WildBrain Teams with The Philly Specials

WildBrain has entered into a partnership with The Philly Specials, the music group formed by the NFL Eagles’ Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata and retired Eagle Jason Kelce.

WildBrain will produce an animated music video for their original song “It’s Christmas Time (In Cleveland Heights),” written by The Philly Specials’ Zach Miller (Dr. Dog) and featuring vocals by the R&B trio Boyz II Men. WildBrain has also produced six new animated shorts inspired by The Philly Specials that will be rolling out on social media this holiday season.

WildBrain is making the new videos available on the WildBrain Kids YouTube channel and on WildBrain Television’s Family Channel in Canada.

The new animated videos are produced in support of Operation Snowball by the team at WildBrain’s Vancouver studio, behind such hits as Camp Snoopy on Apple TV+ and SEGA’s Sonic Prime on Netflix.

The music video for “It’s Christmas Time (In Cleveland Heights)” sees The Philly Specials embark on an animated expedition across the polar tundra to find Santa Claus and save Christmas for the world—and Cleveland Heights.

Proceeds from sales of A Philly Special Christmas Party will go to support Operation Snowball with the goal to exceed the $4 million donated in 2022 and 2023 from the sales of previous holiday albums, A Philly Special Christmas and A Philly Special Christmas Special.

Executive producer Connor Barwin (Vera Y Records) said: “We were delighted to work with WildBrain on the animated video for ‘It’s Christmas Time (In Cleveland Heights).’ Our goal was to capture the spirit of the song in a magical animated world with Jason, Travis and the whole Philly Specials gang. We wanted it to be fun for kids and a little nostalgic for adults, and the team at WildBrain nailed it. They were such a creative and collaborative group to work with, and we can’t wait for everyone to see it!”

Stephanie Betts, executive VP of content creation at WildBrain, said: “We were thrilled to collaborate with The Philly Specials’ team and Vera Y Records on the video for ‘It’s Christmas Time (In Cleveland Heights)’ and the accompanying social media shorts. It was a true pleasure for our team to bring their creative vision to life through animation, and we had an incredible time working together. Their dedication to children and families during the holiday season is nothing short of inspiring, and we were honored to support their efforts in making the world a brighter, better place.”