CHICAGO – August 29, 2011 – Sunstar Americas today announced that through a licensing agreement with The Jim Henson Company, the most popular prehistoric characters on the hit animated children’s series DINOSAUR TRAIN™ will be featured as a new children’s dental product line under the GUM® brand.
“Dinosaur Train characters have become trusted guides and first friends to our young audience who can now be introduced to proper oral hygiene with Buddy, Tiny and Sunstar’s well-known GUM® brand,” said Melissa Segal, senior vice president, Global Consumer Products for The Jim Henson Company. “
Recognizing that oral health may play a role in total health, Sunstar Americas has put emphasis on developing products that make brushing fun for young children.
“It is vital to get preschool children started on a dental health regimen,” said Nikki Lockett, senior marketing manager for Sunstar Americas. “These new products will resonate well with preschoolers, helping them build a foundation of good oral health at an early age.”
DINOSAUR TRAIN is a Parents’ Choice Recommended TV series, and is one of the top ten shows for kids ages 2 to 5. Young viewers join Buddy and his adoptive family of Pteranodons on whimsical adventures through prehistoric jungles, swamps, volcanoes and oceans as they unearth basic concepts in natural science, natural history and paleontology. The Dinosaur Train is a colorful locomotive, customized to accommodate all kinds of dinosaurs, and it has the ability to visit the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous worlds, while the Train’s conductor, a knowledgeable Troodon, provides passengers with fascinating facts along the way.
About Dinosaur Train
Created by Craig Bartlett, Dinosaur Train airs on PBS KIDS ® (check local listings), and embraces and celebrates the fascination that preschoolers have with both dinosaurs and trains while encouraging basic scientific and thinking skills. A Parents’ Choice Recommended TV series, DINOSAUR TRAIN is produced by The Jim Henson Company and co-produced with Singapore animation company Sparky Animation with participation and assistance of the Singapore Media Development Authority. UK production and financial support is provided by Ingenious Media.
About Sunstar Americas, Inc.
Chicago-based Sunstar Americas, which serves the Americas, is part of the Sunstar Group of companies, a global organization founded in Japan in 1941 which now has worldwide sales of over $1 billion. The company has offices in 15 countries and four major geographic divisions. Sunstar’s mission is to always strive to help people everywhere achieve better health and enhance their quality of life via its four business areas: mouth and body, health and beauty, healthy home and safety, and technology. The company is proud of its global partnership with dental professionals to develop a better understanding of the potential links between oral health, general health and quality of life. Sunstar’s well-known Butler® brand of professional dental products and GUM® brand of consumer oral hygiene products have been two of the dental profession’s most trusted and recommended brands for more than 60 years. Butler® and GUM® products are designed in consultation with dental professionals and manufactured to the highest quality standards, assuring product excellence and patient satisfaction. For additional information, please visit www.GUMbrand.com.
For more information:
Nikki Lockett, Sunstar
773-481-3393, nikki.lockett@sunstar.com
Maureen Rootz, Fleishman-Hillard
314-982-9136, maureen.rootz@fleishman.com
