Cloudco Entertainment

Those Characters From Cleveland, LLC, officially doing business as Cloudco Entertainment and formerly known as AG Properties and American Greetings Entertainment, is an American company and animation studio which formerly traded as American Greetings' former character brand division. Properties owned by the company include ''Care Bears'', '' Holly Hobbie'', '' Madballs'', '' Buddy Thunderstruck'', '' Tinpo'', '' The Get Along Gang'' and '' Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese''.

History

As Those Characters From Cleveland (1980s)

'' Holly Hobbie'' was created in 1967 as a line of greeting cards by American Greetings. Knickerbocker Toy Co. manufactured stuffed Holly Hobbie dolls from 1968 to 1983. The character's public appeal led to the formation of Those Characters From Cleveland, Inc. In 1972, the company introduced Ziggy, created by Tom Wilson, which soon had a newspaper cartoon strip generating significant additional income. Universal Press later purchased the creative rights. By 1977, Holly Hobbie became one of the top female licensed characters in the world.

Those Characters From Cleveland, Inc. was started up by Tom Wilson on behalf of American Greetings in 1981 to handle its licensing business. The first property out of Those Characters was ''Strawberry Shortcake'', which, in 1981, generated $500 million in retail sales, followed by the ''Care Bears'' with $2 billion in sales over its first two years. The Care Bears characters were announced in 1982 with M.A.D., Marketing and Design Service of the toy group of General Mills, and launched in Spring 1983 with toys and a syndicated TV special.

Ralph Shaffer, senior vice-president and creative head at From Cleveland, oversaw the creation of '' Madballs'', foam balls with disfigured faces. AmToy, another American Greetings subsidiary, released them as toys in 1986 and reached the #4 on the toy best-seller list by September of that year.

With Mattel, Those Characters From Cleveland launched '' Popples'' in 1986. In 1987, Those Characters came out with four different plush toys that do more than just be huggable, but playable, introduced in 1988 through three toy companies.

As AG Properties (2000s-2015)

In 2001, AG Properties named DIC Entertainment as the licensing agent for Strawberry Shortcake.

With DIC merging with Cookie Jar, thus transferring the rights, the company sued. In the settlement, AG agreed to sell the Strawberry Shortcake franchise (along with ''Care Bears'' and ''Sushi Pack'') to Cookie Jar for $195 million with payment due September 30, 2008. Cookie Jar could not come up with the financing, but continued to claim to have licensing rights to Strawberry Shortcake. AG found a new buyer in the form of French company MoonScoop, while settling with Cookie Jar with AG to buy out its rights to Strawberry Shortcake. MoonScoop was to pay part of the purchases price to allow AG to pay Cookie Jar for its rights. Missing that deadline, AG backed out of the deal as MoonScoop attempted to complete the deal by the full payment deadline of June 7, 2009. MoonScoop sued with American Greetings winning the case in November 2012.

By September 19, 2012, AG Properties became the global licensing agent for Pūkeko Pictures’ '' The WotWots'' as they sub-licensed the property to EXIM Licensing Group in the Latin America region, Segal Licensing in Canada and Stella Projects in Australian and New Zealand.

Sean Gorman was promoted to president of AG Properties in June 2013 with the mandate to add franchises geared towards a young male demographic. Gorman was hired in 2007 as vice president, entertainment production and development.

''Packages from Planet X'' was produced for Disney XD by Vancouver-based DHX Media and Disney, and premiered on July 13, 2013. In January 2012, American Greetings Properties and Exim Licensing Group international licensing agent signed a Holly Hobbie publishing deal with V & R Editoras for most of Latin America and the Caribbean.

AG Properties licensed to Lion Forge Comics ''Care Bears'', ''Madballs'' and ''Packages from Planet X'' for titles under their Roar Comics all-ages imprint for release in late 2014.

On February 3, 2015, Iconix Brand Group signed a definitive agreement to acquire the ''Strawberry Shortcake'' brand and related intangible assets from AG Properties for US$105 million. DHX Media (now WildBrain) would eventually acquire the franchise in 2017 as part of their buyout of Iconix's entertainment assets, which also included an 80% majority stake in Peanuts owner Peanuts Worldwide.

As American Greetings Entertainment (2015-18)

On October 6, 2015, American Greetings changed the unit's name to American Greetings Entertainment as an indication of a shift in focus to the ''Care Bears'' property, alongside additional multi-character and entertainment properties. On October 11, the newly-renamed company announced '' Buddy Thunderstruck'', a stop-motion animated series co-produced with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios that would premiere on Netflix in 2017.

In May 2016, Irish production company Sixteen South named American Greetings Entertainment the worldwide distributor of ''Claude'', an animated TV Adaptation of Alex T. Smith's bestselling children's picture book series. On October 17, 2016, the company announced a partnership with Gaumont Animation to relaunch '' Herself the Elf'' with a new television series that the two companies would co-develop, co-produce and co-distribute.

