NEW YORK (December 20, 2012) – Knockout Licensing Co-Presidents Carole Postal and Tamra Knepfer today announced that their agency has been appointed by Andersen Press to build and manage the licensing program for David McKee’s ELMER The Patchwork Elephant™ for North America.
ELMER is the brightly colored patchwork elephant star of British-born author & illustrator David McKee’s popular children’s book series.
“David McKee’s ELMER books are modern classics loved by millions and millions of children around the world, with new titles continuing to be released every year,” says Knepfer. “After seeing the character’s popularity first-hand in the UK and Japan, we saw the potential opportunity to grow this wonderful brand in the U.S. While there are some wonderful products for ELMER already available here, we will be focused on expanding the range of products and finding retail partners to help give the brand the exposure here that it so much deserves.”
“ELMER’s colorful appearance makes this happy little elephant a perfect property for infant and toddler products,” says Postal. “In addition to the obvious visual charm, parents and other adults will also appreciate McKee’s subtler themes of diversity and individuality as part of ELMER’s brand appeal.”
“We are delighted to be working with Knockout Licensing as our merchandising agency for ELMER in North America,” stated Sarah Pakenham, Rights Director, Andersen Press. “With millions of books enjoyed by children in the U.S., we look forward to expanding ELMER merchandise in this important market.”
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About ELMER THE PATCHWORK ELEPHANT
ELMER the Patchwork Elephant is the star of more than 40 children’s books created by David McKee. Since 1989, the books have sold nearly 5 million copies in 50 languages around the world.
ELMER is no ordinary elephant. He looks different because of his brightly-colored patchwork hide but, as McKee’s charming and gentle stories show, being different is not a bad thing.
About Andersen Press
Andersen Press is one of the UK’s foremost independent children’s book publishers. Founded in 1976 by Klaus Flugge, Andersen Press specializes in creating original picture books for international co-edition, and publishes internationally acclaimed authors and artists as well as fiction for children and teenagers. Andersen Press’s American imprint Andersen Press USA was created in 2009 and, distributed by Lerner Publishing, includes an ever expanding range of Elmer titles.
About Knockout Licensing
Knockout Licensing (www.knockoutlicensing.com) is a full-service licensing agency for big-name brands. Knockout was formed as a joint venture in 2012 with Carole Postal, President of CopCorp Licensing, and Tamra Knepfer, President of TK Brand Group, combining forces as Co-Presidents. Together Postal and Knepfer bring decades of combined experience to their agency.
CONTACT: KNOCKOUT LICENSING
Carole Postal
cop@knockoutlicensing.com
(212) 947-5958
Tamra Knepfer
tk@knockoutlicensing.com
(212) 947-5958