Clangers celebrates 50th Anniversary at Bluedot Festival 2019
2019 has been a very special year so far for our client, Clangers international rights owner, Coolabi Group, as the much loved pre-school brand marks 50 years since the show aired for the first time on the BBC in 1969.
In July, the Clangers kicked off their 50th birthday with a ‘big bang’ as they hosted an exclusive screening and Q and A at Bluedot Festival, a science and music spectacular at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire, to celebrate the anniversary and also mark 50 years since the first Moon landings.
Armed with two excitable Clangers costume characters, a suitcase of swanee whistles, an exclusive brand new episode, some original Clangers puppets from 1969, legendary space scientist and life-long Clangers fan, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE and an astronaut puppet inspired by her from the brand new Clangers series, Team Sundae were all set for a Clanger-tastic weekend in the beautiful Cheshire countryside.
Joining the Clangers panel to talk about the making of the show, hosted by Maggie, was Executive Producer and son of the Clangers original co-creator Oliver Postgate, Daniel Postgate, Series Producer and chief Clangers whistler, Dan Maddicott, and Clangers Co-Directors Chris Titchborne and Joanne Chalkley, from the award-winning Factory studios in Altrincham, where the show is animated.
Live streamed via the official Clangers YouTube channel, the screening and Q&A was a huge success with over 1000 festival goers filling the tent to enjoy hearing about the fascinating history, special stories and how the show is brought to life, with thousands more watching the stream live or later.
There was also an exclusive screening of ‘The Visitor’, the first episode of the brand new third series which pays homage to the original series and the first Moon landings. The episode also features an astronaut landing on the Little Blue Planet, which is inspired by Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock…it’s safe to say that Maggie had stars (and happy tears!) in her eyes as she watched herself in puppet form on the big screen for the first time!
After an exciting morning of screenings and the Q and A, it wouldn’t be a special birthday without a party and it was time for the Clangers team to let their hair down and head over to the Deep Space Disco tent for an official Clangers DJ set with family rave specialists Big Fish Little Fish. Swarms of families, nostalgic fans and ravers gathered for a one-of-a-kind DJ set of cosmic proportions as the Clangers danced the evening away on stage with confetti and space-themed musical classics. Even Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock joined the Clangers on stage to throw some shapes! It was an amazing finish to a super weekend.
But it wasn’t just Bluedot Festival which made July a fantastic month for Team Sundae and Clangers. In the weeks leading up to the festival, Sundae lined up some fantastic press opportunities for the 50th anniversary and new third series, including an exclusive interview and Clangers feature with The Sunday Times Magazine, a fun-filled birthday show opener with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning and a fantastic TV talk up on ITV’s Lorraine. TV highlights were also placed in TV Times, The Sunday Times, Daily Mail Weekend and Daily Star.
It’s been a whirlwind summer for Sundae so far, with plenty more celebrations to come, as the Clangers officially turns 50 on 16th November this year. Keep your eyes peeled for more exciting announcements!
MC x
Launching Factory’s Creative Engine
We have some wonderful clients, but our longest standing is Factory, the BAFTA-award winning animation house, home grown from the ground up right here in Manchester – they’ve been with us since day one!
Factory told us over the summer that they were going to be launching a dedicated state of the art studio, Factory Creative Engine, which would mean they could bring every aspect of animating in-house, sets, puppets, costumes, the lot!
We were so excited to support them on this launch – its a huge leap for the company, allowing them to make great headway with their business strategy to create more and more of their own self-initiated creative content and intellectual property.
The incredible new workshop consolidates the production of sets, puppets, and models, synthesising cutting edge technology, including 3D printers and CO2 laser cutters with traditional methods, all under one roof. The new technology means that all the lengthy processes involved in creating worlds and characters in animation can be slashed, streamlined, and executed much more quickly!
The studio was opened by Keith Chapman, creator of Bob The Builder and Paw Patrol, whose production company Chapman Entertainment was formed alongside MD Phil Chalk, and based at the Altrincham site which went on to become Factory!
Not only will the new workshop allow Factory a whole world of creative freedom, the opening means that the animation studio is creating upwards of 40 jobs in Manchester, in the North West’s thriving animation sector rich with talent.
We had coverage in online and print editions of the Manchester Evening News, with further online coverage in television trades Televisual, and Broadcast Magazine, and animation trade outlets including Animation Magazine, and Animation World Network. Major licensing trade publication Kidscreen also ran an announcement piece.