On October 13, 2017, UK pre-school broadcaster CBeebies greenlit a '' Tinpo'' television series, which would be co-produced by Dentsu, OLM Digital and Sprite Animation Studios, for a late 2018 release on the network.

In April 2018, Hulu commissioned a Holly Hobbie live-action TV series by Aircraft Pictures. It ran for five seasons and 50 episodes. In May 2018, an advert showcased at the Licensing Expo showcased new redesigns of the Care Bears for a new television series that would premiere in Late-2018.

As Cloudco Entertainment (2018-2023)

On April 6, 2018, the Weiss family announced it was to sell the majority shareholding in American Greetings to US investment company, Clayton Dubilier & Rice. The ownership of American Greetings Entertainment was fully retained by the Weiss family, and so, on August 28, 2018, the company was spun off from American Greetings as Cloudco Entertainment, becoming a stand-alone company. The previous management was retained, including president Sean Gorman.

On September 6, the planned new ''Care Bears'' animated series previously previewed at the licensing expo would be called '' Care Bears: Unlock the Magic'' and would premiere on the Boomerang SVOD service in January 2019. On September 20, 2018, Cloudco announced they had opened up a UK office.

The animated series ''Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese'' was co-commissioned by CBBC and Gulli in October 2018, co-produced with Watch Next Media in France and Kavaleer Productions in Ireland, and premiered on October 31, 2019.

On June 24, 2019, Warner Music Group's Arts Music division launched the licensed Cloudco Entertainment label with the release of the current '' Holly Hobbie'' TV show theme song as a part of a multi-season deal.

In January 2021, Cloudco announced they would team up with Topps to create a new toy range that crosses over Cloudco's ''Madballs'' and Topps' ''Garbage Pail Kids'' franchises. On March 16, 2021, Cloudco and Marblemedia announced they would team-up to co-produce a new live-action comedy series called '' Overlord and the Underwoods''. On the same day, it was confirmed that the show had been picked up by Nickelodeon internationally, ITV in the United Kingdom, CBC in Canada and BYUtv in the United States.

In October 2022, it was announced that a live-action television adaption of '' Pretty Freekin Scary'' was commissioned for Disney Channel as a co-production with CakeStart Entertainment, a joint venture between Cake Entertainment and JumpStart Entertainment, as part of the latter's first-look deal with Disney.

Purchase by IVEST Consumer Partners (2023-present)

On August 24, 2023, it was announced that Canadian-based private equity firm IVEST Consumer Partners had purchased Cloudco Entertainment for $100 Million. IVEST's intentions with Cloudco is to put a major focus on the ''Care Bears'' brand and turn it into a major household name by helping introduce the franchise to a new generation of children, and producing 'retro'-style merchandise featuring the classic Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins characters, geared towards the now-adult audience who grew up with it, through collaborations with retailers such as Primark, Shein, Claire's and MINISO. Other plans include utilizing existing Cloudco properties for developing new content, producing new IP, as well as Cloudco being used to acquire and license other properties that IVEST could pick up in the future.

On October 16, 2024, Cloudco and WildBrain announced the production of a new forty-four minute special entitled ''The Care Berry Switch'', which crosses over ''Strawberry Shortcake'' with the ''Care Bears'' for the first time. This is Cloudco's first ''Strawberry Shortcake'' production to be made by the company since the sale of the property to Iconix/WildBrain in February 2015. On June 5, 2025, it was announced that a live-action/animated ''Care Bears'' film was put into development at Warner Bros. Pictures, with Josh Greenbaum being announced as director.

Properties

Current

* Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese (2006)
* Buddy Thunderstruck (2015)
* Care Bears (1981)
** Care Bear Cousins
* The Get Along Gang (1983)
* Holly Hobbie (1967)
** Holly Hobbie & Friends (2005)
* Herself the Elf
* Lady Lovely Locks (1987)
* Madballs (1985)
* Maryoku Yummy (2001)
* Overlord and the Underwoods (2021)
* Packages from Planet X (2006)
* Pretty Freekin Scary (2006)
* Sushi Pack (2006)
* Tinpo (2007)
* Twisted Whiskers (2001)

Ownership Unknown

* Brush-a-Loves (1987)
* FlopaLots (1987)
* Nosy Bears (1987)
* Peppermint Rose (1990)
* Special Blessings (1987)

Sold

* My Pet Monster (1986) - Sold to Saban Brands in 2012, now owned by Hasbro.
* Popples (1986) - Toys initially produced by Mattel; sold to Saban Brands in 2012, now owned by Hasbro.
* Strawberry Shortcake (1980) - sold to Iconix Brand Group in 2015, now owned by WildBrain.
** The Berrykins - Strawberry Shortcake's little forest pals
* Ziggy (1972) - Sold off in 2011.

Content

Television Shows

Films and specials

References

External links

*

{{Animation industry in the United States

American companies established in 1981
Mass media companies established in 1981
2023 mergers and acquisitions
American Greetings
American animation studios
Privately held companies based in Ohio
Privately held companies based in California
Entertainment companies of the United States
Popples