FICTIONAL CHARACTERS TELL ADLAND ‘CALL MY AGENT’ FOR BRAND WORK
AGENT TO THE FICTIONAL STARS LAUNCHES NEW AD CAMPAIGN STARRING SMURFETTE, SKELETOR, CARE BEARS AND ANGRY BIRDS
Beyonce is represented by CAA. Ben Affleck is represented by William Morris Agency. Lizzo is represented by UTA. Ever wondered who handles negotiations for Smurfette or Skeletor? You might be surprised to know that fictional stars have agents too.
In the run up to Super Bowl LVIII licensing agency Born Licensing has launched a new campaign positioning itself as ‘Agent to the Fictional Stars’. The ‘Call My Agent’ campaign imagines pop-culture icons Smurfette, Skeletor, Grumpy Bear, and Red from Angry Birds responding to requests to star in ads. ‘For Smurfs sake…a two-day commercial shoot without a body double?!’ Smurfette responds simply with ‘Call My Agent’.
For nearly ten years, Born Licensing has been helping creative agencies and their clients secure licenses for fictional stars. They’re the team who brought together ASDA and Buddy the Elf for Havas’s ‘Have Your Elf a Merry Christmas’ campaign, MoneySuperMarket and He-Man & Skeletor for Mother’s ‘Epic Lift’ campaign, and Direct Line with RoboCop, Transformers, the Ninja Turtles, and Marvel Studios’ King Valkyrie for Saatchi & Saatchi’s award winning ‘We’re On It’ campaigns.
Born Licensing showcasing their represented fictional talents with a new Online Character Roster
Born Licensing represents thousands of fictional stars from a range of Rights Holders including Barbie, Rocky, the Cookie Monster, SpongeBob SquarePants, Power Rangers, Peter Rabbit, Ladybug, Snoopy, Care Bears, The Smurfs, Angry Birds, and many more. To coincide with the ‘Call My Agent’ campaign Born Licensing has launched a new Online Character Roster where industry creatives can explore their roster of fictional talent to find the perfect lead for their next campaign. Whether you’re looking for a villain, superhero, cyborg, or a talking animal – the broad range of fictional talent on Born Licensing’s roster means there is the perfect star for every brief and every message.
As agent to the fictional stars Born Licensing manages the licensing process from start to finish including reach out, negotiations, releasing assets, and managing the resource-heavy approval process – without charging any clearance fees to advertising agencies or their clients. Unlike typical clearance companies, Born Licensing has the same business model as a talent agency which means they’re paid by the talent/rights holders rather than the advertising agency.
The ‘Call My Agent’ campaign has been created by creative duo Will Grave and Sander Vos with designs by Xavier Segers.
David Born, CEO and Founder of Born Licensing, commented:
“The purpose of this campaign is to help the advertising community better understand our business model as a licensing agent for thousands of fictional characters. Comparing to a celebrity talent agent felt like an effective shortcut that we could play into. We’re super excited about this new positioning and are confident that it will build on our mission to see more fictional characters in advertising.”
William Grave, CD and Director, said:
“It was great to follow up our previous campaign with Born, and bring to life a new and exciting proposition of them as a company that is 'an agent to the fictional stars'. Re-imagining these iconic characters and giving a glimpse of the conversations they might have with producers, directors and clients in their advertising work was a lot of fun to develop, as well as craft too with a talented designer like Xavier Segers. There's a whole world there that we're keen to explore and take to another level in future campaigns.”
Sander Vos added:
“It was a real joy to work with the beloved fictional characters that Born represents. They have been an intrinsic part of our childhood and culture and it was very rewarding to able to present them to the audience in an unexpected manner that does their personality justice.”
Born Licensing’s position as agent to the fictional stars gives them special access to a very exclusive and notoriously hard-to-reach circle of pop culture icons with unique insight into what it’s like to work with the crème-de-la-crème of Hollywood fictional talent. For a limited time only, to celebrate the launch of the Call My Agent campaign, Born Licensing is offering free 30-minute Character Showcase tailored specifically for industry Creatives who want to get a behind-the-scenes look into this exclusive world and learn how to work with their favourite fictional characters.
Contact amber.cheung@bornlicensing.com to book in a free 30-minute Character Showcase for agency creatives.
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