Rights & Brands Asia is a licensing agency with its headquarters in Hong Kong, catering to Greater China with licensing expertise and a worldwide business network. The company is a joint venture between Scandinavian licensing and literary agency Rights & Brands, Finnish IP owner Moomin Characters, Hong Kong based licensing agent PPW and ITOCHU, one of the largest Japanese general trading companies (“sogo shohsa”).

 Rights & Brands Asia was established in September 2021 and is open to business as of now.

The first brand to be represented by the company is the Moomins, the well-established Finnish-Swedish brand created by Tove Jansson over 75 years ago. The representation rights has been granted by Rights & Brands, as the master agent of Moomin Characters.

The agency will be spearheaded by Bianca Lee, who has extensive experience in brand management and licensing. Bianca has managed world-renowned entertainment franchises during her tenure with Warner Bros., including Batman, Harry Potter and Looney Tunes, as well as global FMCG brands like Coca-Cola and Heineken.

“It’s with great pleasure Moomin Characters has set up Rights & Brands Asia together with such strong representatives within merchandising, literature, content development and digital expertise”, says Roleff Kråkström, CEO of Moomin Characters. “The Asian market has been very important for the development and success of the Moomins globally and now we will build awareness and develop the brand even further.”

Patrick Ullman, CEO of Rights & Brands (R&B) says: “We are super thrilled about this strong, strategic partnership. We have been working with Ivan Chan and his team at PPW on the Moomins for several years. PPW has proved over and over again that the sky is the limit.” Ullman continues: “R&B Asia will be a fantastic vehicle not only for the Moomins but also to establish other Nordic brands in this expansive territory. Our focus on brands with strong storytelling and art background and developing their content and digital foot print has really taken off. In July, we signed an exclusive worldwide deal with Rovio Entertainment, on behalf of the Moomins, to create digital games. The opening of R&B Asia is the perfect next step for global expansion for Rights & Brands, Moomin and the Nordic brands R&B represents.”

“PPW is so thrilled to be able to strengthen the collaborative efforts with our important partners, to expand the footprint of Moomin and other IP:s in the fast expanding Greater China market,” says Ivan Chan, CEO of PPW. “The core Moomin values of family, friendship and harmony have a strong resonance in the Chinese market. With the establishment of R&B Asia, I believe we can bring the franchise to new heights.”

Tatsushi Shingu, President of ICT & Financial Business Company says “The Chinese licensing market is growing rapidly every year, and is expected to grow even further. It’s a great pleasure to enter fast growing business domains with such strong partners. ITOCHU will be contributing to the expansion of the business, with its long and making use of the ITOCHU Group’s network and expertise.”

Rights & Brands Asia is open for business and any enquiries about licensing and potential representation can be directed to Bianca Lee or any of the partner companies.

Press contacts

Rights & Brands
Patrick Ullman, CEO, Rights & Brands
Tel. +46 (0) 733 649 329
patrick.ullman@rightsandbrands.com
www.rightsandbrands.com

Moomin Characters
Roleff Kråkström, Managing Director, Moomin Characters
Tel. +358 (0) 40 054 9692
roleff.krakstrom@moomin.com
www.moomin.com

PPW Sports & Entertainment (HK) Limited
Ivan Chan, CEO, Chairman
ivanchan@ppgl.com
www.ppwlicensing.com

Rights & Brands Asia
Bianca Lee, CEO
Tel: +852 2975 1281
bianca.lee@rightsandbrands.asia
www.rightsandbrands.asia

ITOCHU
Hiroshi Aramaki, Deputy Manager, Mobile and Communication Dept.
aramaki-h@itochu.co.jp
https://www.itochu.co.jp/en/index.html

Notes to editors:

About Rights & Brands
Rights & Brands is a 360 licensing and publishing agency bringing Nordic rights and brands to a global arena. With a strategic base in literature, art and design, R&B’s platform is built on knowledge, passion and people. Using all aspects of character representation and branding, from publishing and PR to licensing, merchandising and digital development, with a worldwide network of sub-agents and over 800 clients, R&B’s international insight and business capacity is unique.

Rights & Brands represents iconic Nordic brands, artists and authors and is the worldwide master agent on behalf of Moomin Characters. Other representation includes Astrid Lindgren and Ilon Wikland, Stig Lindberg, Pure Norway and many more.

With headquarters in Stockholm and local branches in Helsinki, Oslo and Tokyo, R&B was founded in 2016 by Moomin Characters and Bulls, combining over 70 years of licensing experience.

www.rightsandbrands.com

About Moomin Characters
Moomin Characters Oy Ltd is the official copyright holder of all the Moomin characters. All characters from Moominvalley are trademark registered worldwide. The Moomins are central characters in a series of books and comic strips written by Finnish-Swedish writer and artist Tove Jansson between 1945 and 1980. They are one of Finland’s biggest exports and have a global fan base.

The company was founded in the 1950’s by Tove Jansson (1914-2001) and her brother Lars Jansson to take care of the copyright of the Moomins and is still run by family members. R & B Licensing AB is the worldwide licensing agent of the company.

Find out more about Tove Jansson and the Moomins here:
www.moomin.com
www.tovejansson.com

About PPW Group
PPW Group (PPW), is a well-known brand facilitator possessing over 40 years of solid experience in brand management, market development, strategy planning, licensing, promotion and distribution. PPW has served FIFA World Cup 6 times; was appointed as the global master licensee of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.

PPW started the business as a full-service promotional agency with a quality premium manufacturing base. PPW now focuses on leveraging its brand management strength while investing in strategic verticals to produce record-breaking results. PPW specializes in curating brands and partner portfolios to maximize these verticals to become a holistic IP ecosystem. Its strength in realizing the full potential of the world’s best creators and brands is indisputable.

PPW is recognized as one of the leading integrated promotional service suppliers as well as a top-notch licensing agency in the Greater China region.

www.ppwlicensing.com

About ITOCHU Corporation
The history of ITOCHU Corporation dates back to 1858 when the Company’s founder Chubei Itoh commenced linen trading operations. Since then, ITOCHU has evolved and grown over 150 years.

With approximately 100 bases in 62 countries, ITOCHU, one of the leading sogo shosha, is engaging in domestic trading, import/export, and overseas trading of various products such as textile, machinery, metals, minerals, energy, chemicals, food, general products, realty, information and communications technology, and finance, as well as business investment in Japan and overseas.

ITOCHU has developed the content licensing business both in Japan and overseas, including the co-production of original TV hero series in Indonesia “BIMA Satria Garuda”. By establishing RBA, ITOCHU will accelerate to distribute attractive contents to Asian market to aim maximizing the value of contents.

https://www.itochu.co.jp/en/index.html