HIT Entertainment, owned by private equity investment group Apax Partners, is one of the world's leading independent children's entertainment producers and rights-owners. HIT's portfolio includes properties, such as Barney™, Bob the Builder™, Thomas & Friends™, Pingu™, Fireman Sam™, Angelina Ballerina™ and Rainbow Magic™. HIT represents Chapman Entertainment's Fifi and the Flowertots™ and Roary the Racing Car™ in North America and Japan, as well as Wallace & Gromit™, Shaun the Sheep™, Timmy Time™ and Aardman Classics from Aardman Animations. HIT also acts as representative for The Wiggles® in the UK.
Launched in 1989, HIT's lines of business span television and video production, content distribution, publishing, consumer products licensing, live events and attractions and has operations in the UK, US, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. HIT is a part-owner of US preschool channel, PBS KIDS Sprout℠, and international preschool channel JimJam, (outside of the US, UK and China).
For more information, visit http://www.hitentertainment.com.
Gabriela Arenas has more than 16 years experience in marketing and licensing for popular kids' brands and currently serves as Vice President, HIT Entertainment Latin America. In this role she is responsible for overseeing the launch and development for all HIT properties in Latin America, forging licensing deals, developing retail programs and promotions, and managing the live events business for Angelina Ballerina™, Barney™, Bob the Builder™, Thomas & Friends™ and more. Ms. Arenas also oversees TV distribution and broadcast sales of HIT properties in Latin America.
Ms. Arenas has held several positions at HIT Entertainment, most recently as Senior Director of Consumer Products and Retail Development, Latin America, where she successfully launched Thomas & Friends toys in Mexico through an exclusive retail program with Liverpool, the largest department store in the country. Ms. Arenas started at HIT in 2006 as Director, Brand Management, responsible for the creation and execution of US marketing strategies for the Barney™ and Bob the Builder™ brands.
Prior to joining HIT, Ms. Arenas served in numerous positions at Mattel, Inc. As Marketing Director for Fisher-Price Character Brands, Ms. Arenas was in charge of US Brand Marketing Operations for Barney, Sesame Street and Warner Brothers. In that role, Ms. Arenas negotiated rights to new business categories for Fisher-Price with licensors and retailers, and these initiatives subsequently resulted in significant increases in revenue.
Prior to that, she served as Senior International Marketing Manager, Mattel Inc., where she established an international marketing department and was responsible for planning international brand strategy for Fisher Price Character Brands.
Ms. Arenas received her BS from Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico.