Three new appointments complete the restructure of the Consumer Products business announced earlier this year and bolsters the division’s brand management team.
London -- Rick Glankler, Executive VP and General Manager FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment (FMKFE), has announced the appointment of three new senior roles within his division: Henry Or as VP, Kids & Family Entertainment, Asia; Tracy Griffiths as VP, Licensing & Consumer Products EMEA & Australia and Nicola Herrmann as Global Brand Director. The news completes the restructure of the Consumer Products business announced earlier this year and bolsters the division’s brand management team.
Rick Glankler says: “I’m really excited about bringing Henry, Tracy and Nikki into the FremantleMedia family. All three have an impressive track record in kids and family properties and extensive experience in developing international franchises. I’m very much looking forward to working with them as we continue to build on our rapid and growing success in the kids’ space to drive even more opportunities around the world.”
As VP Kids & Family Entertainment in Asia, Henry will have overall responsibility for the kids business in the region. He is tasked with developing a new Asia sales team responsible for the distribution of KFE titles across broadcast, digital and Home Entertainment platforms, as well as building the consumer products business. In this capacity both Henry and Tracy will be responsible for developing local strategies for their respective markets to build strong licensing programmes, manage local agents and licensees and generate new business. They will seek to further grow FremantleMedia’s global footprint and turn current and future FMKFE brands into international franchises, available to audiences across multiple touch-points. Furthermore, Tracy will be tasked with expanding FremantleMedia’s existing agents business in EMEA and will work closely with FMKFE’s Director of Licensing in Australia, Liz Burnett. Reporting directly to Rick, Henry and Tracy will join FremantleMedia’s existing senior Consumer Products team of Andrea Brent (VP, Consumer Products, Americas) and Pindy O’Brien (VP, Brand Licensing & Retail, UK).
As Global Brand Director, Nicola will report to Tessa Moore, SVP Global Brand Management, and will be responsible for the creation and execution of global and local brand strategies for key properties in FMKFE’s portfolio.
Henry will be based in Hong Kong, while Tracy and Nicola will work from FremantleMedia’s offices in Central London.
Henry joins FremantleMedia from Hit Entertainment Ltd where he was Director for Asia, overseeing and managing the daily operation for the Asia Pacific regional office. His credits include restructuring the business to streamline operations while increasing year-on-year growth and concluding deals with CCTV in China and launching Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam as consumer product properties. Prior to Hit, Henry was Manager of Regional Operations at Top-Insight International, where he achieved double digit year-on-year growth and expanded the licensing business to over nine key countries in Asia.
Tracy also joins FremantleMedia’s KFE team from Hit Entertainment where she was Group Director, Softlines, for EMEA. While there, Tracy was responsible for building a cohesive strategy across Softlines for the region, and built key retail relationships. She is credited with launching new brand Mike the Knight into the market, ensuring the title was supported by a robust licensing programme, with 30 licensees at launch. Prior to Hit, Tracy was a buyer of kids’ apparel at Woolworth’s Group Plc, generating a turnover of around £20m.
Nicola joins the business from Zodiak Rights, where she was Head of Brand Marketing, responsible for leading the development and implementation of international brand strategies through all key business functions. She is credited with taking pre-school show, Tickety Toc, from programming concept to retail shelf in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia. Prior to Zodiak, Nicola was Director, International Brand Management (EMEA) for Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products where she created international Brand, Marketing and Communication strategies amongst key titles, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and TMNT.
Source: FremantleMedia
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
