TVKIDS
As WildBrain gears up to the launch of Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City season three in July, it has signed on a slew of new partners across distribution, licensing and promotions.
New distribution deals see season one of the series heading to Pluto TV in the U.S. and Canada, Showmax in Africa and Kanopy in the U.S. and both seasons one and two going to TFOUMAX and MYTF1 in France and MiniMini+ in Poland.
Portugal’s CANAL Panda acquired seasons one through three, as well as the four upcoming CG-animated seasonal specials. TVNZ (New Zealand) and MiniMini+ (Poland) also picked up the new specials.
Berry in the Big City and the seasonal specials are produced by WildBrain’s Vancouver animation studio with showrunner Michael Vogel (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic).
WildBrain CPLG has secured a wave of new global licensing partnerships for the classic Strawberry Shortcake brand, including with Funko for its iconic pop figures, A Leading Role for costume apparel and accessories, SkinnyDip for phone cases and Diamond Art Club for craft projects. Existing partner Dolls Kill has also launched a second themed collection and expanded to include homewares alongside apparel and accessories.
In the U.S., WildBrain CPLG signed on Hunnideux for character-inspired makeup palettes; Little Bird Bamboo for matching “mommy and me” sets and infant and toddler apparel; Goose Creek Candles for strawberry-scented candles; Hot Topic for a direct-to-retail collection spanning apparel, accessories, beauty and footwear; and an expansion of a current deal with Centric to now include beauty. Recently, Loungefly launched a collection of scented bags and accessories at SXSW, and American Girl debuted Strawberry Shortcake doll accessories for the ’80s Courtney doll in the U.S. and Canada. In Australia, Peter Alexander launched a sleepwear collection.
WildBrain’s in-house franchise team also inked new partnerships and activations in the U.S., including with Color Me Mine for a paint-your-own pottery studio experience; CAMP, a family experience company; and Dana’s Bakery, Sunkist Growers, Crofter’s Organic, Chuao Chocolatier and Lula’s Garden. Also, Sprinkle Pop debuted Strawberry Shortcake baking decorations and Fla-Vor-Ice launched a promotion for their freezer pops.
“We’ve seen incredible growth in the Strawberry Shortcake fandom this year, with this iconic character continuing to capture the hearts of audiences young and old around the world,” said Elizabeth Litten Miller, VP of franchise strategy at WildBrain. “As we harness WildBrain’s 360-degree approach to brand-building across content creation, audience engagement and global licensing, the soaring popularity of the world of Strawberry Shortcake has generated not only new content deals, but a whole new wave of licensing opportunities and innovative activations. We’re thrilled that partners and fans are embracing Strawberry Shortcake to celebrate her message of diversity, creativity and friendship in so many imaginative and inspiring ways.”
