Riverside Brands to grow Early Learning Centre brand

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The Entertainer partners with Ashley Holman’s agency to expand iconic brand into new categories.

The Entertainer has partnered with Riverside Brands to lead its brand extension strategy for Early Learning Centre.

The heritage of the ELC brand – which The Entertainer acquired in February 2019 – and the iconic characters within the portfolio, lends itself to wider brand extensions into categories such as apparel, nightwear, health and beauty, publishing, nursery and experiences, particularly Happyland and the core ELC brand.

The partnership also marks a significant move for a retailer into the licensing space in what are challenging times, highlighting the commitment of the group to support the ELC brand; both within its own retail space and through bespoke brand extensions led by Riverside Brands.

“We are extremely excited to be partnering with Riverside Brands on this exciting opportunity for the Early Learning Centre brand,” said Stuart Grant, global sourcing officer at The Entertainer. “With such a strong heritage as an iconic part of early years development we are confident there is more opportunity for the brand to be an even bigger part of children’s early years by giving them greater access to the characters through carefully selected brand extensions.

“We are confident that Riverside Brands is the right partner to achieve this in a way that protects the brand by securing opportunities to compliment the existing brand heritage.” Ashley Holman, md of Riverside Brands, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with The Entertainer on this exciting opportunity for Early Learning Centre. “ELC has been a much-loved brand for nearly 50 years and we’re looking forward to making its iconic characters more accessible through brand extensions into areas such as apparel and bedding.”

Ashley continued: “Children love these characters, they’re an important part of their early years and we’re looking forward to making them available in categories which will complement the core toy ranges.”

Hurrah For Gin: Riverside announces representation

Ambitious agency adds humorous online parenting series to its fast growing roster.

Riverside Brands continues to strengthen its portfolio, welcoming the humorous online parenting series, Hurrah for Gin. Created by Katie Kirby, the brand is based on her own trials and tribulations of parenting. The blog and social media channels give an amusing account of parenting young children through a series of relatable ‘real life’ scenarios depicted by stick figures with accompanying speech bubbles. With a large social following and Katie’s third book Reluctant Adult launching this week, Riverside Brands is aiming to build on the brand’s success by implementing a dedicated consumer products programme, spanning multiple categories. “We’re delighted to add Hurrah for Gin to the Riverside Brands’ collection and see huge potential for the brand,” said Ashley Holman, md of Riverside Brands. “We’ve kickstarted our outreach to licensees in relevant categories including greeting cards, stationery, gift, nightwear and outerwear and the brand is being really well received so far. “We’re looking forward to solidifying these deals by the end of the year.”

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