Last night, the Moomin brand, owned by Moomin Characters, won the Best Brand — Publishing, Stationery, Social Expression category in the esteemed Licensing International Excellence Awards in Las Vegas.
The Excellence Awards, founded by Licensing International, honor innovation and creativity in the licensing community. They spotlight the power of brands to connect with consumers and further a company’s goals, celebrate how licensees develop and bring those products to market, and applaud how retailers highlight licenses on their shelves.
The winners of the 2024 Licensing International Excellence Awards were unveiled on Monday, May 20th, prior to the opening of the Licensing Expo fair in Las Vegas, USA. The ceremony brought together industry executives from around the world to celebrate the best of the global brand licensing community.
The winners were selected from 197 finalists in 32 categories. More than 800 submissions were received, narrowed down by an expert global judging panel of 200 judges from 20 countries.
Rights & Brands’ International team, Magdalena Biernat-Heikkinen, Sophie Thompson and Mark Bezodis, accepted the award.
The nomination for the award reads:
“The Moomins were created in 1945 by artist Tove Jansson (1914-2002). The Moomin books have been translated into more than 60 languages, charming millions of readers with their wit and wisdom. To this day, all new Moomin artwork used for licensing is based on Jansson’s original illustrations. In 2023, Moomin had 800 licensees worldwide, including Adidas, Mattel, Deagostini, 7-Eleven, Barnes & Noble, and Rovio Entertainment.
The Moomin phenomenon extends to theme parks in Japan and Finland, over 30 global shops and cafés, and a social media following of 3.5 million, engaging with 65 million fans annually. The artwork is featured in exhibitions worldwide and new publishing based on Jansson’s original stories are published each year. Together with partners like UNICEF, Oxfam, and the Red Cross, Moomin characters continue to work with the initiative ‘Reading, Writing, and the Moomins’ to encourage reading among children.”
This win solidifies Moomin as one of the top licensed brands in the world. See the full list of winners here.
Interested in a licensing collaboration with Moomin? Send an e-mail to licensing@rightsandbrands.com to learn more!