Peppa Pig fronts World Oceans Day campaign

This summer, Hasbro’s Peppa Pig is making waves with a major retail and brand marketing initiative to mark United Nations World Oceans Day, which launched on 8 June. The initiative brings together high-profile ecological, educational and retail partners – including Cleaner Seas Project, Twinkl and George at Asda – to help encourage young families to learn all about our oceans and what they can do to help protect them for future generations.

Educational publisher Twinkl has created free Peppa Pig educational activities and resources to help raise awareness throughout primary schools, early years providers and families at home about the little steps people can take to make a big difference to our seas. Tackling the issue from the shore itself, Cleaner Seas Project has started its mission to complete a total of 11 beach and river cleans, with schools invited to join events across the UK throughout June.

Retail partner George at Asda is building on the success of last year’s Plant with Peppa environmental education initiative with an exclusive range of clothing and homeware featuring ocean-themed designs sourced with more sustainable materials such as Better Cotton and in some products up to 83% recycled materials. The collection is now available in 435 UK Asda stores and displayed alongside dedicated World Oceans Day POS featuring key product and a QR code directing consumers to the Twinkl resources. Utilising its extensive store footprint, George at Asda’s World Oceans Day range includes boys’ and girls’ clothing, footwear and accessories, with prices starting from £4.50.

Cat O’Brien, Retail Director Europe and Asia at Hasbro, says: “We are thrilled to be working with George again on this Peppa Pig World Oceans Day campaign. At Hasbro, everything we do is centered in our purpose: making the world a better place for all children, fans, and families. In October 2021, we launched our first Peppa Pig purpose-driven campaign all about educating young families around the importance of helping our planet by planting trees. We are excited to embark on the next campaign, which aims to help children learn more about our oceans and what we can do to help reduce litter reaching our shores.”

Supporting the campaign and boosting awareness of the initiative amongst families is celebrity ambassador and mum of three, Vogue Williams, who took to the shore of the River Thames armed with a host of young litter pickers from a local nursery to undertake the brand’s very first Peppa Pig shore clean-up under the guidance of Cleaner Seas Project. Vogue also took part in a media press junket and photoshoot to help spread the word of the initiative across national media on World Oceans Day to motivate young families to get involved.

Avril Greenaway, CMO, Cleaner Seas Project, adds: “It’s no secret that Peppa Pig and her friends are heroes to preschoolers across the UK, so we were absolutely thrilled to work with her and Twinkl to provide guidance on the eco-educational activities and resources as well as carry out the all-important beach and river cleans for this campaign. Our goal is to drive positive change, no matter how big or small, so by working collaboratively with Peppa and Twinkl to help kids take their first steps towards being more environmentally aware has been fantastic. We think this collaboration will be hugely successful and, partnered with Twinkl’s wealth of resources, we think it will provide families with a simple and fun way to get involved to support the cause.”

Jade Snart, Sustainability and Compliance Expert at George, says: We are very proud to have partnered with Peppa Pig again, this time to help celebrate World Oceans Day, raising awareness of cleaner oceans and a more sustainable planet. A number of the products within the George range have a sustainable element to them as here at George were committed to doing the right thing by our customers and the planet.

 

RHS and George at Asda bring second kids’ clothing collection to retail

Following the success of its initial collaboration with the George at Asda brand, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has announced the arrival at retail of a second collection, again highlighting children’s apparel and accessories for 1-7-year-olds.

As well as being a hit at retail, the first RHS collection from George at Asda won the Best Brand Licensed Children’s Product or Range at the 2022 Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards. This second collection is set to build on that success, and focuses on a carefully selected mix of apparel for wearing out and about, including shirts, t-shirts, hoodies, dresses, shorts and backpacks, as well as sweatshirts, joggers, dungarees, cardigans, clogs and trainers.

As before, the George design team has collaborated with the RHS to create a unique print direction featuring hand-drawn illustrations of colourful plants, vegetables and insects – there’s even a friendly bumble bee-shaped backpack. Slogans encouraging kids to reconnect with nature and grow plants and veg, such as “My hobby is making garden friends”, “Plant some seeds to save the bees” and the collection’s tagline “Let’s go and grow” are highlighted throughout the collection, which can be found in back neck prints, back neck tapes and packaging.

To further underline the joys of gardening, swing tags have again been designed in the shape of flower pots. The RHS branding, highlighting the RHS tree and shield, is clearly visible on the sew-in tags and packaging.

The range is now available in 86 Asda stores and online at George.com, and selling through at an amazing speed, underlining the continuing appeal of the RHS/George collaboration over a year after the first collection hit the shelves.

Launched in 1990, George is now sold in over 580 stores and through George.com with over two million customer transactions per week combined, making George one of the largest fashion retailers in Britain.

