Henson showcases new products at Licensing Show 2003

[Bean Bunny]

When not do both a new Muppet series and a new Muppet Babies series? There room for both. All I want is a Baby Bean Bunny stuff animal, action figures, or shirt.

 

[BlueFrackle]

Guys,

So whats the word on the new stuff ?


see ya

 

[Luke]

Re: Guys,

So whats the word on the new stuff ?

There's a thread somewhere on the new Starbucks Muppet Cookies and Muppet Babies PVC figures that weren't in the original Henson press release.

If what i heard is right, there will be no announcements on future Henson TV Shows or movies until July when the sale gies through. This is because they have some deals waiting to be signed but they have to wait until the Henson kids officially own the company for them to get the advance money and not EMTV. Apparently, all these new Muppet merchandise deals we are seeing announced ? All the initial cash is going straight into EMTV's pockets.

Kinda makes you wonder whether Henson really wanted to be saddled with two years of the Muppet Babies or whether EMTV just made then pimp as much Henson stuff as they could to make some quick cash from licensing deals before they sold on the company. They could have either done this 'Muppet Babies' relaunch seriously because they thought they might keep hold of the company longer and it'd do well in a Disneyfied kinda way or they could have just messed up completely the direction the Henson kids want to go in and set them back a while.

 

[WiGgY]

Ok, it's an old post, but what Luke said would really suck if it were the reason for the Muppet baby launch. That would just be mean to launch the muppet babies when they know the Henson family wants to focus on the more adult part of the muppets. Oh how evil if that is why this was done.

 

[Luke]

Yeah i dunno if it's true but it did seem to come out of the blue a bit - it's not like Henson people were known to be going around talking about how great it would be to do more Muppet Babies - infact Fraggle seemed to get talked about much more. It is a very wierd thing to do to launch pre-school versions of characters you're trying to get 'over' to the older crowd - kinda a mixed up strategy !

This is my thing with the future direction of the Henson Company - sometimes they get things right but fail to capitalise on them properly and other times they make bad decisions that affect what they are already trying to do.

 

[frogboy4]

To be honest, Muppet Babies are wildly popular with people. More than Fraggles. I'd rather see Fraggle products, but it would be a harder sell. I still think they'd move a lot of product, but not like the babies would.

It's important for the Henson Company to promote all of their main properties. Muppets, Muppet Babies, Fraggles and Bear. Especially since they no longer own a piece of Sesame.

Of course the fans want to see the Fraggles. We want to see Nigel made as an action figure too. But the American public has become complacent about the Fraggles. They'd need a strong new promotional push to get them back in the minds of the general public.

 

[Luke]

Thats mainly correct Jamie - they (EMTV) are making more money already from distributing Muppet Babies across the world than Fraggle - just wondering out loud who made the decision to give the Babies this new push - EMTV or Henson. It would seem wierd to me if it were Henson - they hadn't tried this previously even though they've had over 10 years of chances and it's been EMTV since they became cash strapped who took over all the distribution from Henson and decided to milk it all for what they could. I don't think 'Muppet Babies' are really all that much more wildly popular with people nowadays than say 'Fraggle' - either could have been given and needed this big promotional push thats coming but obviously the Babies being a cartoon is much easier to handle. I couldn't really classify 'Babies' and 'Fraggle' as main properties now either - if anything it's 'Hoobs', 'Classic Muppets', 'Bear' and the other stuff makes some extra money on the side. Thats why while i can see the point now they are really cash strapped in trying to create some kind of 'Muppet Babies' relaunch but at the same time i don't think it's important for them to promote one minor property when it could have a negative effect on how people see the one thats already the most lucrative and popular - incredibly wierd how this all comes and would have been organised while JHC was still very much in the grip of EMTV. It's like maybe EMTV thought they wouldn't get the cash in time for the Henson Company and so exploiting everything they could even further was the plan B that the Henson kids now have to live with. I may be wrong but i just don't find it that easy to believe that this is really where the Henson Company wanted to go over the next two years - if it were the case i think we'd have seen this a year ago when bringing back nostalgic old kids properties was the 'in' thing !

 

[frogboy4]

Even though I like the Hoobs, they're not aired in America so do not have the Muppet or Bear status. Can't count that really (but I do feel they are hooby groovy).

I have to disagree about the babies. Everyone knows my dislike for the cartoon show and over saturation of products so I say this with an unbiased perspective. The Muppet Babies are an evergreen property. Many people these days refer to the Muppets as Muppet Babies than classic Muppets. Marketing to toddlers is lucrative. I don't see them as artistically on par with other properties, but merchandising is quite a different thing. Ask TRU or a major chain to carry Fraggle products or Hoob products and they'll turn it down flat. Ask them about Muppet Babies and there's no problem. Unfortunate but true.

The current main properties I see are (from biggest to smallest) Sesame (now owned by SW), Bear (stuff is stocked everywhere), Muppets (recently has been helped with its classic push), Muppet Babies (could be more popular than Muppets brand) and possibly Fraggles (but Henson has allowed them to sink out of the public consciousness in America).

 

[WiGgY]

Mupet babies are just as big as regular muppets I think. The reason is all those characters are recognizeable even if you didn't watch the show. Why? Because you would recognize Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, ect. even in baby form. FRraggle probably aren't recognizeable because they ahve been gone for a while, have no DVD collection out, really have no merchendise, and never even made it into the movies on their own. Thats a big problem that could easily be solved by putting the reruns back on the air somewhere.

 

[MustangRockstar]

I dunno it might make sense when you think about.

The older audience is the focus, however "nastalgia" is in right now. While the push for younger stuff wont be huge, its a way to test the waters. Older people remember it and it gives them a chance to focus on a younger crowd which undeniably the franchise needs. The fact remains that though most of us are adults now, when did we start liking the muppets?

I think its a bit broad, but at the same time they need to get the muppet name flowing again because for too long it wasn't.