New York -- Nickelodeon is attempting to hit a home run
with young baseball fans through a new co-branding agreement with Major League Baseball.
In a deal announced earlier this month, the two
organizations said they will release a line of merchandise combining Nickelodeon's popular
Rugrats characters with MLB team logos.
"Kids told us they wanted to see Rugrats doing
the things they did in their everyday lives," Nickelodeon consumer-products senior
vice president Leigh Anne Brodsky said, even if it wasn't an activity the characters
participated in on their television show.
In talking with younger viewers, one such theme that kept
coming up was sports.
MLB is the first co-branding partnership for Nickelodeon,
although the network has already licensed its top characters for a wide array of
merchandise. The co-branded Rugrats/MLB products are set to hit the mass market
next spring.
In addition to merchandise, the network and MLB are
planning joint promotions. The agreement also gives Nick and its new digital Games and
Sports (GaS) network access to MLB games and activities.
Brodsky added that she expects an online component to be
part of the joint promotions, as well as in-park events featuring Rugrats
characters at baseball stadiums.
