Former Marvel comic mavericks join forces to build an entertainment property empire.
By: Gwen McNamara
Think you’ve got the next Spiderman that hot cartoon or comic-book character that has merchandising possibilities written all over it?
If so, former Marvel mavericks Bill Jemas and Russ Brown want to hear from you.
Mr. Jemas, a Princeton resident, and Mr. Brown, of Manhattan, have collaborated to form 360ep LLC, a new entertainment property management company.
Headquartered at 20 Nassau St., the dynamic duo plan to use their years of industry experience to create a studio fit to rival the entertainment empires in New York City and Los Angeles.
"We combine the three functions you’d find in any L.A. or New York entertainment studio," said Mr. Jemas, CEO. "If you’re a T-shirt company, we’ll help you find the next hot cartoon character. If you’re a toy company or electronic gamer that’s had success in your niche, we’ll partner you with that larger TV or T-shirt company to really take off. And we’re always out there searching for the next Spiderman, that next big property."
Being on both sides of the licensing equation puts 360ep in a unique position.
"We’re a one-stop shop," Mr. Jemas said. "Often companies just focus on one side or the other. We’re able, with our experience and worldwide contacts, to work both ways."
It can be a confusing industry, said Mr. Brown.
"On the one hand, licensees see a confusing marketplace with hundreds of studios, publishers and producers offering thousands of new and established intellectual properties," he said in a statement."360ep cuts through the clutter for our manufacturing clients and finds them the right licenses on the best terms.
"On the other hand," he continued. "You have licensors who have excelled in their niche. They have really good properties but get lost in that same clutter. 360ep helps them find licensees to bring their properties into new consumer product markets."
360ep is in the process of hiring a staff of about 20 to 25 people at its Princeton office.
"We’ll be about a 50-person company when we’re finished," Mr. Jemas said. "If we do what we do right, it won’t take a lot of people."
So far 360ep has assembled a top-notch executive staff from across the nation.
"Being able to locate this business in Princeton is a function of how far technology has come in the last five years," Mr. Jemas said.
None of the main players at 360ep share an office.
"I’m here at our office in Princeton, but Russ Brown, our president, is in New York; Dave Reisman, our general counsel, is in Westchester; Carol Fishberg, our CFO, is in Colts Neck; Theresa Focirile, director of development, is in Connecticut; Alex Hamby, our managing editor, is in Texas.
"We’re all linked up through a virtual office, conference calls, e-mail," he continued. "When I worked at Marvel, I commuted two hours each way into New York to get to an office where I’d make phone calls to people all across the world. It’s not hard to do the same thing from 20 Nassau St."
Mr. Jemas first met Mr. Brown at Marvel Enterprises, prior to teaming up to resurrect the struggling company.
Marvel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1998 and emerged in 1999 with $250 million in cash, but by the next year was on pace to becoming insolvent.
Under their direction, Marvel established lucrative relationships in nearly every major consumer product category, with corporate leaders such as Frito Lay, PepsiCo, Proctor & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Fruit of the Loom and Activision, running major national and multi-national programs featuring Marvel characters.
Domestic licensing revenues skyrocketed from $9.4 million, with 121 active contracts, in 2000, to $88.3 million, with 227 active contracts, in 2004, with average guaranteed royalties and marketing commitments per contract increasing over 400 percent and marketing commitments from licensing partners up 900 percent.
"Marvel was a blast," Mr. Jemas said. "I was part of a team of people who took a virtually bankrupt company and turned it into a success. It was a great experience, but with the long commute I came to decide it was time to move on."
Using contacts he made while at Marvel, and earlier when he transformed the National Basketball Association into a sporting extravaganza, Mr. Jemas has already been able to generate a lot of industry interest in 360ep.
"I’ve been on the scene for more than 20 years and I’ve shown that I go out of my way not to sell bad properties to people," he said. "Once clients trust you it becomes 1,000 times more efficient to do business. Plus, Russ and I know people all over the world. We work with creators in places like Scotland, South America, China and India."
When 360ep teams up with a client, it offers them a full spectrum of services, Mr. Jemas said.
360ep can create high-end visual identity packages, including both electronic and printed style guides, clients can use to showcase innovative product concepts and designs.
The company also offers custom publishing, which is often the key to turning a client’s novel, game, toy or brand into a well-rounded entertainment property, Mr. Jemas said.
"We can create comics and illustrated storybooks from toys, electronic and board games, or short stories and novels," he said.
360ep even stores all client images in a secure digital asset database for easy retrieval.
The company’s ability to provide personal attention to clients is a big selling point as well, according to Mr. Brown.
"We believe our relationship with clients should go beyond the drafting of a term sheet," he said in a statement. "When you team up with 360ep, you work with people who are willing to learn from you about your properties and why they appeal to your current customers. We’ll teach you what we know about the entertainment licensing market."
Right now, 360ep is focused on looking for a new superhero property for teenagers, writing their own line of comics and opening up a worldwide search for new properties attractive to children age 12 and under.
"We’re also organizing a contest to collect work we could potentially represent," Mr. Jemas said.
As it looks for quality entertainment property to deal with, 360ep keeps an eye out for something other than the "media-pattern Hollywood theme of ‘I’m a good guy, you’re a bad guy, let’s fight’," Mr. Jemas said.
"What interests teens, and people in general today, is more than just ‘good’ fighting ‘evil,’" he said. "It’s got to follow more of a realistic point of view, where a conflict arises, a character explores a point of view and the conflict is resolved.
"Too often what’s out there is just recycled storylines, ‘Shrek underwater’ or ‘Star Wars with nukes,’" he continued. "We’re looking for something fresh."
Mr. Jemas, a Rutgers University and Harvard Law School graduate, began his career as a tax and corporate associate for the New York law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. He then went on to work for the National Basketball Association during the league’s most explosive period of growth 1985 to 1992.
After reorganizing the league’s weakest areas, launching NBA Inside Stuff Magazine and turning around the league’s trading card business, Mr. Jemas started an entertainment card division for Fleer Corp., then part of Marvel Enterprises.
In 1997, he joined Madison Square Garden as executive vice president and spent two years managing a wide range of sporting events before teaming up with Mr. Brown to fix Marvel’s woes.
Mr. Jemas lives in Princeton Township with his wife Jane and two sons.
Mr. Brown, a graduate of Fordham University, started his career with New York-based advertising giant Young & Rubicam, Inc. and worked his way up through several companies to become a sought-after marketing expert.
In 1992 he joined Don Jagoda Associates, a marketing services agency, as vice president of account services, where he developed promotional programs for a variety of corporate sponsorships, including the Olympics, the NBA, Disney and Universal Studios.
Mr. Brown then joined Marvel in 1995 as director of promotions, where he lead a four-member team responsible for creating, selling and administering character-based, tie-in marketing programs and packaged goods licenses.
He left Marvel in 1997 to work with Determined Productions, Inc., before going back to Marvel in 2000.
At 360ep, Mr. Brown is responsible for the company’s consumer products/licensing group.
For more information about 360ep, visit www.360ep.com or call (609) 921-9200.