Transmedia company Elf Labs has launched today with focus on immersive storytelling and IP distribution. Combining storylines featuring iconic characters, reimagined, state-of-the-art compression, and AI-powered production and distribution technology, Elf Labs will target all demographics—toddlers to teens and young adults to adults.
The company has amassed a portfolio of 400 copyrights and over 140 trademarks for popular characters like Snow White, Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and more. This will allow the company and its partners to monetise these brands through global consumer product licensing, including books, apparel, and more. For this, the company acquired the Junior Elf book catalogue, comprising 200 plus titles featuring characters originally published by Rand McNally. The company registered character trademarks at the United States Patent and Trademark Office for over a decade.
“Elf Labs’ platform is a multi-patented system designed to incubate, develop, and launch mega IP franchises,” said Elf Labs CEO David Phillips. “Combining the world’s most iconic IP with captivating creative and revolutionary technology will allow Elf Labs to truly reimagine entertainment.”
To support these efforts, Elf Labs has secured talent and partners, including Dreamworks alumnus Mike De Seve, branding industry titan Bernt Ullmann and global technology company Cosmic Wire. Phillips assembled the foremost production, marketing, and technology experts to help monetise these reimagined iconic characters for modern consumers. Elf Labs’ content partners hold 31 Emmys and credits, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Madagascar, and Shrek. Before launch, Elf Labs quietly wrote and seeded the Once Upon a Zombie series featuring Zombie Cinderella, Zombie Rapunzel, Zombie Tinker Bell, Zombie Peter Pan, and more. Although in stealth mode, the first release sold 100,000 copies and won 12 awards, including Best YA Fiction (The Purple Dragonfly Award) and Best Juvenile Fiction (The President’s Award).
“A creative production is only as good as its storyline, and the all-star roster of characters that Elf Labs secured has provided my team with an incredible jumping-off point,” said Baboon Animation founder Mike De Seve. “I am excited to partner with David and the team to bring innovative content to life across many mediums.”
Apart from this, the company offers an integrated approach to IP distribution with the help of its technology partner, Cosmic Wire. The two media companies aim to bridge the physical and digital realms, creating mesmerising spatial worlds where audiences interact with characters through AR/VR experiences accessible on any device with an internet connection. Cosmic Wire also has an integrated marketing engine to democratise its characters and stories across millions of channels.
“Cosmic Wire’s technology allows for a whole new level of immersion into IP, unlike anything that has existed before,” said Cosmic Wire CEO/founder Jerad Finck. “Elf Labs’ willingness to push the boundaries creatively and experientially makes them the perfect partner for us to co-create a groundbreaking transmedia storytelling experience.”
“I have coordinated thousands of licensing deals and have never been as excited as I am to join the Elf Labs team due to the enormous growth potential for its IP,” said licensing head Bernt Ullmann. “With access to some of the most monetisable character brands in history, the possibilities are endless.”
Elf Labs’ go-to-market strategy includes web series video content, AI-powered toys, animated and live-action feature movies, and seamlessly accessible augmented reality experiences. The company’s latest original series, RoboStars, presents a new type of hero that artfully utilises robots like Robo Cinderella and Robo Pinocchio as a metaphor for free will, inspiring kids with the power to reject robotic reactions to internal and external challenges because we all possess the power to create proactive, positive change. Guided by Ullmann’s decades of experience helping today’s most visionary celebrity business leaders build their brands, Elf Labs plans to execute licensing deals around its expanded character offerings to drive massive merchandise revenue.