The Gidget brand hails back to 1957, but has been relaunched with a fresh design for girls and young women of the Noughties.

The new Gidget lifestyle brand retains the core beliefs that it had in the 1950s and 60s. The 21st century Gidget girl will be clean and green; smart and athletic; independent and adventurous; friendly and joyful and will have strong family ties and be happy in her own skin. She likes who she is and not just what she has.
Gidget is a fictional character, which originated in a novel in 1957, Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas by Frederick Kohner. The book was based on the author’s teenage daughter and following this novel, the character appeared in several films, TV series and TV movies.

There has not been a new movie for over 20 years, so Gidget Worldwide (stand 515) will re-educate modern girls about the character through advertising, personal appearances, publicity and if all goes to plan, a new Gidget-Goes-Somewhere feature film series.

Ron Yoshida, brand manager, explains: “We are developing a line of entertainment properties that will most likely begin with a feature film. We are in negotiations for a live action TV series and that will be followed with an animated Saturday morning cartoon show.”

The Gidget character from the 1950s persuaded the local surfers to teach her to ride the waves and the surfing influence is still very much present as part of the brand. The firm also has plans to include other active sports like wakeboarding, skateboarding, snowboarding, skiing, soccer, softball, cycling and beach volleyball.

The firm is inspired by the outdoor lifestyle of Southern California and as such, is developing plans to sponsor a range of outdoor sporting events. Also within its plans are the Gidget Foundation Surf Schools, where the company partners with local surf schools to offer free lessons.

The Foundation also aims to contribute to its local communities and works with local environmental agencies and non-profit organizations to protect beaches around the world.

All activity around the brand will be backed up with a global marketing effort by supporting local events in targeted regions. The firm is also sponsoring high visibility professional surfing competitions which will be web-cast. All this is hoped to drive consumers to the online community where they will be introduced to our products and interact with other users.

With all this brand awareness in place, Gidget is hoping to sign licences in a range of different categories. Yoshida explains about the licensing programme so far:

“We have been very selective with whom we’ve granted licences to so far. We want to focus on the core licensees such as apparel, mass retailer, toys, accessories and sporting goods. We have likely identified the companies we desire to work with in these areas and are in final negotiations for their licences.

“Having an entertainment arm with our brand we have been working with potential licensees with terms before an entertainment property releases and then terms once a property is released or starts being advertised. This has been extremely well received by the majority of our licensees.”

The presence of the company is an attempt to grow the licensing programme further. Yoshida continues: “We decided to have an exhibit at BLE once we saw the amazing success of the Licensing Show in June in Las Vegas.

“The response was overwhelming. We realised that the  licensing show format was a perfect fit for our brand and lifestyle. We anticipate the European show will have similar results for our international partners.

“We would like to fill the majority of our remaining lines, finalise distribution channels and look for new opportunities that may be a good fit for our brand and lifestyle.”

Some products will be on show at BLE, but in the main, the stand will be about the brand as a lifestyle and a concept. Yoshida concludes: “Gidget will not just be about stuff. The lifestyle part of our brand will give young women and girls an alternative to the world’s image of what little girls should look like and be doing.”