Chorion seeks manager to expand children’s brands

Chorion, the leisure and entertainment group, is searching for a head of children’s brands to develop its portfolio of kids’ characters, which includes Noddy and The Famous Five.

The post has been created to maximise the opportunities for the company’s existing children’s properties in publishing, TV, film, promotions and merchandise as well as developing any new brands it acquires.

Chorion’s intellectual property division owns the rights to Enid Blyton’s stories, which include less well-known works such as The Enchanted Wood as well as The Secret Seven and St Clare’s. The job will include overseeing the international TV sales, licensing and marketing of the new Noddy animation series Make Way for Noddy.

Chorion also owns the rights to Agatha Christie, and last month the company boosted its stable of crime writers with the acquisition of the literary rights for Georges Simenon, the Belgian creator of Inspector Maigret, and crime authors Margery Allingham and Edmund Crispin.

A spokesman for Chorion says: “Chorion has a crimes brand manager to oversee Agatha Christie and the other properties so it decided it would be good to have someone to look after the children’s division and further develop the brands, some of which are not that well known.”

The company which also owns the Tiger Tiger chain of nightclubs plans to demerge the publishing and TV rights division in the first half of 2002.