The Little King

TV Kids
Weekly, March 18, 2008

ORIGIN: With the character of the Little King,
Hedwig Munck has created a figure that reflects the daily life of little
children and the challenges they are confronted with. His unconventional way of
thinking appeals to kids in a unique way, opening up the potential for children
to identify themselves with him.

DISTRIBUTOR:
The German producer
and distributor Kiddinx has acquired The Little King for its portfolio, joining the popular
classics Benjamin the Elephant and Bibi Blocksberg. Kiddinx is marketing the TV rights worldwide.

CREATOR/EXECUTIVE
PRODUCERS: Hedwig
Munck created The Little King. Since 1981, she has been running her own cartoon production company,
Imediat GbR, together with her husband, cartoon cameraman Andreas Munck. They
have been producing animated films for children ever since.

TV SHOW: This 2-D animated TV series consists of
52 episodes of 5 minutes each and is especially suitable for 3- to 8-year-old
boys and girls.

SYNOPSIS: This little lord with the large crown
lives with his animal friends in his castle. Full of curiosity and with the
spirit of an explorer, he has lots of new experiences every day. He never gets
tired of coming up with new ideas and finding funny solutions. However, there
is nothing really royal about this little lord of the castle, except for his
large crown and the self-confidence of a typical 5-year-old child.

MAIN
BROADCASTERS: The
Little King is aired
weekly on KI.KA and is also part of the popular Sandmännchen children’s TV program, with ratings of
38.8 percent in the target age group of 3- to 13-year-olds. The series has also
been successfully broadcast on TV channels such as RBB, RAI and others.

MAJOR
LICENSEES: Since 2002,
65 different kinds of products have rolled out, including calendars, puppets,
painting books, bags, stamps and many others. Games and puzzles are distributed
by Schmidt Spiele, the well-known German games distributor.

There are 50
different books in various formats available, published by Buchverlag Junge
Welt, with a print run of 2.7 million books to date.

Universal
International Pictures is responsible for the DVD, music cassette and CD
releases. To date, 597,000 audio cassettes and CDs and 217,000 home-video/DVD
units have been sold.

STRATEGY
FOR ROLLOUT: For
Kiddinx, home to the successful German brands Bibi Blocksberg and Benjamin Blümchen (Benjamin the Elephant), The Little King was a key addition to its catalogue.
Andrea Bannert, the director of TV and merchandising at the company, refers to
the series as “unique and permanently in demand. Bibi and Benjamin are now in kingly company.”

Bannert says
that there are 52×5-minute episodes available for preschool slots. Kiddinx is
selling the TV rights worldwide for the next two years, excluding
German-speaking markets and Asia.

A campaign is
under way for the brand’s 10th birthday, including a quiz where kids can win
prizes, on-air content, activities on the Sandmännchen homepage, special book editions,
readings and competitions and the first Little King playground.

—By
Mansha Daswani