Imira Inks Italian Licensing Deal for Lola & Virginia

BARCELONA, April 23: RAI
Trade, the commercial arm of Italian broadcaster RAI, has acquired the
merchandising rights for Italy to the animated girl-skewing series Lola
& Virginia from Spain’s Imira
Entertainment.

In further licensing
deals, Panini is set to launch a Lola & Virginia sticker stack book, story albums, puzzle and
coloring books in Italy, as well as in Spain, Portugal and Brazil. Imira has
also signed an agreement with Nintendo DS for the development of a video game
to launch in selected territories worldwide.

Lola & Virginia is set to air daily on Italy’s RAI 2 channel
beginning in September. The show has also sold worldwide in more than 90
territories to broadcasters like RTVE, France 3 and RTP, as well as Nickelodeon
in Latin America, Asia and France and the Disney Channels in Spain and Italy.

The property’s broadcast
presence is supported by a licensing and merchandising strategy that includes a
deal for Spain and Portugal with Comercial Nim. Products slated to roll out
from this agreement include school sets, stationery, backpacks and pencil
cases; further product lines are planned by Comercial Nim, who will work with
Mendía Marketing to release games, T-shirts, beach sets and toiletries.

Grupo Edebe has already
launched ten manga-style comic books in Spain, and mobile content producer
Alvento is distributing ring tones, games, images, screen savers and a WAP portal
for Lola & Virginia.

Imira Entertainment is
producing online games for the Lola & Virginia website, www.lolavirginia.com, which are available
in Spanish, English and Catalan, and are also currently being localized in
Italian and Portuguese.

The animated series is a
co-production between Imira Entertainment, Millimages, France 3, TV Catalunya
and ETB, and is based on the original
concept created by Myriam Ballesteros, the founding partner of Imira
Entertainment with Sergi Reitg.

—By Irene Lew