My rather impromptu trip to the Licensing show in New York is over. This was my first visit to the show and it was extremely extreme, exciting and eye-opening....And extreme.
Even though I arrived on the last day of the show, I think the Good Luck Puppy proved to be a success. Everybody LOVED the puppy -- a very cute little character with a universal message, appreciated by young and old of all nations around the world!
There is a considerable (knock on wood) interest from several companies – a children clothing line manufacturer in New York, companies in Israel, Europe and Asia. It is still too early for any announcements, but this definitely is a good start for His Luckiness the Puppy.
I met with several licensing agents and left them my presentation. I also made contacts with some of the major animation studios. Once the Good Luck Puppy short animations are ready, I will see if I can use my new contacts and knowledge to make some "pitches".
On a rather personal level, the trip was in one word - AMAZING! I finally met Jim Benton, the creator of Happy Bunny, Just Jimmy, Dear Dumb Diary, Franny K Stein and more. Jim is one of the reasons I decided to try out other fields of cartooning, rather than sticking to a shrinking magazine market. Meeting him in person was a thrill! He was even kind enough to draw a Happy Bunny original signed to my daughter (a huge fan), which made me look like a cool Dad at least for a week...Thanks, Jim!
I also met and shook the hand of one of the true cartooning legends, Mr. Mort Walker (83), creator of Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois and founder of the Museum of Cartoon Art.
What amazed me was that even at the show, right there at his booth, he was still working on his comic strips. That's what I call dedication and true love of this unique art form. Hats off!
David Horvath’s Ugly Dolls booth was mind blowing (Newsflash: David has a brand new doll, so he was missing from the show). As you can see on the picture above, I made good friends with OX.
Daniel Cohen from CellMates was a pleasure to talk to (I hope next time we'll have more time...And I certainly hope we’ll do some business together!). I was rather disappointed to learn that due to my airline adventures I’ve missed Bill Attinger’s signing at the Lisa Marks' booth. Bill is a true mentor, a great guy and an absolute genius... I am sure we’ll meet next time.
All in all, Good Luck Puppy and I, we both loved the trip to NY. As a not-so-bright guy I made some mistakes, so the Puppy had me write down its commandments:
THOU SHALL NOT BELIEVE THE AIRLINES
That probably is a well known fact to everyone, but yours truly…Or I guess I had a higher than normal trust in the US airlines. In any way, after several days of flood alerts, family crises and uncertainty whether I am going or not, at the last minute I received a green light from my wife and I purchased the first ticket I saw. “It has a connection in Las Vegas? No problem, as long as I arrive on time for my meetings!”, says I. “No problem!”, says travel agent, “You’ll be there on time!”
The problems, however, began upon arrival in Las Vegas. After waiting in line for about half an hour I got the word that the flight has been canceled “due to disappearance of the crew”. It’s Las Vegas, man…Probably the crew is still playing blackjack and drinking beer somewhere…
Anyway, after waiting for another three hours in a different line I got a replacement ticket, a hotel room, an airline voucher for $20 and one day of missed appointments.
To everyone I could not meet: Please accept my sincere apologies! I still hope we can work together. Next time we meet, the lunch is on me!
THOU SHALL NOT FLY WHEN SICK
That too, probably is a fact well known to everyone but me. Just before leaving, I got this cough – nothing major, just a bit unpleasant. Flying (or landing, to be more precise), showed me a whole new world of different sensations. I guess it was due to an ear infection, but each landing was a small trip to hell, with the last one leaving me almost deaf…Which is not so bad, after all, because now I cannot hear my wife nagging.
Update: My hearing is back. Partly due to my wife’s solution of tapping me on the head each time I did not pay attention.
THOU SHALL NOT CARRY HEAVY BAGS
Now, this one I knew. But I had so many promotional materials to give out…and at the end of the day, there were so many more given to me…Next time, if all’s well, I’ll get a sherpa. There.
See you next year at the Licensing Show! This time, Good Luck Puppy will have its own booth, so bring your @$$s! and get lucky!
