his year, Babar celebrates his 80th anniversary, and Nelvana Enterprises and The Clifford Ross Company are pleased to announce a number of activities to honour the world-famous elephant in the legendary green suit.

Classic Media, a global media company with a portfolio of some of the world’s leading family entertainment brands, today announced that it has expanded the line of Where’s Wally? consumer products in the UK across many key categories in advance of the brand’s 25th Anniversary celebrations commencing Autumn 2012.

Zinkia Entertainment, specialists in the creation and management of distinct entertainment properties for today’s global marketplace, has named Evolution Management Group Inc. (EMG) as its licensing agent for the Company’s flagship multimedia property, POCOYO, in the U.S.A., effective immediately.

Egmont Licensing and CAOZ sign a publishing and licensing deal on the new property Legends of Valhalla – Thor.

“Mia and me”, produced by Lucky Punch GmbH – a joint venture between m4e AG and Professor Gerhard Hahn from Hahn Film, has won the 8th annual MipJunior Licensing Challenge.

Space Enterprises are pleased to announce a Plush licensing for deal for The Hive with Mookie Toys.

HIT Entertainment, one of the world’s leading independent children’s entertainment producers and rights owner, today announced it has appointed The Bonnier Publishing Group, the UK based subsidiary of Bonnier Books, a division of the Swedish media giant Bonnier AB, as the first UK and Australia CGI publishing partner for popular pre-school brand, ‘Angelina Ballerina’.

World-renowned family entertainment producer and distributor The Jim Henson Company has partnered with Chick-fil-A, the national restaurant chain specializing in chicken dishes, for a nationwide promotion in support of the preschool series, PAJANIMALS, debut on 24-hour preschool television channel Sprout in the U.S. this October.

Ludorum plc, creators of the popular animated television series Chuggington, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the government agency that works toward making roadways safer, announced at a press conference today at Tubman Elementary School a joint, multi-dimensional campaign designed to provide child transportation guidance to families with young children preschool-aged to third grade.

Johnny Cupcakes and Nickelodeon today announce the launch of an exclusive t-shirts collection featuring SpongeBob SquarePants and retro Nickelodeon properties Cat Dog, Aaahh! Real Monsters, Ren & Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life and Rugrats.

Just in time for the start of its fourth season on September 23, critically acclaimed TV show FRINGE (Fridays 9/8c on FOX) debuted today a new digital comic series “Beyond the Fringe.”

Tom Wilson, the creator of Ziggy, has died, reports several news sources.

Red hot pre-school property Everything’s Rosie will be making its Brand Licensing Europe debut at Stand C030 at this year’s event.

Lucasfilm announced today that in celebration of the September launch of Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray, it is linking up with celebrities, eBay and Major League Baseball to ask fans to Use the Force for Good to support Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C).

Classic Media, a global media company with a portfolio of some of the world’s leading entertainment brands, and Woodmansterne, the No.1 publisher of greeting cards to independent retailers in the UK, are pleased to announce that Woodmansterne’s Where’s Wally? greeting card range has sold more than 1 million cards in the UK!

Bandai America Incorporated is introducing a new twist – literally – on classic track play for preschoolers with the debut of the Pocoyo SwiggleTraks Feature Set, now available at retail locations nationwide and online.

The Walt Disney Company President and CEO Robert A. Iger announced today Robert Chapek, President of Distribution for The Walt Disney Studios, has been promoted to President of Disney Consumer Products, reporting to Iger.

Creata Ltd, organisers of the Licensing New Europe Show & Conference, has announced that representatives of Disney Consumer Products (DCP) will be attending this year’s event.

Little Airplane Productions' "Small Potatoes," the animated musical sensation that has become a Facebook phenomenon with 75% growth in 'likes' month over month, has inked exclusive deals for an original album on iTunes and a book series from Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

HIT Entertainment, one of the world’s leading independent children’s entertainment producers and rights owners, and Haven Licensing, have today announced the appointment of Big Balloon as Australian toy licensee for popular pre-school brands Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder.