MUMBAI: Middle East toy company New Boy has acquired the license for Playmates Toys' Strawberry Shortcake dolls in India as part of an exclusive one year renewable agreement.

Slated for launch in the first week of September, New Boy will heavily support the product category with on-air commercials on Cartoon Network, on which the series is currently telecast, and Pogo.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com New Boy brand manager Ali Hadi said, "We have the exclusive rights for Playmates Toys' Strawberry Shortcake and will roll out the doll collection by the first week of September as a pre-Diwali strategy."

The Strawberry Shortcake range of dolls will be priced between Rs 599 to Rs 1399 in the premium category. However, New Boy is also looking to enter the mass market at the price range of Rs 59 - Rs 199. This is part of the company's modification in strategy from an upmarket brand to enter the mass market in India.

New Boy director and country head Adil Qamar said, "After catering to the premium category we want to enter the mass market in India and therefore we would like introduce Strawberry Shortcake through generic items at entry level price points as well. On being in India for a year now, we have had to customize our products to meet the demands of the market."

It has been estimated that the company is looking to shell out $200,000 on media spends for its entire product portfolio for this year ending December, sources close to the development say.

Also on its agenda is the launch of Megablocks' Spiderman 3 which will be launched in August and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that is already in the Indian market. Early this year, New Boy had conducted a multi-city activity with Disney for Jetix's action toy range Power Rangers.