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MeteoHeroes: Action, Entertainment and Awareness Since its highly successful launch in Italy in 2020, the animated children’s show MeteoHeroes has made inroads into broadcast markets around the world and inspired a licensing campaign. Its theme of protecting the planet, meanwhile, has made it an important contributor to initiatives aimed at raising awareness of environmental issues.
Award-winning hit TV show. Popular podcast. Educational inspiration. Video game. Licensed property. The popular environmentally themed animated kids’ show MeteoHeroes, coproduced by Mondo TV and the leading Italian weather forecasting centre Meteo Operations Italia (MOPI), has a lot to celebrate. MeteoHeroes, which recently won a US Kids First! Film Festival Award for Best Environmental Short, focuses on issues related to ecology and respect for nature through the adventures of six superpowered kids, each from a different continent, who can control weather phenomena. The series premiered in Italy on Earth Day in April 2020 and remains among the most successful Cartoonito programmes in the country. It has already inspired TV movies and podcasts. Much more broadcasting output and licensed product is planned. The show is now expanding its international reach. The first series is available in over 140 countries and 20 languages and series two has already been confirmed by Canal Plus + Kids. Starting in April, the second season of
MeteoHeroes (52 episodes x 13 ‘) will have its world premiere on Cartoonito Italy. And North America is next. This follows the recently announced partnership with entertainment expert Kenn Viselman for the exclusive North American distribution and marketing of MeteoHeroes. On April 22, 2022 the MeteoHeroes make their broadcast debut on PBS with an Earth Day Special. A companion series, executive produced by Kenn Viselman, will premiere in late summer 2022. Support for the TV show will also include the recently launched video game – MeteoHeroes – Saving Planet Earth – for Sony PlayStation, which will be managed by Kenn Viselman’s itsy bitsy Entertainment Company (TibECo) in partnership with the show’s co-producers Mondo TV S.p.A and leading weather forecasting centre Meteo Operations Italia (MOPI) The development of this video game builds on the qualities that have made MeteoHeroes so original and appealing: an animated kids’ show that is exciting, colourful, and fun but that also teaches viewers about the need to protect our planet. In fact, MeteoHeroes is the only cartoon in the world dedicated entirely to climate and environmental issues and this important theme is guiding a parallel approach, one that brings together entertainment with education. Last year, for example, Mondo, MOPI and Italian environmentalist association Legambiente partnered to launch a special MeteoHeroes sticker album
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to raise awareness about the plight of the world’s bees. The album invited kids to join the six superheroes on a Save the Queen mission by building their very own MeteoHeroes sticker album. But this wasn’t just about illustrations. Each packet of stickers purchased brought funding for a home for one bee, bringing donations of muchneeded beehives to Italian beekeepers. After the success of the first edition, the second album MeteoHeroes – Together We Are Stronger - published by IdeaLab and again based on a collaboration between Legambiente MOPI and Mondo TV, has arrived. The collection, consisting of a 32-page album and 160 adhesive stickers (including some special holographic, multicoloured and shiny stickers), again aims to save bees from the risk of extinction. But that’s not all. The second edition of the album supports the recently launched MeteoHeroes Academy. MeteoHeroes Academy is a fun and educational training programme aimed at promoting sustainable citizenship. It’s a place where children train to protect the environment; like the superhero stars of the show they can become the MeteoHeroes of tomorrow.
