3 July 2024
Rights & Brands Opens Office in London and Signs Roobarb and Custard
The Scandinavian brand licensing agency Rights & Brands continues to expand its international network with the opening of a new office in London, Rights & Brands Ltd. This new branch marks the agency’s first step into the UK market, where R&B has also signed a new UK brand representation, Roobarb & Custard.
As announced last year, Rights & Brands Licensing AB is growing its international business focus and welcomed Mark Bezodis as the new International Commercial Director to strengthen its future expansion and strategy and open a new UK office.
Coinciding with the global expansion, the International Sales team has signed their first independent brand representation, the cult British Animated TV brand Roobarb & Custard, which turns 50 this year.
Rights & Brands Ltd. is delighted to be chosen to represent Roobarb & Custard, the iconic childhood TV animation brand of the 1970s and 1980s that still delivers laughter and classic British humor. The first part of the plan is to bring the brand back to the UK market. Working closely with the brand owners, Adam Sharp and Bernadette Shanahan, and a London-based creative business, IDEA, the images, sketches, and characters from the original series have been dug out of the archives and are ready to partner with licensees and retailers who can embrace the humor, wit, and style of this iconic brand.
Roobarb and Custard were unleashed on an unsuspecting British public in 1974 with their debut series screening on BBC 1. Within weeks of being launched in a prime afternoon slot just before the evening news, the show was a hit in the era when there were fewer TV channels than fingers on Roobarb’s paws. Millions of viewers were tuning in for a daily dose of animated chaos as their new hero, Roobarb, tried valiantly to deal with some of life’s biggest little problems.
The show was the creation of Grange Calveley. The ever-curious and optimistic Roobarb was, in fact, based on his own Welsh Collie who, on first arriving at the family home, excitedly ran around the lawn before “watering” the rhubarb to get his name! The sarcastic, low-energy pink cat next door, Custard, was the perfect foil for Roobarb’s high jinks and, of course, they were joined by various other characters as the stories are played out in the wide-open spaces of the line-drawn garden.
The show’s distinctive style was directed by the legendary animator Bob Godfrey. Long before any computer-generated conformity, each animation cell was hand-drawn to give a distinctive shake or “boiling” effect. Today, Roobarb and Custard is a vibrant and eclectic heritage brand targeting adults with retro nostalgia.
Rights & Brands will represent Roobarb and Custard for publishing, merchandising and film rights.
Contact Information
Rights & Brands London
Postal and visiting address: 2 Whitehorse Mews,
37 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7QD
london@rightsandbrands.com
Sophie Thompson
Brand Manager Roobarb & Custard
sophie.thompson@rightsandbrands.com
