Marvel Increases Supermarket Presence Through Expanded Licensing Agreements with Industry Leaders Unilever Ice Cream and Brach's, and New Agreement with BrandSource
Monday May 2, 7:00 am ET .....2005
Agreements Provide Vast Exposure for Marvel's Renowned Super Heroes in Highly Trafficked Snack Food and Frozen Food Aisles
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2005-- Building on its strategy to maximize awareness and exposure for its popular Super Hero franchises in all major retail avenues, Marvel Enterprises, Inc., a global character-based entertainment licensing company, is enhancing its focus on the supermarket arena through three expanded or new agreements. The company has finalized expanded licensing agreements with Unilever Ice Cream, the largest manufacturer of branded packaged ice cream and frozen novelty products in North America, and Brach's Confections, Inc., one of America's leading manufacturers of confections and fruit snacks. In addition, Marvel has entered into a new agreement with BrandSource, a beverage brand and marketing firm that develops and delivers high quality, innovative beverage products to the retail food industry. The agreements are reflective of Marvel's brand-building licensing strategy to team its globally renowned character franchise with industry-leading partners who develop new product markets that are supported by extensive marketing campaigns and vast retail distribution.
"Having a significant presence in the supermarket arena increases the exposure of Marvel's characters directly to parents and children. Enhancing our relationship with world-renowned companies such as Unilever Ice Cream -- which has leading national brands including Breyers®, Popsicle®, Klondike®, Good Humor® and Ben & Jerry's® -- and Brach's, as well as opening new product categories for our characters through our agreement with BrandSource, helps us achieve significant retail space, receive strong sales and marketing support and maximize the supermarket distribution of our branded products," said Tim Rothwell, President of Worldwide Consumer Media Group, Marvel Enterprises.
Building upon the success of its Spider-Man inspired Popsicle® products, Unilever Ice Cream has now obtained the rights to develop a line of Marvel-themed products for its best-selling Popsicle® brand. Pursuant to the new, multi-year license agreement, Unilever Ice Cream will produce and market water ice pops for several premier Marvel character franchises, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America and both the classic comic and the movie versions of the Fantastic Four. Packaging for each product will spotlight the featured Marvel Heroes.
Through its recently extended multi-year license agreement, Brach's will greatly expand its offerings of Marvel-themed fruit snacks. In addition to its current Spider-Man product Brach's will develop and market themed fruit snack for the Fantastic Four (both classic comic and movie property) and the new Marvel Heroes brand, which highlights several popular Super Heroes. Packaging for the new products will feature eye-catching imagery of the featured Marvel Super Heroes.
In a brand new multi-year agreement, BrandSource - makers of the first ready-to-drink coffee beverage developed under the direction of a world-renowned chef, Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Latte - has been awarded the rights to produce and market ready-to-drink hot chocolate for Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, Captain America and Daredevil. Packaging for each product will spotlight the featured Marvel Heroes.
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