Page 14 - Toy & Hobby Retailer Magazine Mar-Apr 2019

LICENSING NEWS
FROM INSIDE THE LICENCE
Former Funtastic international sales director appointed to commercial director at WildBrain
CHILDREN’S content and brands company, DHX Media, has appointed a new vice president of rights strategy as well as
a new commercial director for its wholly owned subsidiary, WildBrain.
Former international sales director at Funtastic, Rachel Taylor, will now serve as the commercial director at WildBrain, reporting to the managing director, Jon Gisby.
Taylor is now responsible for expanding WildBrain’s commercial partnership business with third party brands, leading the sales and operations teams, as well as client management.
Gisby said that Taylor can appreciate the importance of the third-party brands, due to her extensive experience in the industry.
“The third-party kids’ brands that we manage are an important pillar of the WildBrain business.
“Rachel possesses a deep appreciation
of the importance of commercial partnerships, built over a decade of experience working in international media and consumer products.
“We welcome her to the WildBrain team and look forward to working with her to continue building our network of clients and developing these relationships.”
Meanwhile, DHX also appointed a new vice president of rights strategy.
Lara Ilie will serve as the VP
of rights strategy, reporting to
DHX Media’s chief commercial
officer, Anne Loi. In her
position, Ilie will implement
strategies to help optimise
and monetise the company’s portfolio and will formulate strategies to keep DHX’s content fresh. She will also manage sales of the content library across Australia, Canada, Italy and Spain.
President of DHX Media, Josh Scherba, said that Ilie has a knack for building great client relationships, which will help to grow the business.
“We are committed to driving increased growth from our world-leading portfolio of
Feisty Pets’ YouTube channel to expand
FEISTY Pets’ YouTube series, Feisty Films, is poised for growth, after William Mark Corporation and Surge Licensing signed with Studio71 to manage the YouTube brand.
Under Studio71s guidance, the brand will strengthen and grow its relationships.
Vice president at Surge Licensing, Elan Freedman, said that Feisty Pets went through transformative changes in 2018 and that partnering with Studio71 will see it continue to grow.
“The Feisty Pet brand went through a transformative year in 2018, bringing on key partners such as Scholastic and Jazwares, establishing a huge footprint in both publishing and toys.
“Studio71 is joining the greater Feisty Pets family, as our digital media partner, becoming the third pillar of an expansive worldwide brand and
world building campaign. From here, the brand’s trajectory is limitless.” Studio71 is a multi-platform content studio which has
YouTuber’s such as Tyler Oakley, Lilly Singh, Grace Helbig and Rhett & Link on its talent roster.
Feisty Films is created and produced by William Mark Corporations’ president and chief executive officer, Mark Forti,
who launched the toy in 2016.
At the 2018 Licensing Expo in Vegas, Feisty Pets was named as Licence Global’s One To Watch. ❉
FROM LEFT: Rachel Taylor, commercial director, WildBrain. Lara Ilie, VP of rights strategy, DHX Media.
kids’ and family brands.
“Lara has a talent for building strong client relationships and has consistently demonstrated a keen understanding of the international market for children’s content and brands.
“With her in-depth knowledge of DHX Media’s rights business, Lara is the ideal person to help us further identify and advance integrated strategies to propel
our rights business on the next phase of
14 TOY & HOBBY RETAILER MARCH / APRIL 2019