NEW YORK (October 11, 2010) – The It’s Happy Bunny™ global licensing continues to grow as CopCorp Licensing President Carole Postal today announced the appointment of EXTEND Brands to manage the licensing program for the popular and award-winning humorous character brand throughout India.
“India is an important and growing market so we’ve been searching for years to find a partner we could trust to launch our It’s Happy Bunny program there,” says Postal.  “EXTEND Brands Co-Directors Dwijorani Senjam and Mayuri Pitale impressed us not only with their market knowledge and experience but also with their great enthusiasm for the brand.  They love the It’s Happy Bunny property and we’re confident they’ll do an excellent job launching and growing the brand in India.”
According to Dwijorani Senjam & Mayuri Pitale, Directors, Extend Brands, “India is one of the most exciting markets for licensing right now. With the economy growing at over 8% and growing middle class of over 300 million, India is now one of the fastest growing economies. The acceptance of global brands in India is ever growing. With Indians travelling more and exposed to different cultures through a highly wired world, the segmentation of brands is getting sharper. Humor is universal and the USP of Its Happy Bunny is being humorous in a clever quirky way with loads of attitude and this, we feel, would particularly resonate with the well heeled young at heart Indians of today. We are very excited to partner with CopCorp and cannot wait to launch a wide range of merchandise for Its Happy Bunny in India”
It’s Happy Bunny™, the cute little bunny with the BIG attitude, is already one of the world’s most popular and successful licensed characters.  It’s Happy Bunny is currently licensed to over 100 companies worldwide collectively creating, producing, and marketing literally thousands of SKUs of It’s Happy Bunny licensed products.  The It’s Happy Bunny licensing program has won several industry awards including four prestigious Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA) International Licensing Excellence Awards:  “Best Art Brand” in 2005, “Best Character Brand License – Soft Goods” in 2006, “Best Character Brand Licensee – Hard Goods” in 2007, and “Best Character Brand Program of the Year” in 2008.
Jim Benton, whom People Magazine called “the most visible cartoonist In America,” is the writer/artist of three different, popular, illustrated book series – including not only the fan favorite It’s Happy Bunny series for Scholastic but also the best-selling and critically acclaimed Dear Dumb Diary book series (Scholastic) and the much loved Franny K. Stein kids book series (Simon & Schuster) – and the creator of several successful licensed properties.
EXTEND Brands is a full-service Licensing & Merchandising company with well defined business verticals covering the varied aspects of licensing such as consumer products, promotions, publishing, mobile digital, TV & newspaper syndication and events. EXTEND Brands represents more than forty international and domestic brands in India. EXTEND Brands client properties are now available in more than two thousand retail outlets in over 200 cities across India.
CopCorp Licensing (www.copcorp.com), founded in 1997, is the global licensing agent for Jim Benton’s It’s Happy Bunny, Dear Dumb Diary, and Franny K. Stein among others.  CopCorp is an innovative and strategic licensing agency that specializes in the development of brand, character, art, publishing, and entertainment based licensing opportunities for presentation and packaging to the manufacturer and retailer communities.  As a multi-functional sales and marketing firm, CopCorp Licensing offers both licensors and licensees a bridge to the retail community.  Led by Carole Postal, Founder and President, CopCorp Licensing develops, sells, negotiates, markets, and implements complete licensing strategies and programs for major entertainment corporations, artists, art studios, apparel brand names, among many others.
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For more information about licensing opportunities, please contact:
Carole Postal, President
CopCorp Licensing
cpostal@copcorp.com
Mayuri Pitale, Director
Dwijorani (Lily) Senjam, Director
Extend Brands
mpitale@extendbrands.com
dsenjam@extendbrands.com
Jim Benton
Benton Arts
jkbenton@aol.com