Warner Bros. to launch Taz cologne spray in November; Looney Tunes bath items available.

WARNER BROTHERS LOONEY TUNES KIDS BATH & BODY COLLECTION BOWING in the company's 142 U.S. retail stores and 30 international stores in Europe, Asia, Australia, the Pacific Rim and Indonesia, the Burbank, Calif.-based entertainment firm said. Designed to make bath time "fun," the 41-product line of hair care, body wash and fragrance products modeled after characters from the "Looney Tunes" cartoon series, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote and the Tazmanian Devil, the Time Warner Entertainment Company division said. The Looney Tunes products are also marketed through Warner Bros.' annual catalog, which is distributed to 2 mil. consumers.

The line, available only through the Warner Bros. stores, is the most extensive collection of Looney Tunes children's toiletries products. A smaller series of Looney Tunes toiletries are available on the mass market through a licensing agreement between Warner Bros. and Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Minnetonka Brands. Items marketed through the Minnetonka deal include Head Toppers shampoo and bubble baths based on the cartoon characters.

Housed in colorful bottles molded into the likeness of each Looney Tunes character, the line is positioned to attract children from toddlers to pre-teens but has been successful with all ages, Warner Bros. said. Preliminary sales have been "beyond expectations," the firm noted. The items range in price from $6 to $10.

Witty product names mimic the Looney Tunes characters the items represent. Always plotting to take over planet Earth, Marvin the Martian's personality is portrayed through products including Disintegrating Suds antibacterial soap and Body Moisturizing Modulator. The Taz items, such as "sludgy, syrupy" Swamp Jelly Chocolate body soap and Sudzing Mudz Chocolate Bubbling Bath Pudding, turn bath water a creamy chocolate color, the company said. Daffy Duck's famous lisp is accentuated with items like "You're Dispicabubble" body wash.

The Warner Bros. collection also includes Tweety bath and body products for girls to "feel clean, fresh and pampered," the company said. Product names play on the Tweety character voice with offerings including Clean Wittle Feathers detangling shampoo and Tweety's Wittle Tweasures nail enamel/cologne kits. The line also includes Tweety My Sweet Bath Puddin', cologne spray and bath bubbles and Soft as a Cloud body lotion.

The Looney Tunes bath and body products carry scents that are consistent with the cartoon characters' packaging and color scheme. Bugs Bunny products have a carrot fragrance, while Taz items are scented with chocolate, Marvin the Martian with "earthly apple," Daffy Duck with orange and Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner is scented with rootbeer. Warner Bros. worked with Intimate Brands' R&D subsidiary Gryphon Development to create the Looney Tunes Bath & Body Collection. The collection is geared mostly toward boys but is also appropriate for girls, Warner Bros. said.

During the launch period, the Warner Bros. flagship store in Manhattan is displaying all Looney Tunes products at a cosmetics counter staffed by demonstrators. In other Warner Bros. outlets, the products are exhibited in display windows and on wall and floor fixtures at the front of the store. In-store banners and tester units for all items are being used to draw consumers into the store to try the products, the company said.

In November, Warner Bros. will expand on the Looney Tunes personal care concept with products specifically aimed at adults. Taz cologne spray targeted at men ages 18 to 45, is modeled after the "extreme, overactive" Looney Tunes character and will be positioned as a clean, fresh sports scent, Warner Bros. said. A 100 mL bottle, available through the retail stores, will be priced at $28. A gift set consisting of a spray and body wash will be priced at $35, while an after-gym splash and body gel duo will be $28.