Genius Brands International Redesigns Signature Baby Genius® Brand Characters as Part of Overall Brand Relaunch in 2014
Character Illustrations Created by Celebrated "David & Goliath" Founder and Artist, Todd Goldman
BEVERLY HILLS, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/27/14 -- Genius Brands International, Inc. ("GBI") (OTCQB: GNUS), a global brand management company dedicated to providing entertaining and enriching 'content with a purpose' for toddlers to tweens, continues to announce new initiatives for its Baby Genius® brand as part of the 2014 brand relaunch, with the unveiling today of new fun and fresh redesigns of the Baby Genius® signature characters from celebrated artist and self-described professional doodler Todd Goldman. The announcement was made today by Amy Moynihan Heyward, President of GBI.
"We are thrilled with all of the new initiatives we have in place for Baby Genius this year and are continuing to develop new avenues for expanding the brand," commented Moynihan Heyward. "Todd's designs and illustrations evoke a sense of fun and spirit that we wanted to incorporate into the Baby Genius characters while maintaining its timeless appeal. We believe the fresh and more stylized characters will engage and endear children and parents alike around the world."
The debut of the new character designs follows recent Baby Genius brand relaunch initiatives, including new distribution platforms for the brand. In April, GBI announced the introduction of a new online streaming service at http://babygenius.com, which features the entire Baby Genius content library, giving parents and children the opportunity to create their own playlists and more. The library offers thousands of songs, including classic nursery rhymes, learning songs, seasonal classics and more. Other Baby Genius products, including books, toys and videos are also available for purchase.
Additionally the company also recently extended its agreement with Xfinity TV by Comcast. Baby Genius, the #1 Xfinity On Demand property on the Baby Boost Channel, is available to Xfinity TV customers and has amassed over 50 million downloads over the past seven years. Xfinity TV allows customers to stream and download exclusive Baby Genius content across platforms, providing unlimited content combination and continuous play. And currently, select Baby Genius home entertainment titles are available via Netflix.
Self-proclaimed professional doodler, cartoon-type illustrator Todd Goldman has, in a very short time, managed to establish himself as a provocative force within the contemporary art market carving for himself a niche forever known as post-pop art. Goldman's simply drawn, colorful characters are oozing with cutting-edge humor. His art and irreverence captured the attention and imagination of the S2 Art Group, Goldman's exclusive art publisher. Shortly after signing on with S2 in 2004, he had his first exhibition of paintings (acrylics on canvas signed simply "TODD") in the Entertainment Gallery in the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, where Goldman showed 96 paintings, of which 87 were sold. Goldman's first exhibition quickly established a pattern of success for subsequent exhibitions, 10 of which were held during his first year as an artist. Some celebrity collectors of Goldman's art have been known to acquire as many as five or six at a time.
About Baby Genius®:
Baby Genius® creates musical baby toys and music-based products with a library featuring 500 songs and 125 music videos. Currently, Baby Genius® products are available in more than 8,000 retail locations in the U.S. and have international exposure in over 40 countries. In 2013, over 1M DVDs/CDs sold on Groupon alone, and Baby Genius® is the #1 children's on-demand property on Comcast's Baby Boost channel, earning 60M+ downloads and over 500,000 VOD users/month. The Baby Genius® YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/babygenius) boasts over 15 million cumulative views with increases of over 600,000 views per month; plus over 500,000 downloads on iTunes. The Baby Genius® interactive website, http://babygenius.com provides additional opportunities for consumers to engage with their favorite Baby Genius® characters through games, online coloring sheets, music, video streaming and more.
Baby Genius products have earned numerous awards from parent groups and organizations, including the Mom's Choice Award, The National Parenting Center Seal of Approval, Creative Child Preferred Choice Award, iParenting Media Award, Kids First! Quality Children's Media Endorsement and many others. The company recently debuted Little Genius® Jukebox, the first in a series of all-new interactive 3D animated apps for iPad, iPad Mini and iPhone which was released in the App Store™. Genius Brands International is currently developing new products and new forms of distribution to continue to grow the Baby Genius® brand globally.
About Genius Brands International:
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Genius Brands International (OTCQB: GNUS) is a publicly traded multimedia content and brand management company.
Led by industry veterans, Andy Heyward and Amy Moynihan Heyward, Genius Brands International includes award-winning Baby Genius, Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club, Gisele Bundchen's Gisele & the Green Team, Martha Stewart's Martha & Friends, Thomas Edison's Secret Lab and Stan Lee Comics, featuring its first movie, Stan Lee's Mighty 7. The Company provides "content with a purpose" for kids of all ages, meaning interactive content that is as entertaining as it is enriching.
Forward Looking Statements:
Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), not limited to Risk Factors relating to its patent business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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Source: Genius Brands International
Released May 27, 2014