MIPro Product Update
Strum along with Squarepants
This licensing partnership continues the extraordinary growth of the SpongeBob brand in the UK, where it is one of the top-selling brands for kids aged six to 12 years. There are more than 88 licensees producing SpongeBob products in the UK; 20 new licensees were contracted in 2007 alone.
| Release Date | Out Now |
| Distributor | John Hornby Skewes & Co. |
| Contact | 0113 286 5381 |
| Website | http://www.jhs.co.uk |
EDUCATIONAL: JHS SpongeBob Squarepants
Nickelodeon UK has awarded a licence to John Hornby Skewes to produce SpongeBob-branded electric guitars, ukuleles, and other real musical instruments.JHS already has a SpongeBob uke, and junior acoustic guitar in the market, and will be expanding the range during 2008, with a junior electric guitar, a full size electric guitar outfit, and two new SpongeBob ukes, all decorated with colourful images of the undersea hero.
One ukulele and one of the guitars will be adorned with images of the character’s face showing the many moods of SpongeBob. The other ukulele shows a smiling Bob with his friends in his undersea habitat. The second guitar will show him in guitar-hero pose alongside the words “Make it loud” and “Screamin’ SpongeBob”.
The first two instruments, initially launched in November 2007 to JHS’s retail music store trade customers, will be supplemented by the launch of the new products in June 2008, and will appear in music retail stores throughout the UK and Ireland, and online at the Nick shop in July.
This licensing partnership continues the extraordinary growth of the SpongeBob brand in the UK, where it is one of the top-selling brands for kids aged six to 12 years. There are more than 88 licensees producing SpongeBob products in the UK; 20 new licensees were contracted in 2007 alone.
SpongeBob’s licensing success reflects his enormous popularity on screen. SpongeBob SquarePants is the number one downloaded kids TV episode on Sky TV mobile in the UK and one of the UK’s most downloaded shows on iTunes Store. In addition, SpongeBob the video game has sold over one million units in Europe
Dennis Drumm, MD of JHS says: “SpongeBob is a funny, quirky and very cool character with a strong appeal to a market that loves music and musical instruments. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with such an iconic brand. Creating these instruments has been the most fun thing we’ve done in 45 years.”
Nickelodeon’s UK Licensing Manager Ashley Holman added: "JHS has combined the quality for which it is rightly known with some wonderful designs that perfectly capture the appeal of SpongeBob. We’re sure that his legion of fans will be delighted with these marvellous instruments.''
