MUMBAI: DQE has inked licensing and merchandising deals for The Jungle Book in Israel. The agreements are with Osem Investments, an Israeli subsidiary of Nestlé S.A, a food production and distribution company and also the Burger Ranch franchise, a fast food chain across Israel as introduced by D&C Israel, who are representing DQE’s Jungle Book franchise in Israel for merchandise including toys, housewares, apparel, giftware, stationery, foods, beverages and furniture. D&C will administer the deals with Nestle and Burger Ranch in Israel on behalf of DQE.

The agreement with Nestle will see Jungle Book branded merchandise and packaging appear across a variety of Nestle branded products. The agreement also includes a specially commissioned sticker collection incorporating the main four characters of the series (Mowgli, Baloo, Bageerah and Sherkhan). These stickers will be distributed as a free additional insert in up to 50,000 cereal multipacks of the Nestle brand, Honey Nut Cheerios.

The second agreement with Burger Ranch is for the licensing and merchandising across all Burger Ranch franchises within Israel. Under the terms of the agreement, Jungle Book related products will be available from all Burger Ranch stores as either free promotional gifts or pre-selected purchased items.  As of 2010, the Burger Ranch chain operated 107 restaurants with more than 1500 employees.

Products included in the launch include coin boxes, bull’s eyes, flying models, balls, keyboard stickers and mini rackets.  90,000 such gifts at the cost of 2 Israeli Shekel (NIS) will be added as a gift to child meals at Burger Ranch branches.

DQE Group chairman and CEO Tapaas Chakravarti said, “The Jungle Book as a brand has tremendous profile and recognition worldwide and our licensing agreements with Nestle and D&C endorse this fact. A number of similar agreements are currently under negotiation as we look to develop new and multiple revenue streams for DQE. We are excited at the potential our relationship with our two new partners and the further development of our Jungle Book franchise.“

D&C Merchandising general manager Michal Laufer added, "The Israeli market gives Mowgli a bear hug! Even before the series is broadcast we have 3 key licensing deals of 3 important companies that have trusted  the new Jungle Book series: Nestle – the worldwide food company, Burgerranch – a local leading Hamburgers chain stores and Ahim Fried – a local significant home textile company. We are looking to get more and more deals as soon as the TV show will be on air."

Nestle Israel cereal brand manager Maya Shkolnik said, "We are very proud to be the first to cooperate with this spectacular animation of the new Jungle Book. Mowgli is very beloved and a familiar figure here, among parents and children. As soon as we saw the new brand we have felt that it will be absolutely right to connect between our products as natural values of the basic experience. In October we go on a sale promotion: every customer who will buy a package of 2 Honey Nuts Cheerios boxes will receive an amazing sticker sheet of The Jungle Book characters. We are sure that parents and children will be very happy to enjoy, play and have fun with Mowgli and friends stickers!”