Bologna Licensing Award is the only prize in Italy addressed to the licensing industry, an award dedicated to the best licensing projects of the previous year

Two of the properties that are part of the portfolio of Maurizio Distefano Licensing agency were named among the winners for each category: Bing and Gapchinska.

Bing won the coveted prize “Property of the Year” thanks to the success of the licensing programme, the variety and quality of the products and consumer experiences and the property’s ability to engage deeply and meaningfully with its audience across multiple touchpoints.

Maurizio Distefano Licensing represents Bing in Italy since its lauch in 2018 and works closely with Acamar Films on thoughtful brand extensions. Maurizio Distefano Licensing has secured a lot of Bing licensees across a range of categories including location-based attractions. Thanks to best-in-class licensees, quality product executions and considerable marketing support, Bing has quickly become a top pre-school property.

“We’re thrilled that this prestigious award has been granted to our agency. Our team’s hard work on Bing, since the launch of the licensing programme, in addition to the precious support received by the Acamar Films team, have made this dream come true,” said Maurizio Distefano, President & Owner of Maurizio Distefano Licensing, “The brand is incredibly popular with Italian families and the brilliant content, fabulous marketing and diverse licensing programme have all meant that Bing remains a leader in the preschool market for our territory.”

“We’re delighted with the news and we thank our agent Maurizio Distefano Licensing for the fantastic hard work on making Bing a success in Italy,” said Natalie Harvey, Executive Director of Sales at Acamar Films, “We know through brand research, ratings, sales data, significant engagement on social media and huge growth on our YouTube channels that Bing goes from strength to strength. Having such strong foundations stands us in good stead for the future as we continue to grow and expand the world of Bing in Italy.”

The “Best Publishing Project” award was won by Gapchinska, another property in the MDL portfolio.

The Malia Edizioni collection called Vite Imperfette (or Imperfect Lives) includes a range of homewares and stationery including notebooks, bookmarks, travel mugs, pocket books, magnets and more. The collection features the instantly recognisable artist, Eugenia Gapchinska’s interpretations of four very famous faces – Marilyn Monroe, Freddie Mercury, Frida Khalo and the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.

Including iconic phrases from the icons, such as ‘Don’t stop me now’ on the Freddie Mercury items, and ‘Being normal is boring’ on the Marilyn Monroe products, the lines capture the very essence of their subjects.

The judges of the awards said they chose the partnership to win the accolade ‘For the beauty of the books, suitable for multiple targets, the artist’s skill, together with the publisher’s ability to decline the illustrations on a line of original and transversal products.’

Maurizio Distefano, Founder and President, MDL, comments: “The collaboration with Malia Edizioni shows the true diversity of the Gapchinska property and we are thrilled that it has been recognised with this award. The collection is unique and appeals to a wide age range, from youngsters to adults. Gapchinska is a brand that can easily be adapted to different consumer products categories. We are extremely happy with the result obtained by these licensing projects: they are great satisfactions, a symbol of the great work and potential behind each new licensing project “.