AS BOLD AND POWERFUL as the feelings and attitudes that they represent, the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters by Roger and Adam Hargreaves - Mr. Happy, Little Miss Naughty, Mr. Greedy etc. - have since long become instantly recognizable icons of our time. BBC has labelled Hargreaves the second most successful British author ever, second only to J.K. Rowling. Two merchandising programs are available, one based on the classic property and one based on the new television series The Mr. Men Show.

The first Mr. Men books were launched in 1971 and the first Little Miss book, Little Miss Bossy, followed ten years later. To date, there are 84 characters and the books have been sold in over 100 million copies worldwide and translated into 15 languages. Publishing history in Plus Licens’ territories covers several successful titles in Sweden (Gubben...), Denmark (Fætter...) and Norway (Herr...) in the 1980s and 1990s.

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The classic property. The classic Mr. Men and Little Miss brand has been developed into a sophisticated fashion-driven line for the 18-35-year old audience, based on powerful design values such as
• Iconic, very distinctive visual identity
• Timeliness, emotional appeal
• Trend friendly creativity and collectibility
• Content that can endure re-invention
• High adaptability (e.g., “classic guide” is hip and trendy)

The list of international licensees for the classic Mr. Men brand includes Adidas, Virgin Atlantic, Unilever, Marks & Spencer, Hallmark Cards and Egmont. The property is especially successful within the categories apparel, accessories, stationery and gifts.

The classic Mr. Men styleguide is updated twice yearly, refreshed with more patterns, icons and bold new, color-saturated characters from a fashion forward approach to art, building on the original visual strength of the property while providing a hip, contemporary interpretation of the characteristics and play patterns.

The new television series. The Mr. Men Show is a brand new animated sketch show based on slapstick humor and verbal wit; primarily targeting boys and girls aged 4-7. A second season of 52 eleven-minute episodes has now been ordered for 2009, bringing the total number of available episodes to 104.

Each show packs maximum comedic bang for buck, with five sketches ranging in length from 1-3 minutes and four 10 second silent comedy interstitials.

Master toy licensee, initially for the US, the UK and France, is Fisher-Price who produces a range of pre-school products including feature plush, playsets, figures, musical toys and vehicles. The collection of toys is expected to hit shelves in the UK in the Fall of 2008, with other territories to follow from 2009.

Plus Licens represents Chorion for merchandising rights to Mr Men and Little Miss in the Nordic countries and for merchandising rights and DVD rights in Eastern Europe.