International Kids Licensing Days: The Metaverse for kids and young adults. How its development is impacting the Licensing market

With over 20 years’ experience in the licensing and kids entertainment business, Cristina has a background in marketing, public relations, communication, sales, and business development.

Tasked by BolognaFiere to build a brand new entertainment and licensing section, she was instrumental in launching the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair in 2008, Italy’s only Italian licensing event, and one of the major meetings in Europe. Taking place in conjunction with the Bologna Children's Book Fair, the trade show has become a reference point for kids licensing with international key players. 

Following her expertise in building trade publications, Cristina is now editor-in-chief, on behalf of Bm srl, of Licensing Magazine, a leading b2b publication in digital and paper format distributed all over the world.

She is also a consultant on several animation projects to be launched as brand-new IPs on the market, following every step - from concept through financing to the final marketing strategy and launch - supporting companies to build business networks.

She debuted her career in 2000 in Rai, the Italian Public Broadcaster, where she worked for almost 10 years in different departments: acquisitions and TV special projects for the kids' channel, RaiSat Ragazzi; business development at RaiTrade (today RaiCom), and organization as coordinator of Cartoons on the Bay, a major European Animation Festival. 

Head of Digital Business at DeAPlaneta Entertainment

Sales Management Diploma from the EAE Business School. Head of Digital Business at DeAPlaneta Entertainment.

Leveraging five years of experience in business development to lead and execute strategic initiatives enabling revenue growth through product and distribution-channel partnerships. Focused on content enhancement through online video platforms, and developing digital products such as apps, video games, and interactive experiences.

Emma Chiu leads Wunderman Thompson Intelligence, the agency’s in-house futures and innovation think-tank. Her mission is to understand how the world is and is not changing to best advise organizations on how to transform for the future.

She consults with clients to build long-term strategies based on qualitative and quantitative insight that incorporates cultural and behavioral change, sector innovation and zeitgeist shifts. Clients include Microsoft, HSBC, Unilever, Samsung and Dell.

Emma is a 2022 ambassador for Women in Innovation (WIN) NYC and is part of the advisory network for OK Mentor. She is also a member of the WARC Awards and Creativepool 2020 judging panel. In addition, Emma speaks at international conferences including SXSW, CES and Pause Fest. 

Neil Haldar is the VP of Publishing at Streamline Media Group, an independent production company providing creative and technical solutions for video games and enterprise since 2001. Haldar has been in the games industry since 1992. He's worked with amazing teams on console, PC, handhelds, mobile, including iOS and Android. Haldar is a gaming and entertainment consultant whose previous roles include VP, Business Development with GREE International, Inc. a global leader in building top-quality, high engagement free-to-play mobile games. Over his 30 years in the industry, Haldar has worked with RocketNinja, Pinger, SkyZone, MGM Studios, GT Interactive (now Atari), Sierra Online / Dynamix (now Activision), and Zinc Studios, in total accounting for nearly USD $6B in consumer spending. He believes the future of software interaction is through video game applications and is helping companies become strong and mindful of metrics, app design, monetization, operations, and user acquisition marketing.  

Strategist, analyst, author, speaker, connector — David Kleeman has led the children’s media industry in developing sustainable, child-friendly practices for more than 35 years. He began this work as president of the American Center for Children and Media and is now Senior Vice President of Global Trends for Dubit, a strategy/research consultancy and metaverse studio.

When he began this work, “children’s media” meant television. Today, he is fascinated by, and passionate about, kids’ wide range of possibilities for entertainment, engagement, play and learning. David uses research, insights, and experience to show that much may change, but children’s developmental path and needs remain constant.

David is advisory board chair to the international children’s TV festival PRIX JEUNESSE, on the board of the Children’s Media Association and the Advisory Board of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. He was a Senior Fellow of the Fred Rogers Center, Board Vice President for the National Association for Media Literacy Education, and a Governor of the Television Academy.

David looks worldwide for best practices in children’s entertainment and learning. He has spoken (and, more important, listened!) on six continents and writes extensively for varied audiences

Jon Ollwerther joined Genius Brands International in 2019 as VP of Business Development with the mandate to grow the company’s digital presence. Since then, Ollwerther has overseen the 2020 launch of Kartoon Channel!, the company’s rapidly growing children’s digital entertainment platform, now serving as President of Kartoon Channel! & EVP of Business Development.

Under his leadership, Kartoon Channel! has grown exponentially, topping the app charts and available in over 100 million U.S. television households via a broad range of distribution with expansion internationally this year. Kartoon Channel! offers thousands of episodes of family-friendly content; including Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which premiered in April 2021and has generated over 75M views; Shaq’s Garage, debuting this year and starring and executive produced by both Shaquille O’Neal and Rob Gronkowski: KC! Pop Quiz, hosted by influencer Casey Simpson, and more. Additionally, Ollwerther will oversee the launch this year of an all-new subscription-based service, Kartoon Channel! Kidaverse, featuring exclusive metaversal content, including custom avatars and emojis for kids, exclusive games, branded Kidaverse VR goggles, immersive content and NFTs for kids and more!

Ollwerther joined Genius Brands from Measure, the nation's leading Drone as a Service® company, where he served as Vice President of Media and grew the Arts & Entertainment division from its inception. Working with clients around the world, Ollwerther has an extensive credit list of collaborations with brands and advertising agencies to create unforgettable experiences. Prior to joining Measure, he was the COO of the first venture-backed commercial drone service company in the US.

Matt is an experienced Insights Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the market research industry and a BSc in Industrial Economics. Skilled in trend analysis and future thinking, Matt looks at trends in the kids and parents space and creates actionable insights for clients to integrate into their strategic planning.

Joining Mattel Italy at the end of 2012, Ziella was involved in Baby, Preschool and Building Set brands and also achieved impressive results with category-management projects for Off- and On-line channels. He also successful launched the La Scatola dei Giocattoli platform, and oversaw the digitalization of the whole South-East Europe area (Italy, Greece and Turkey), creating development projects in synergy with Corporate Strategy. Becoming Head of Marketing and Trade Marketing of Mattel South Africa in 2017, Ziella managed the Trade, Marketing and Digital development of the South African market, boosting growth in the entire area.

Returning to Italy in 2018 as Head of Marketing and Digital for Mattel Italia, Ziella was recently appointed EMEA Marketing Lead with special responsibility for developing an EMEA-wide e-commerce platform for Mattel Creations content.

A Marketing Management graduate of Bocconi University, Ziella has also had experience in the luxury goods sector (CHANEL) and large-scale retailing (CARREFOUR).

Thanks to Andrea’s professional skills, Mattel has strengthen and consolidated the Italian team, focusing on digital communication strategies to complete the Company’s traditional marketing and trade marketing activities.