 Brand Licensing in Italy started in the seventies with very few Licensing Agencies.Apart from Disney which had its own dedicated office in the market, all the other big Entertainment majors were represented by independent agencies.One of these companies named DIC 2 (Distribution International Characters), founded in 1973 by Gianfranco Mari contributed to create the licensing business in Italy and set big phenomena as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Marvel Comics, "Star Wars", Hanna & Barbera characters, Zorro, Asterix and so on.