Key Partners join in the Party to celebrate 35 Years of Care Bears in 2017. Moreover new digital development and the new re-launch of the iconic Mad Balls.
35th Anniversary of Care Bears. It includes Care Bears In Fashionably Fun Collaborations For Apparel, Home, Toy and Consumables
American Greetings Entertainment is celebrating Care BearsTM 35th year as a worldwide pop culture phenomenon by embarking on a year-long celebration for the huggable friends. Joining AGE will be a slew of brand-new retail, promotional and licensing partners featuring distinctive new and 80’s-inspired classic looks for the Care Bears on a range of products and in many never-before-introduced categories.
Contemporary. Unique. Chic. Avant-Garde. Classic. AG Entertainment’s celebration planned for 2017 boasts customized retail programs in specialty and department stores and mass market retailers specifically for style-conscious millennial moms (and their kids), young adults and juniors in a way that Care Bears has never done before.
On the fashion front, Care Bears are planning an exclusive retail program for toys and apparel with top-tier style partners WildFox for girls apparel, Freshly Picked for baby moccasins (available on their website throughout 2017), and Baby Bling for infant headbands. Paying homage to the year they were born, a high-end 1982 Collector’s Edition Anniversary Classic Plush by Just Play will accompany the fashion line, launching just in time for holiday 2017.
Other trendsetting limited-time retail programs include Boy Meets Girl which has been selected to appeal to young adults and women with an 
exclusive co-branded window display and collection for Valentine’s Day at chic retailer Colette in Paris. Juniors label Iron Fist along with VINCA USA will bring specialty in-vogue apparel, accessories and laser-cut jewelry for Care Bears fans with edgy style to online boutique Dolls Kill in spring 2017.
Taking over art-inspired home decor is a direct-to-retail program with The Land of Nod, which will premiere a line of Care Bears-themed home and nursery decor launching for holiday 2017 that includes bedding for infants and kids, plush sleeping bags, over-scale plush chairs and limited-edition wall art.
Merging the world of art, fashion, pop-culture and candy, Dylan’s Candy Bar will collaborate with the Care Bears for a line of gorgeous and delectable sweets in their high profile locales starting October 2017 just in time for Halloween. California Donuts, Insta-famous for their outrageously colorful cereal-topped delectable delights, will play host to a Care Bears-designed donut, available exclusively at their Koreatown neighborhood location in Los Angeles throughout summer 2017. Finally, the Care Bears will also have a summer 2017 QSR partner in the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, Austria and the Caribbean that will be announced early in the coming year.
Care Bears™ is expanding Digital Apps suite in 2016 with best-in-class partners.
With a growing digital presence, American Greetings Entertainment announced also a host of new apps launches and digital partnerships to build on the current digital portfolio for the beloved Care Bears™ property in categories that span educational, games, storybooks and personalization.
From Ruckus Learning and Ruckus Media Group comes Care Bears Bearied Treasure, another exciting mobile storybook adventure based on the “Welcome to Care-A-Lot” entertainment series, as seen on Netflix. Launched May 18, this storybook takes young fans on a search for buried pirate treasure with the Care Bears, complete with interactive pages and a create-your-own sticker page activity. This app is available for iOS and Android devices.
Further advancing the relationship with top game developer Miniclip, Care Bears will be added into megahit Agar.io, launching in June 2016. The game has been hugely popular, with over 2 billion views on YouTube, as well as being the most-searched game on Google in 2015. Fans will now be able to play using Care Bears designs as they aim to climb the in-game leaderboard. Agar.io is available for iOS and Android devices, and on the web.
Chase down Care-a-lot’s favorite nuisance, Beastly, with Care Bears Care Karts app from PlayDate Digital. App users can dress-up their favorite bear, customize an array of colorful Care Bear cars, and fuel up for the showdown with Beastly. Wash up after the big chase or upgrade with premium character packs to play with all your huggable Care Bear friends, including Wonderheart, Cheer, Share and Grumpy Bear. Care Bears has also partnered with FarFaria to turn screen time into story time with its subscription-based app that includes a world of stories for children. FarFaria will create a series of stories where kids can visit Care-A-Lot for sharing, caring and fun to encourage them to read longer and more often.
Tipitap brings a premium family digital experience, Care Bears Rainbow Slides in August 2016. A fun digital board game experience for the whole family, players spin the wheel to move their favorite Care Bears friend to the top of Moody Mountain. This app will be available on iOS devices. Launching just in time for National Care Bears Share Your Care Day on September 9, 2016, comes a new Care Bears app designed by Ink & Salt. This educational and innovative freemium app is designed to help children learn conversational American Sign Language (ASL) with the help of the Care Bears, making learning ASL easy, accessible and fun. This freemium app will be available on iOS.
Also on the education front comes a new release and partnership with Bilingual Children’s Enterprises developing a cast of digital multicultural characters alongside the Care Bears to help children build on pre-literacy skills, development of fine motor skills, as well as identifying colors, letters, shapes and numbers in a fun and engaging way. This release will be Care Bears first bi-lingual children’s app for the brand and is set for launch in early 2017.
Previously announced for Android users is Care Bears Lock Screen from IconLogin which lets users unlock an Android device using a picture password on a keypad made up of Care Bears images. The freemium app is available on Google Play.
Iconic Gross-out Brand Madballs™ relaunches with new looks, new entertainment and new toys. American Greetings Entertainment and Master Toy Partner Just Play to Co-Produce New Animated Shorts.
American Greetings Entertainment and master toy partner, Just Play, have entered into a co-production and joint venture partnership to relaunch a brand-new series of the iconic 1980’s gross-out brand Madballs™ that has sold tens of millions of balls worldwide.
All-new Madballs animated shorts are currently in production and set to launch fall 2016 to support a consumer products program already underway with new and digital licensee commitments. Starting in spring 2017, Just Play will launch a variety of products, including classic and mini-collectible Madballs, and expand with playsets and accessories at retailers worldwide.
For specialty channels: Kidrobot, the wildly collectible art and lifestyle brand, is going to market with vinyl figures, collectibles, soft foam balls and limited edition items for holiday 2016. The growing list of Madballs licensees includes Brunswick Bowling Products for bowling balls, Roar Comics (an imprint of Lion Forge) for comics and graphic novels, Mondo Tees for additional collectibles, and Gourmandise for cell phone accessories in Japan.
Rolling out into the digital marketplace, AGE further advances their relationship with Miniclip who added Madballs to their megahit game Agar.io last June. Las Maquinitas Studios, a subsidiary of Machine Industries, is developing a free-to-play Madballs game for core gamers on iOS and Android mobile and tablet devices worldwide. Neon Mob offers fans digital trading cards and Bare Tree Media furthers the fun with chat stickers in their Emojitap app, both available. Babo Invasion, the highly rated arena combat game starring the classic Madballs is also available on Steam and XBLA, produced and developed by Playbrains.