Mercis’s Marja Kerkhof

The company’s managing director talks to TV Kids about Miffy and what’s still to come for the brand in the years ahead.

In 1955, Dick Bruna’s first picture books featuring a small female rabbit hit the shelves in the Netherlands. Since then, the Miffy books have sold more than 85 million copies worldwide, spawned animated series and specials and notched up in excess of 250 licensing partners across a wealth of categories. Brand owner Mercis is currently working on a third season of the new CGI series Miffy’s Adventures Big and Small for delivery in 2017 and is heading to Licensing Expo to meet with old and new licensing partners.

TV KIDS: How did the new animated series for Miffy come about?
KERKHOF: A few years ago, we felt that we really wanted to make a new series. We had just finished the movie, which was successful, and then we decided to look for a new series with a new approach. We talked to several studios, looking for the best possible one to make a series with us. After some research, we decided to go with Blue-Zoo Animation Studio in the U.K., who we felt had a very good understanding of the brand. We really wanted an international series, and we decided that CGI is so good nowadays, we really wanted to go with that. We talked with a team of writers to capture the essentials of the brand. That’s how it came along. We went for 52 episodes of 7 minutes each. We just decided to make 26 more episodes. We’re very pleased with the series and it’s done very well in the countries it’s been broadcast in. The children respond very well, which is the ultimate test! So we decided to make another season.

TV KIDS: To what do you attribute Miffy’s enduring appeal, 61 years since she was created?
KERKHOF: The illustrations are almost like pictograms, they’re so clear and the colors are so bright. Dick Bruna has been able to work for so many years in the same kind of style. It’s vibrant, it’s very iconic and it stands out. If you see a whole sheet of characters, you still will notice Miffy.

TV KIDS: How have you updated your L&M strategy for the new series launch?
KERKHOF: We’ve continued with the 2D style for some products. For other products, we have a whole new style guide for the TV series with everything from packaging to displays. Licensees can still also make their own designs, but we want to provide them with a rich style guide for them to be inspired. And we still have style guides we update all the time for the 2D artwork.

TV KIDS: With such widespread awareness already, how do you continue to build the brand?
KERKHOF: We make a trend book every year and we keep it up to date. Also, we have projects that are very different. For example, in some countries we have programs with athletics clubs for young kids to exercise, even as young as 2 years old. We have art projects. We have exhibitions in museums. There are always new initiatives and activities.

TV KIDS: What are your goals as you head into Licensing Expo?
KERKHOF: The world is very large, and though we are active in quite a lot of countries, there are still countries where we’re not as active. Obviously, we’re looking at that. We also, for Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, find it’s very inspiring to see all our agents again and to get together and to learn from each other what we do in different countries. It’s also a great opportunity to meet with some of the international retailers. Of course, there are programs that have been running for a long time. We have had licensees for 50, 60 years—some have been with us the entire time, which is amazing! Also, there are always new parties to work with, especially in apparel, new parties to do special programs with. We are primarily a preschool character but we have a big program with Uniqlo for tween and teen t-shirts. There’s always so much still to be done.