Dear Mark, Please Write A Book Soon . . .

There’s a very good chance that you’ve never met Mark Freedman of Surge Licensing. That’s unfortunate, because as I’ve come to know Mark better over the last few years — and as I’ve heard story after story of his work in licensing properties large and small — I consider myself lucky to have met Mark and been given the opportunity to work with him. Mark’s dedicated, works insanely hard, and his knowledge of branding and licensing makes me jealous. Mark, to put it simply, is an amazing guy.

And now he needs to write a book and share his licensing stories with us all.

Mark Freedman’s book, if I can convince him to write one, will prove highly interesting to many of you for one reason alone:

Mark was the licensing agent for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for many, many years and helped make the property what it is today. Consider this quote from the Mental Floss Complete History of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

“Before TMNT, Playmates Toys made almost exclusively dolls and plastic playsets for toddlers. But they were looking to get into the lucrative action figure market, so when TMNT’s license manager Mark Freedman approached them, it was a perfect match.”

Those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys you played with back in the eighties and nineties? You can thank Mark for those.

And that’s not all Mark did over the years. He has much more to share in his book, including his time working on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. Check Mark’s IMDB entry and you’ll find that he was a producer on three films.

And Mark’s book on licensing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and his work in the industry doesn’t have to end with the Playmates toys and the 1991 film. If we leap all of the way to 2009 and this PRWeb article we find Mark still involved in the property:

Mark Freedman, an advisor to Viacom/Nickelodeon in its milestone acquisition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and original worldwide licensor, through his Surge Licensing, during the first decade of the property’s mega-success, said, “Viacom, with its Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures companies, and master global toy partner, Playmates Toys, will create Ninja Turtles magic that will succeed on every media platform.”

Nickelodeon has done fantastic work with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since acquiring the property, and in the talks I’ve had with Mark I can see exactly why Nickelodeon would have approached him to act as an advisor in the acquisition. Mark’s loaded with knowledge, connections, and experience . . . and I want all of that in a book.

Mark, this is me asking you to please write a book and share all of your experience and knowledge with the rest of us. I know I’ve got a lot to learn about brand building and licensing, and I can only sit down with a few times each year (though I do love those meals at the Yotel) and can never get enough time with you.

A book, once you finish it, will be something I can keep with me and turn to day after day as I struggle to absorb even a part of your understanding of licensing. And I’m sure others would love to read all about the formation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and how you worked with the world to grow the property, so please get to work writing.

I’ll be here ready to buy copies of the book just as soon as you’ve finished it. And if you need someone to read it over early . . . well, you’ve got my number.