Michael Rose, joint MD at UK animation studio Magic Light Pictures, talks about the company’s strategy for turning shows into brands, and offers a glimpse of the company’s MipJunior slate via C21’s Digital Screenings.
Magic Light Pictures is probably best known as the Oscar-nominated production house behind many of the BBC’s recent animated Christmas specials, such as The Gruffalo, Zog and Superworm.
Last year the company launched its first animated series, Pip and Posy, on Paramount-owned Channel 5’s Milkshake! children’s block and on Sky Kids, with the show achieving fantastic ratings and international success.
The series is about two best friends whose lives revolve around a wonderful world of play. Based on the picture books illustrated by Axel Scheffler, the illustrator of The Gruffalo, it aims to show preschoolers how to build lasting friendships with kindness, resilience and flexibility.
Michael Rose, Magic Light Pictures
Pip and Posy has attracted 3.7 million viewers on Milkshake! this year and is a top-20 rated children’s show overall across all channels. On YouTube, Pip and Posy has amassed over 10 million total views, while the series has reached more than 20 million people on Facebook and Instagram.
Outside of the UK, Pip and Posy has been picked up in 29 different territories, in 21 different languages including major markets Germany, France, Italy and Australia. And in addition to the series, Magic Light is rolling out a number of consumer products based on the show, including puzzles, games and activity books.
“We’ve been absolutely thrilled by the successful debut of Pip and Posy,” says Magic Light joint MD Michael Rose. “It’s regularly been in the top three most watched programmes on Milkshake! in the mornings. It’s now on Nick Jr too, where we understand it’s performing extremely well, and Sky Kids is absolutely delighted with the performance.”
Pip & Posy
Magic Light’s strategy for Pip and Posy has been to grow and establish the property into a TV brand by having full control and ownership of the marketing, distribution, licensing/merchandising (L&M) and social media. “At Magic Light our mantra is to focus on a few things and do them really well. So we’ve made a massive investment in the marketing of the show,” Rose says.
“Pip and Posy is in a very competitive space, but we believe we have something special and want to give it the very best chance of becoming a brand. So that means right from the start, controlling social media, investing in content for YouTube and finding interesting, innovative ways to connect the characters with the audience. It’s early days but I believe we’ve made a very strong start.”
Magic Light will be taking Pip and Posy to MipJunior in October, where the company hopes to further expand the show’s international reach. At the Cannes market, the prodco will also be promoting this year’s BBC animated Christmas special, The Smeds & the Smoos.
“The Smeds & the Smoos is our 10th half-hour special based on the books written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. It’s an absolutely delightful story of two families of aliens. Contact between them is strictly forbidden, but Janet, who is a young Smed, and Bill, who is a young Smoo, start to form a bond that transcends the established boundaries,” Rose says.
Superworm
“It’s a wonderful story about how we live in harmony with each other and how we accept each other. It’s a really lovely, heart-warming tale for the times we’re in.”
According to Rose, those specials have gone on to sell into 180 countries around the world, and he expects The Smeds & the Smoos will do the same.
The Gruffalo
Magic Light will be showcasing all its Donaldson/Scheffler adaptations at MipJunior, in addition to its 2016 Christmas special Revolting Rhymes, based on Roald Dahl’s classic book.
Acknowledging that “linear TV still gets a huge audience in the UK,” Rose notes that Magic Light’s launch channels tend to be public service broadcasters in key territories. However, he adds that the prodco’s shows are also popular on streaming platforms and are finding a home across UK cinemas.
“We’ve worked with the pubcasters over the years on the specials, but we’re also doing deals with streamers internationally and all kinds of other platforms. It’s really about the best way to reach the audience in each territory,” the exec says.
Stick Man
“As much as possible, and as we’ve done in the UK, we look for a linear launch window to build the audience and then also for a way in which the audience can access the whole show via streaming. That could be linked to the main broadcaster or it could be an independent partner.”
Magic Light has already begun development on its next animated Christmas special for 2023, which will begin production in the new year. The prodco will also be focusing on completing season two of Pip and Posy and continuing to build the IP into a brand through further sales and L&M.
“The growth we’ve seen on social media for Pip and Posy is really big and we only launched 15 months ago. We’re seeing so much that suggests it can become a brand,” Rose says.
Room on the Broom
The exec adds that Magic Light is also in the early stages of development on “a couple of other IPs. We will continue to progress those and will hopefully bring one or more of those to market in 2023,” he says.
Additionally, Magic Light is pushing its marketing efforts for The Gruffalo in Germany, where Rose says the brand has been growing over the past five years. “The Gruffalo remains a major brand in the UK and is growing internationally as well. Germany is already our second biggest market for the property and we’re increasing our focus there to build it over the next few years,” he says.
“As a company we love both very high-quality production and brand-building. The two go hand in hand.”
