17/01/2005
LONDON/ZURICH January 17th, 2005: Spark Marketing Entertainment has signed an exclusive deal with III Millennio in Rome, Italy for the World excluding Italy, Mexico, Poland, the Vatican and the Caribbean.
The deal includes 110 poems that Karol Wojtyla wrote before the start of his Pontificate as Pope John Paul II on October 16, 1978 . Spark is looking to market the Poems by producing audio books, finding mobile phone partners and establishing contact with artists that would consider using the Poems as lyrics in their songs.
Patrizia Caruselli, head of Spark’s Zurich office, says: “The last 3 years have seen a sharp increase in interest in religion and spirituality. The Poems consist of recollections on Karol Wojtyla’s life as well as his thoughts on the issues facing each individual in the world. His words offer wisdom that will appeal to people of any faith looking to strengthen their spirituality.”
Head of Spark’s London office, Matthias Bauss, sees many opportunities. “The potential is great. Pope John Paul II has completed 102 pastoral visits outside of Italy and 144 within Italy since 1978. No other Pope has encountered so many individuals as John Paul II: to date, more than 17 million pilgrims have participated in the General Audiences held on Wednesdays. The figure fails to account for all other special audiences and religious ceremonies held [more than 8 million pilgrims during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 alone) and the millions of people met during pastoral visits made throughout the world.”
A pre-selection of the Poems has been made by III Millennio and Spark. These Poems come with information on when and why they were written by Karol Wojtyla. They are currently available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Portuguese, but can be made available in other languages upon request.
Spark is looking for licensees for individual markets. The Italian market has already seen the successful release of an audio book with the Poems. Italian acting legends Vittorio Gassman, Monica Vitti, Claudia Cardinale and Alberto Sordi all agreed to read the Poems by Karol Wojtyla.
Patrizia Caruselli adds: “Getting famous local actors to recite the Poems for an audio book release is just one of many possibilities. The explosion of mobile phone services worldwide presents a further exciting opportunity and we will be looking to distribute the Poems by SMS and WAP push.”.
Spark has developed a B2B website that provides additional information on the licensing possibilities:
For more information, please contact us via or call Spark Marketing Entertainment on ++44 870 460 54 39 and ask for Patrizia Caruselli.
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