Mobile was never going to be a proper media platform until it began to generate its own original intellectual properties and take them into the mainstream. That turning point has been reached and it is frog-shaped.
The Annoying Thing aka Crazy Frog has exploded into the public consciousness worldwide in a short six month period.
Sweden is the home country of the two creators. Daniel Malmedahl developed the sound, which inspired Erik Wernquist to animate the character.
Originating on the internet, the character and the associated ‘beh ding ding’ sound were launched on to mobile phones by Jamster in early 2005 and became their most popular character and ringtone.
From advertising mobile downloads, Jamster broke UK advertising frequency records as it moved on to advertising a single, which mixed the sound with the Axel F tune.
According to independent media analysts, Jamster spent £10 million on UK television airtime and generated over 36,000 messages in the month of May. The nearest high frequency advertiser was McDonalds, with under 10,000 messages.
The single shot to number one in the UK charts for 4 weeks, outselling Coldplay and U2 and going platinum with over 600,000 sales. The first single and an album are now being released worldwide.
All of this has made The Annoying Thing the hottest character in worldwide licensing today, with scores of licensees signing up to produce hundreds of items of merchandise.
The opportunities for the rights owners are certainly plentiful, but so are the associated pitfalls. Many individuals and organisations all over the world queue up for a piece of the action when a property is hot -and few of them are interested in protecting the interests of the rights owner.
Reconciling permission with control is the key to grasping such a tiger by its tail and only experienced licensing professionals can know how to achieve that.
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