Estella Arroyo, Product Design Profession Lead at George, says: “The positive challenge of this latest collaboration was to build on the appeal of our first collection but offering something new and exciting. The response so far has been fantastic! We are thrilled to be collaborating once again with the RHS on this and the clothing and accessories brilliantly combine style, fun and practicality – perfect for getting outside, exploring and growing!”

Cathy Snow, Licensing Manager, RHS, says: “As one of our earliest forays into children’s products – and our very first collaboration on children’s clothing – the RHS collection from George at Asda was an unqualified success, delighting children and parents and brilliantly underlining our key message – to encourage everyone to ’get growing’. We were understandably eager to develop a second collection with the talented George team, and yet again they have excelled themselves.”

George at Asda partners with Animal Planet for children’s clothing range

George at Asda, one of Britain’s leading retailers, has partnered with Animal Planet, a member of the Warner Bros Discovery family of brands, to launch a range of children’s clothing made from responsibly sourced materials.

The kidswear collection, which went on sale both online and in 450 selected Asda stores in the week preceding Easter, is suitable for all age ranges across baby, boys, and girls and comprises 26 SKUs. The partnership reinforces George’s commitment to providing customers with sustainable products and each item is sourced with more responsible fibres including cotton and recycled polyester.

The partnership was brokered by Warner Bros Discovery’s UK licensing agent, IPR Licensing, and the range was designed and manufactured by Poetic Brands, which specialises in licensed apparel and sustainable fashion lines.

The clothing itself features slogans encouraging kids to reconnect with the planet and animals, such as “Love Our Planet”,Be Kind” and “Wild One”, with all products designed using illustrations depicting various animals.

The launch has been supported by both partners including an on-air ad campaign on Animal Planet, a feature in the monthly issue of Animal Planet magazine, social media outreach and POS activity in stores where the range is on sale.

Jade Snart, Sustainability and Compliance Expert at George, says: “We’re extremely proud to have partnered with Animal Planet to launch an incredible range of children’s clothing this spring. It was clear from the beginning of the partnership that both George and Animal Planet share the same business values – trying to make our world greener!

“All of the products within the range have a sustainable element to them because at George we’re committed to doing the right thing by our customers and the planet.”

Ian Woods, SVP International Consumer Products at Warner Bros Discovery, adds: “We are extremely proud of this collaboration with George at Asda because it’s been a true partnership in delivering a clothing range that meets the objectives of both teams. The designs are fantastic, and we have high hopes this is just the beginning of a strong collaboration between Animal Planet and the George at Asda team.”

The George x Animal Planet collection is available online at george.com, and in selected Asda stores, with prices starting from just £4.

Moonbug Entertainment brands to arrive front-of-store in Asda this Christmas

Just weeks after The Point.1888 announced a record-breaking 66 new licensees across EMEA for Moonbug Entertainment’s leading IP CoComelon, the superbrand has secured a prime spot in Asda stores nationwide, for a dual-branded activation focusing on children’s brands Blippi and CoComelon.

Since coming on board as Master Licensing Agency for Moonbug’s portfolio of brands in EMEA* last summer, the brand licensing specialist has sought to leverage CoComelon and Blippi’s popularity with children by bringing the brands closer to their audience across a broad range of categories, including clothing, puzzles, arts and crafts, games, and outdoor, to name just a few.

As part of a special activation arranged by The Point.1888, George at Asda has been given an exclusive style guide to create market-leading products for CoComelon and Blippi. The products include branded daywear and nightwear clothing, accessories, bags and footwear, and will be on sale across 453 Asda stores. In addition to the activation, there will also be a TOY FSDU included.

The full branded cross-category activation commences today in storefront mobile event units. Having seen huge success with CoComelon and Blippi earlier this year at Easter, this new activation is welcomed by for Asda and George. The retailer will be supporting this new and exclusive promotion with POS activity and marketing.

“When it comes to the launch of soft lines across Blippi and CoComelon, the George and Asda buying teams have been excellent supporters of the Moonbug brands,” says Hannah Stevens, Head of Retail at The Point.1888. “It had a strong apparel launch in Q2 and has carried lines throughout the year so it seems fitting that it should end the year with a bang. George at Asda will have a fantastic range of products and designs available for their customers in the lead-up to Christmas.”

Jenna Perry, Buying Expert at George at Asda commented: “We’re really excited to partner with The Point and Moonbug to bring this collaboration to the market across George and Asda. Blippi and CoComelon resonate well with our preschool customer and this launch will be great to showcase the licenses just in time for Christmas.”

“At Moonbug Entertainment we pride ourselves on developing world-class partnerships with retailers that share our vision in creating amazing products that bring joy to kids and families,” adds Ryan Gorman, Global Head of Retail Development and Marketing. “The partnership with George at Asda is a prime example of best-in-class collaboration. We are elated to work together with the entire team at Asda to bring joy to all families this holiday season.”

*With the exception of CoComelon in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, which are represented by Super RTL.