Heidi Bienvenida on TV, on film and on CD
Animation & Characters Movie & Television
Sony Music Entertainment Italy to bring music from the hit show to CD for the first time
Mondo TV Iberoamerica, part of the Italian group Mondo TV, one of the largest European producers and distributors of animated content, has announced a major new agreement with Sony Music Entertainment Italy that will see music from the hit live-action comedy-drama for teens, Heidi Bienvenida, appear on CD in Italy for the first time. Fans can expect to see the release of a Heidi Bienvenida CD during the back-to-school period in Q3 2018.
Sony Music Entertainment Italy will have an exclusive license for recordings from the first Heidi Bienvenida television series with a second season option. The rights cover Italy, San Marino, Vatican City and Italian Switzerland. Sony also has first negotiation rights for live events. A collaboration with Deborah Lurato, one of Italy’s most successful pop singers and a very popular star among teens, is also part of the agreement. Her version of the theme song, Nel Posto che Vorrai, is included in the CD release.
This collaboration with Sony Music Entertainment Italy is an important one, seen by both parties as a major driver of brand awareness in the Italian market. This is, therefore, a wide-ranging partnership. Combining the popular success of Heidi Bienvenida with the strength of the Sony name will underpin a number of jointly managed marketing initiatives, including of course CD launch and promotion events. Sony will also be managing the official Vevo video channel for Heidi Bienvenida.
This is great news for the fast-growing Italian fanbase of Heidi Bienvenida, a Mondo TV Iberoamerica and Alianzas Producciones co-production that launched in Italy this year following enormous success in Latin America. Music is an enormously important part of Heidi Bienvenida, which follows the adventures of a happy, carefree girl who leaves her beloved mountain home to live in the big city. Here she not only finds new friends – she also discovers a talent for singing and forms a group, which provides the wonderful soundtrack to the series.
It has been a busy twelve months for Heidi Bienvenida – both the television series and the brand. As well as growth in Latin America, sales to Russia and Israel and a number of regional and global licensing deals, a second series of Heidi Bienvenida is on the way – and a Heidi Bienvenida film, the first feature film in the history of Mondo TV.
And of course the show has launched in Italy. Series one has been airing since April on Rai Gulp, a major name in teen programming. Social media campaigns, competitions, cast interviews and appearances by the show’s star, Chiara Francia, are all part of a major marketing campaign to support the launch of the show in Italy.
And there’s much more – including a growing number of promotional, marketing and merchandising activities that Mondo TV is developing with partners already on board for the project. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial is to produce books for the Latin American market, while in Italy the publishing category has been assigned to Mondadori, which will release its first two Heidi Bienvenida titles on June 26. Panini has signed a worldwide deal to produce a wide range of Heidi-inspired products for newsstands and kiosks; the back to school period will see the release of the first Panini sticker album in conjunction with a Heidi Bienvenida magazine. Also targeting newsstands, but with a different emphasis, Edizioni Playpress is planning a number of original publications for Italy.
Finally, and also in Italy, Walcor, a leader in the food and confectionery sector, has received a license to create and market a range of confectionery for Christmas and Easter, while entertainment agency Echo srl is to produce Heidi Bienvenida-themed events for shopping centres.
Stefano Patara, VP, General Manager Strategic & Catalogue at Sony Music Entertainment says: “We are delighted to be Mondo TV’s recording partner on Heidi Bienvenida, a genuinely exciting project that is not only making waves as a highly successful TV series but also has enormous potential as a music-oriented property. We are therefore working with Mondo TV on a lot of activities aimed at spreading the series’ musical content to various media and audiences, including trade, streaming platforms, regional events, promotions, live shows and much more.”
Valentina La Macchia, Licensing Director of Mondo TV Iberoamerica, adds: “Music is an enormously important component of Heidi Bienvenida and a major contributor to its popularity. We’re delighted to be partnering with one of the most important players in the marketplace to bring what we are sure will be a massively popular CD to Heidi’s legions of fans.”
