30-33_LSB_Spring 2022_muk.qxp_NEW LSB 2008 GRID 16/01/2022 14:50 Page 30
MILESTONES & ANNIVERSARIES
Inset: Aardman is looking to keep the love flowing for the world’s favourite sheep.
It’s a huge year for anniversaries in the licensing world in 2022. LSB chats to just some of the brands honouring key milestones to find out what they have planned to mark the occasion.
The birthday brigade Aardman’s Shaun hits 15
Some 26 years ago, we first met Shaun the Sheep in Wallace & Gromit’s A Close Shave and in March 2022, Aardman is marking 15 years since the character took centre stage in his own TV show which now spans 170 territories, with six series (170 episodes), two TV specials and two movies. After a busy Christmas – which saw the character appear in many key broadcasters’ schedules with The Flight Before Christmas, as well as starring in the festive windows at Fenwick – this year will see the release of the new Shaun the Sheep Augmented Reality trails, a first collaboration with V&A for the Chinese market and a global programme of activity with Woolmark. The Shaun the Sheep Circus Show launches at the Sydney Myer Bowl in Melbourne, followed by dates in Sydney ahead of a UK tour, while a Shaun the Sheep Flock this Way exhibition will launch in partnership with the Minnesota Children’s Museum and the on-board tie-up with P&O will continue on its new ship, Iona. “We will use the anniversary to keep the love flowing for the world’s favourite sheep through our global communities, while we continue to develop fun, contemporary products for all the family,” Rob Goodchild, commercial director at Aardman, explains to LSB. “Shaun the Sheep has always been a big priority for Aardman’s creative teams and despite all the content that has been produced, there are still many ideas flowing through the studio. “As a concept, it is grounded in nature and we are now actively looking to partner with licensees,
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LICENSING SOURCE BOOK EUROPE 2022
brands and live events partners to encourage sustainability under Shaun the Sheep’s ‘One Farm’ banner, this year focusing on ‘fun with food’ as a theme.” Alongside all of this, Aardman will also be kicking off activity in Q4 to mark Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers turning 30 in 2023.
Preschool perfection WildBrain will be celebrating 25 years of Teletubbies and 15 years of In the Night Garden this year, with a host of activity on the cards for both brands. A year-long celebration is being created for Teletubbies which, explains Michael Riley, Above & below: A host chief brands officer, will “tie-in of activity will be marking the Teletubbies to our DNA of silliness, and In the Night Garden campy humour and diversity, anniversaries. which will bring joy across fashion, art and music for both parents and Gen Z alike. Teletubbies will be the brand that turns the mundane into something delightfully unexpected and fun.” The celebrations will kick off with experiential events in the US and UK around Teletubbies Day on 31 March. Activity will continue throughout the year including events and partnerships around Pride Month and New York Fashion Week. WildBrain and WildBrain CPLG will also be working
