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Thursday 15 October 2009

Sunshine, Seinfeld and Simpsons in Cannes!

What a difference six months makes!
At MIP.TV in April, not only was the global economic issue at the forefront of most conversations but the weather seemed to understand the subdued mood and it poured with rain throughout the show.
Fast forward to October and MIPCOM and what an amazing difference. The sun shone and the mood was upbeat as executives focused on deals rather than economic crises.
With Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution celebrating the 20th anniversary of ‘The Simpsons’ during MIPCOM, series creator Matt Groening drew a capacity crowd and an unprecedented standing ovation to his keynote discussions with ‘The Simpsons’ executive producer Al Jean and their host/moderator and ‘Super Size Me’ director Morgan Spurlock. Cannes Mayor Bernard Brochand declared Wednesday Simpsons Day in the city and Matt Groening received the inaugural MIPCOM Creative Icon Award the same evening.
Another American comic icon, Jerry Seinfeld, wowed hundreds of international buyers at MIPCOM with a stand-up set and the international unveiling of his new comedy-panel format ‘The Marriage Ref,’ created and executive produced by Seinfeld and Ellen Rakieten and distributed by Endemol.
With over 12,000 delegates in Cannes, MIPCOM registered an increase on the 11,500 delegates who attended MIPTV in April. Buyers were also out in force, with over 4,000 in town compared to 3,500 at MIPTV.

Friday 2 October 2009

Brand Licensing a huge success all round

We're back from Brand Licensing, which ran from 30 September - 1 October, and what a great show it was. By all accounts, everyone who exhibited and visited had an extremely busy and productive time. The show itself had a great atmosphere, with the aisles jam-packed and a real buzz around Olympia.
Quite a change from last year, where the key words in everyone's sentences seemed to be 'credit crunch' and 'economic meltdown'. Not so gloomy this year - either because things really are looking up for a lot of businesses, or because the industry has accepted that times are changing, and things have to change too. Either way, it was a good show for everyone that we spoke with.
From Total Licensing's point of view, we were so pleased that so many people were interested in the magazines, had a lot of positive things to say, and it was great to see familiar faces, and many new ones too. At one point we had representatives from Asda, C&A and Debenhams on the stand all at once, taking copies of the magazine away.
We were also pleased to introduce several people from various countries to curry one evening!