Total Licensing
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TOTAL LICENSING AUSTRALIA<br />
wanted to be with his children for<br />
their final years of school. Greg, had<br />
only returned to help us out and has<br />
a very young family, so joined Murray<br />
and Jeff departure. In my case, I was<br />
feeling as fit as I had ever been and I<br />
had never really ever thought about<br />
stopping. I had been working with<br />
Emma, Lachy and Simon and became<br />
very impressed with them as entertainers,<br />
and very importantly as people.<br />
Jeff, Murray and Greg were very<br />
supportive of the “newest Wiggles.”<br />
We worked from the first minute<br />
recording and filming content so<br />
that our pre-school audience would<br />
get to know the new Wiggles. And<br />
of course, as we have always done,<br />
we toured every state and territory<br />
in Australia & New Zealand, going<br />
everywhere from the big cities to<br />
outback towns. Because of this constant<br />
work, and I am sure because of<br />
the high quality of the work, to the<br />
pre-schoolers, the current Wiggles<br />
are ‘their’ Wiggles!”<br />
TLA: What is different about The<br />
Wiggles now?<br />
Anthony: “Our coloured skivvies are<br />
very flash these days, compared to<br />
the early days! But, I think the most<br />
obvious change to The Wiggles is<br />
Emma. Yes, a female Wiggle for the<br />
first time in our wiggly history. Emma<br />
has been well worth the wait, fluent<br />
in ASL (Australian Sign Language)<br />
and French. She is a brilliant dancer<br />
and has a real passion for bringing<br />
the joy of dance to children. Emma<br />
has her own short form TV show on<br />
the ABC, and The Wiggles live shows<br />
these days have a virtual mini army of<br />
Emma fans all<br />
through the packed auditoriums. I am<br />
so happy Emma has become such a<br />
positive role model for the youngsters<br />
who watch her on the TV. Simon<br />
and Lachy bring a new energy<br />
to The Wiggles, they are both amazing<br />
singers, musically there are many<br />
harmonies echoing through Wiggle<br />
Town!”<br />
TLA: And finally, what will the<br />
future bring for The Wiggles?<br />
Anthony: “We have got so much<br />
more to do with The Wiggles. We<br />
have a new TV series for this year,<br />
and it’s called “Wiggle Town!” The<br />
ABC has commissioned a Lachy series<br />
which we have produced, written<br />
and directed.<br />
After the great success of the ‘Emma’<br />
TV series, we are producing a brand<br />
new series of Emma content. We will<br />
continue to make new and interesting<br />
works.<br />
We developed a movie script and<br />
movie sound track with our mate<br />
Ben Elton. From his success with The<br />
Young Ones and The Queen musical<br />
‘We Will Rock You’, he brought<br />
a great sense of fun and an appeal<br />
wider than our pre-school audience,<br />
which is what we need for a feature<br />
film release. We are taking our time<br />
with this special project to find the<br />
right partners to bring it to screens<br />
around the world. We have been<br />
working on a wonderful musical and<br />
poetry project with Jimmy Barnes<br />
called Och Aye the Gnu. He wrote<br />
some very entertaining poems for<br />
his grandchildren and came to us<br />
to see what we could do together.<br />
The music is wonderful and over<br />
the next year we will release<br />
with him, these wonderful<br />
songs and accompanying<br />
book. Simon is producing<br />
an album called The Carnival<br />
of the Animals which<br />
will be with the backing<br />
of the Adelaide Symphony<br />
Orchestra and<br />
will be another unique<br />
and very special release.<br />
We’ve introduced and<br />
entertained a new generation<br />
of children in<br />
Australia, New Zealand<br />
and North America<br />
but we want to reach<br />
so many more countries.<br />
So that’s a great<br />
challenge ahead of us,<br />
but we feel if we have<br />
the right partners, we<br />
know that children<br />
right around the<br />
world, will be engaged<br />
by The Wiggles music,<br />
characters and stories.”<br />
Wiggles plus the “Emma” factor has<br />
provided more merchandise opportunities<br />
than ever before. Merchandise<br />
ranges include; home enterainment,<br />
publishing, dress ups, toys<br />
/ games, home, lifestyle and accessories<br />
just to name a few.<br />
Twenty-five years since<br />
their beginning, The<br />
Wiggles are as popular<br />
as ever with new<br />
growth frontiers that<br />
have been brought<br />
about through<br />
the success of the<br />
first-ever female<br />
Wiggle as well as the<br />
existence of new digital<br />
channels. None<br />
of this was possible<br />
when they debuted<br />
a quarter of a century<br />
ago. It is heartwarming<br />
to see<br />
that The Wiggles<br />
are again the No. 1<br />
pre-school license in<br />
Australia.<br />
In fact, it could be<br />
now argued that<br />
the best of this<br />
iconic Australian<br />
brand is yet to<br />
come …<br />
For more informtion,<br />
contact Alex Ishchenko<br />
The Wiggles<br />
aishchenko@thewiggles.com.au<br />
Mobile: 0407 822 627<br />
TLA 33
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