Cartoons, dishes and stationery featuring the Internet sensation Zhdun are expected to flood Russia after media company CD Lands purchased rights to the viral phenomenon, the Meduza news outlet reported Thursday.
CD Land plans to resell the brand to companies that would manufacture Zhdun trinkets for an eager Russian public.
Dutch sculptor Margriet Van Breevoort, Zhdun’s creator, will get a share of the profits, she told The Moscow Times on Thursday.
“It’s hard enough to make ends meet as an artist,” she said in written comments. “With this sale, I won’t have to worry about money for a couple of years and can focus on creating new works.”
Zhdun, a gray blob-like creature, which resembles something between an elephant and a walrus, became a sensation on the Russian Internet in January 2017.
The nondescript creature has appeared in a variety of memes, from opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s court hearing, to the official logo of Russian Post as a symbol of patient, and endless, waiting.
Van Breevoort told The Moscow Times that the deal with CD Land would expire after five years and that the rights were limited to Russia.
“The sculpture is still mine,” she told The Moscow Times. “And they can only exploit Zhdun [in Russia].
CD Land has already made a business deal with a Russian cartoon company that plans to make a series and a video blog featuring Zhdun.
Football organizations have also shown an interest in using the character as an alternative symbol for the 2018 World Cup, CD Land’s president Yuri Tseitlin told Meduza.
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