Toy company Melissa & Doug have scored what may be its biggest deal to date, signing an exclusive licensing partnership with ViacomCBS Consumer Products to deliver PAW Patrol and Blue’s Clues & You! co-branded toy product lines for Fall 2021.
The company says the toys will be designed to educate and empower preschoolers through active engagement with a focus on problem solving and creative thinking.
This global partnership with ViacomCBS is the largest licensing agreement Melissa & Doug has ever signed, marking a major milestone for the company. Through the partnership, Melissa & Doug will bring innovative new toys to retail that will span multiple categories focused on learning and education.
“Melissa & Doug has been at the forefront of children’s toys for over 30 years,” said Dion Vlachos, Executive Vice President, Licensing & Retail, ViacomCBS. “We are thrilled to collaborate with them to create products based on the beloved PAW Patrol and Blue’s Clues & You! IP that continue to inspire imagination and hugely impact children’s growth and learning.”
From its inception, Melissa & Doug has been a purpose-driven company committed to providing educational toys that ignite children’s imaginations. Recently, Melissa & Doug announced an alliance with the American Academy of Pediatrics to champion the health benefits of open-ended play and provide tools and resources for parents to make it an essential part of children’s everyday lives.
“We’re excited to work with a company as iconic as Nickelodeon, one that shares in our mission to make the world a more playful place through thoughtfully researched and designed products and content,” said David Henderson, Chief Commercial Officer of Melissa & Doug. “The characters of PAW Patrol and Blue’s Clues & You! will help us introduce our hands-on, skill-building toys to an even greater number of children.”
Paw Patrol is one of the most popular preschool shows on television in the U.S. The CGI-animated series, produced by Spin Master Entertainment, follows a pack of heroic rescue pups—Chase, Marshall, Rubble, Skye, Rocky, Zuma, Everest and Tracker—who are led by a tech-savvy boy named Ryder. The series features a curriculum that focuses on citizenship, social skills and problem solving.
A remake of the groundbreaking, curriculum-driven interactive series Blue’s Clues, Blues Clues and You! has a new generation of preschoolers searching for clues with beloved puppy Blue, fellow pup Magenta, and new live-action host Josh (Josh Dela Cruz). The series features new CG-animation for Blue and Magenta, brand-new elements and refreshed iconic items from the original series including an updated Handy Dandy Notebook equipped with smartphone technology and the return of fan-favorite characters.