Inside Out

Forget the slippers, Grandma and Grandpa want gadgets, too this year—handheld gaming units, cameras, you name it! According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., 52 percent of grandparents and 68 percent of baby boomers wanted to receive some form of technology during the holidays. At least 27 percent of grandparents and 34 percent of baby boomers said they would even like to receive a portable video game system, such as the Nintendo DS Lite (pictured)…speaking of video games, GameStop, Grapevine, Texas, has launched "Respect the Ratings," a public education and awareness campaign to help parents make informed decisions when purchasing games. In partnership with the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, information will be available at www.respecttheratings.com and in signage, circulars and promotional materials at more than 3,600 GameStop and EB Games locations... BulMed, a honey producer in Sofia, Bulgaria, organized a theatrical show celebrating the 80th anniversary of Winnie the Pooh for local children, who enjoyed stories, sing-alongs, music activities and, of course, some treats… Teshkeel Media Group, the Kuwait-based publisher of The 99, an Islam-based superhero comic book, has signed the property's first licensee, Spain's Montichelvo Industrial, which will create stationery and gift products...The Georgia Board of Education voted to leave Harry Potter books on library shelves despite a local mother's allegation that they encourage witchcraft. The Potter books have been challenged 115 times by religious groups since 2000, making them the most challenged texts of the 21st century, according to the American Library Association…Entertainment Rights has acquired Classic Media Holdings, owner of properties like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Lassie and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

New York–based PixFusion, developer of personalized video products for such popular kid properties as Dora the Explorer and Care Bears, has added Marvel's Spider-Man to its license roster.

Under a multi-year deal, PixFusion will market a photo-personalized Spider-Man DVD, I am the Amazing Spider-Man, which will allow parents to superimpose their child's picture into an animated sequence as Spidey himself, and turn the result into a 30-minute comic reel. The patented technology takes a photograph, uploaded via e-mail or sent regular mail, and transforms it into an adventure based on Spider-Man: The Animated Series. The personalized DVD tales will include the entire universe of Spider-Man heroes and villains.

"It's an engaging experience for a child," Pixfusion CEO Marc Jaffe tells Playthings of the company's program. "With Dora, it's about the child being in Dora's world and Dora calling out to that child," he says. Plus, the product ties in to overall demand for all things digital, Jaffe adds. "It's a hot button—the proliferation of digital photography is showing huge growth. And everyone is interested in showing a video. It's a powerful market force that appeals to a wide range of audiences—it's unbeatable," he says.

PixFusion plans to move the product into multiple channels that are a natural fit for it, which in addition to toy stores will include mass-market chains and drug stores. "We look forward to expanding distribution into traditional toy channels," Jaffe says. "We recently published a product for Baby Genius, so toys clearly are of interest to us."

Jaffe says there will be a nationwide marketing campaign around the video in the fall, which will include in-store events, cross-merchandising with other Marvel licensees, and a push to sign up toy stores and portrait studios to offer the service to their customers.

The company will also launch product in the fall based on the animated series Spidey and Friends. —Tina Benitez