My rather impromptu trip to the Licensing show in New York is over. This was my first visit to the show and it was extremely extreme, exciting and eye-opening....And extreme.
Even though I arrived on the last day of the show, I think the Good Luck Puppy proved to be a success. Everybody LOVED the puppy -- a very cute little character with a universal message, appreciated by young and old of all nations around the world!
There is a considerable (knock on wood) interest from several companies – a children clothing line manufacturer in New York, companies in Israel, Europe and Asia. It is still too early for any announcements, but this definitely is a good start for His Luckiness the Puppy.
I met with several licensing agents and left them my presentation. I also made contacts with some of the major animation studios. Once the Good Luck Puppy short animations are ready, I will see if I can use my new contacts and knowledge to make some "pitches".
On a rather personal level, the trip was in one word - AMAZING! I finally met Jim Benton, the creator of Happy Bunny, Just Jimmy, Dear Dumb Diary, Franny K Stein and more. Jim is one of the reasons I decided to try out other fields of cartooning, rather than sticking to a shrinking magazine market. Meeting him in person was a thrill! He was even kind enough to draw a Happy Bunny original signed to my daughter (a huge fan), which made me look like a cool Dad at least for a week...Thanks, Jim!
I also met and shook the hand of one of the true cartooning legends, Mr. Mort Walker (83), creator of Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois and founder of the Museum of Cartoon Art.
What amazed me was that even at the show, right there at his booth, he was still working on his comic strips. That's what I call dedication and true love of this unique art form. Hats off!
David Horvath’s Ugly Dolls booth was mind blowing (Newsflash: David has a brand new doll, so he was missing from the show). As you can see on the picture above, I made good friends with OX.
Daniel Cohen from CellMates was a pleasure to talk to (I hope next time we'll have more time...And I certainly hope we’ll do some business together!). I was rather disappointed to learn that due to my airline adventures I’ve missed Bill Attinger’s signing at the Lisa Marks' booth. Bill is a true mentor, a great guy and an absolute genius... I am sure we’ll meet next time.
All in all, Good Luck Puppy and I, we both loved the trip to NY. As a not-so-bright guy I made some mistakes, so the Puppy had me write down its commandments:
THOU SHALL NOT BELIEVE THE AIRLINES
That probably is a well known fact to everyone, but yours truly…Or I guess I had a higher than normal trust in the US airlines. In any way, after several days of flood alerts, family crises and uncertainty whether I am going or not, at the last minute I received a green light from my wife and I purchased the first ticket I saw. “It has a connection in Las Vegas? No problem, as long as I arrive on time for my meetings!”, says I. “No problem!”, says travel agent, “You’ll be there on time!”
The problems, however, began upon arrival in Las Vegas. After waiting in line for about half an hour I got the word that the flight has been canceled “due to disappearance of the crew”. It’s Las Vegas, man…Probably the crew is still playing blackjack and drinking beer somewhere…
Anyway, after waiting for another three hours in a different line I got a replacement ticket, a hotel room, an airline voucher for $20 and one day of missed appointments.
To everyone I could not meet: Please accept my sincere apologies! I still hope we can work together. Next time we meet, the lunch is on me!
THOU SHALL NOT FLY WHEN SICK
That too, probably is a fact well known to everyone but me. Just before leaving, I got this cough – nothing major, just a bit unpleasant. Flying (or landing, to be more precise), showed me a whole new world of different sensations. I guess it was due to an ear infection, but each landing was a small trip to hell, with the last one leaving me almost deaf…Which is not so bad, after all, because now I cannot hear my wife nagging.
Update: My hearing is back. Partly due to my wife’s solution of tapping me on the head each time I did not pay attention.
THOU SHALL NOT CARRY HEAVY BAGS
Now, this one I knew. But I had so many promotional materials to give out…and at the end of the day, there were so many more given to me…Next time, if all’s well, I’ll get a sherpa. There.
See you next year at the Licensing Show! This time, Good Luck Puppy will have its own booth, so bring your @$$s! and get lucky!
Good Luck (puppy), everybody!
CLICK HERE TO SEE GOOD LUCK PUPPY'S PRESENTATION