BOCA RATON FL – July 7, 2021 – Grom Social Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: GROM), which recently entered into an agreement to acquire Curiosity Ink Media – a producer of original multiplatform family entertainment – today announced that Curiosity and global production and distribution powerhouse Toon2Tango GmbH & Co. KG will develop Santa.com into an original animated musical holiday special. The special will serve as a feature length companion to Santa.com, Grom’s previously announced ecommerce initiative in which visitors can enjoy the merriest time of year in a virtual North Pole. The announcement was made jointly by Curiosity Ink Media’s Chief Content Officer, Russell Hicks and Toon2Tango Chief Executive Officer, Ulli Stoef.
Inspired by annual favorites like “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” and “Elf,” Santa.com tells the story of how Santa’s retirement results in a fully automated North Pole. Elves oversee a workshop in which holiday wishes are fulfilled by robotic candy cane arms and gifts are delivered by peppermint drones. The updated system works smoothly and efficiently until Cyber Scrooge hacks the system and threatens to cancel Christmas. However, proving that technology can never replace the true spirit of Christmas, Yo-Yo the Elf embarks on a worldwide adventure to round up the now retired reindeer, find Santa’s broken sleigh and lure Santa out of retirement.
The feature length special serves as a brand companion to the Santa.com website, which Grom and Curiosity will debut in November 2021. This virtual holiday hub allows visitors to register their wish lists, tour the North Pole, play holiday-themed games, and even schedule a virtual visit with Santa Claus. The site offers one-stop-shopping for users to browse, purchase and send personalized gifts from the comfort of home. The ecommerce venue represents an opportunity to tap into the growing holiday retail market, projected to top $1 trillion this year, including a 11.3% climb in ecommerce to over $206B in sales.*
The partnership builds on Curiosity’s recent alliance with Toon2Tango to develop preschool original IP franchise Baldwin’s Big Adventure into an animated series. The Munich, Germany-based production company, who are specialists in development and global distribution of kids’ and family content, will aid Curiosity’s efforts to enhances their global reach in animation production and brand building to prepare IP for global audiences.
“The world needs a fresh, fun and inventive take on Christmas and Toon2Tango is the perfect partner to help us craft a new, instant holiday classic,” explains Hicks. “Their visual storytelling approach blends seamlessly with Santa.com’s heartwarming story, original musical score and richly defined characters to capture the fun and nostalgia of Christmas and create a new holiday tradition the whole family will love.”
“We are very happy to partner with Curiosity on this very fresh approach to a Christmas Story,” adds Stoef. “The idea offers everything Toon2Tango is looking for in order to bring outstanding original IP to the small and big screen.”
.
About Toon2Tango
Toon2Tango is a boutique company specializing in IP creation, development, financing, production, distribution and brand building within the kids and family entertainment sector. The company is positioned as a worldwide operation working across all types of children’s and family entertainment IP. Toon2Tango also actively engages in co-financing and acquisition of quality programming with a strong international appeal. Its founders are Hans Ulrich Stoef and Jo Daris, two major names in the international television and movie arena for over 25 years.
About Curiosity Ink Media
Curiosity Ink Media is a global media company that develops, acquires, builds, grows and maximizes the short, mid & long-term commercial potential of Kids & Family entertainment properties and associated business opportunities. Driven by a best-in-class leadership team, Curiosity Ink Media’s multi-faceted I.P. library is designed to amass ongoing value through strategic stewardship, partnerships and highly targeted market entry.
About Grom Social Enterprises, Inc.
Grom Social Enterprises, Inc. is a growing social media platform and original content provider of entertainment for children under 13 years of age, which provides safe and secure digital environments for kids that can be monitored by their parents or guardians. The Company has several operating subsidiaries, including Grom Social, which delivers its content through mobile and desktop environments (web portal and apps) that entertain children, let them interact with friends, access relevant news, and play proprietary games while teaching them about being good digital citizens. The Company owns and operates Top Draw Animation, which produces award-winning animation content for some of the largest international media companies in the world. Grom also includes Grom Educational Services, which has provided web filtering services for K-12 schools, government and private businesses. For more information, please visit gromsocial.com.
*Source: emarketer.com Holiday 2021 Preview
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements, which may constitute “forward-looking statements.”. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief, or current expectations of Grom and members of its management team as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that may cause actual results to differ from those anticipated are discussed throughout the Company’s reports filed with Securities and Exchange Commission which are available at www.sec.gov as well as the Company’s web site at www.gromsocial.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.
For Grom Social Enterprises/Curiosity Ink Media
Marianne Romano
Romanomarianne@me.com
+1-818-681-0849
For Toon2Tango
Claudia Hennekemper
claudia.hennekemper@toon2tango.com
+49-89-2080-4710