996, 11 months ahead of the air date.

"Once we had Hasbro in place, we selected our syndication company [Claster Syndication]," says Tashjian. She notes that having the master toy license in place is vital, because without it, it's difficult to get solid funding for a TV show. "Once you have the TV show and the syndicator in place, then you start to look at your ancillary licenses."

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