You might want to dust off your old Care Bears...

...because they could become valuable in the near future. Yes, the intellectual property rights to this cuddly franchise have been acquired by marketing and licensing expert George Jones. You've probably never heard of him.

But you definitely have encountered his work--he was the architect of Warner Bros' 1997 deal to acquire exclusive licensing rights to everything Harry Potter. So if you've ever seen one of the movies, or bought a Hogwarts-House-themed-scarf, then you have seen firsthand how effective Jones' marketing instincts can be.

This is part of a larger trend of recent revivals of throwback brands (Barbie, anyone?)--there has been growing interest in character-based intellectual properties for a while. We're predicting Care Bears movies, merch, apparel, digital experiences, and more (maybe even theme parks!) in the not-so-distant future.