The ‘A Week In My Life’ feature with Prolific North gave some insight into the daily routine of Jon Kershaw, Factory Creative Engine Manager, and they also ran an announcement piece on the day.
ITV Granada Reports came along on the day and filmed an amazing package for the 6 o’clock bulletin that Friday evening, which showcased the entire studio and its capabilities, with a refresher of the Factory’s impressive back catalogue!
Call the Clangers at King’s Cross
The Clangers new episodes hit CBeebies screens in May and to celebrate we worked with our client, Clangers international rights owner, Coolabi Group, to collaborate with infamous UK yarnstormer Deadly Knitshade and Teasemade in a Clanger-ific kids activation.
Armed with an iconic red phone box, Tiny and Small costume characters and the wonderful film crew at CBeebies, we set up camp at Battle Bridge Place Kings Cross on the morning of Saturday 21st May.
Our magical knitters worked for weeks to hand craft and knit a bespoke Clangers pink phone box cover that magically transformed a traditional red London phone box into a Clangers experience, where families could hear the loveable, pink, mouse-like creatures whistle a mysterious message to the world.
With a phone line straight through to the pre-schoolers’ favourite little blue planet, parents and children were put through to the international space via a special pink telephone.
That wasn’t all though, a familiar Clangers friend and show narrator Michael Palin recorded a message encouraging the children to guess what Tiny ‘whistled’ to them. Children were then invited to guess the message from Michael and the Clangers, which was later revealed in a video on their social channels as the wise words: ‘be kind to each other’.
We had an incredible day with Coolabi, the Clangers and Cbeebies and so did Netmums and TV Choice who came along with their kids. Hundreds of thousands of people caught the campaign online and both the reveal video and the CBeebies film had around 30,000 views each!
PR Week took a liking to our pop-up brand activation too, and they picked it as one of Five Campaigns we liked in May 🙂
Toy World, Event Magazine and License Global also covered the fun!
Take a look at the CBeebies video narrated by the inimitable Michael Palin.
Becca x
(Images: David Jensen)
Jodrell Bank announces we are not alone in the universe #littleblueplanet
Friday was an exciting day at Sundae, we arrived at the office just as the sun came up to make sure we hit all the national news desks with our lovely April Fool story from Jodrell Bank and Clangers.
At 7am on 1st April, Jodrell Bank Observatory made the exciting announcement that a signal had been received by the giant Lovell Telescope, proving beyond doubt we are not alone in the Universe…they had found a little blue planet!
Tim O’Brien, Professor of Astrophysics at Jodrell Bank, announced that although the signal was extremely weak and so very fuzzy, the astronomers had been able to enhance it using techniques they normally apply to observations of distant galaxies and produce a video of the planet’s surface. He said that, astoundingly, the pictures show this little blue planet is inhabited by what appears to be a family of mouse-like creatures.
The story and the accompanying (seriously cute) video, lovingly created by Factory animation studios, caused quite a stir. Of all the amazing coverage, including Manchester Evening News, Digital Spy, BBC North West Today, ITV Granada plus a mention from Mr Michael Ball on BBC Radio 2, one of our favourites was a piece on CBBC Newsround as it spoke directly to kids.
There were also tweets from BBC Breakfast, European Space Agency (who said they’d let Tim Peake know about our discovery) and CityLife Manchester.
The partnership between Jodrell Bank and Clangers aims to engage children with space and science, and get them excited about the solar system. They have worked together to create some special activity sheets which you can take a look at over on the Clangers website- I might have a go at making a rocket myself!
Katy x
Stars line the blue carpet for the launch of Clangers
Sundae has just landed back on earth after the premiere for the new series of much-loved children’s TV classic, Clangers!
Four decades after they first appeared on TV screens, Clangers are now set to make a return thanks to Coolabi and CBeebies, and Sundae was tasked with creating and producing a launch event that officially introduced the pink, whistling space mice to a select audience. I was looking after the Blue Carpet and the photographers and it was great to see celebrities like Kate Garraway, Shaun Dooley, Shappi Khorsandi, Ranvir Singh and Rani Price join Clangers Costume Characters for some pictures!
Sundae created a Clangers Planet within a central London hotel, with beautiful felt flowers lining the blue carpet and the stage, wire copper trees and mini dustbin lids hanging from the ceiling (which were my favourite!) setting the scene for the children’s Clangers activities including tile painting, model making and the creation of a giant collage!
The highlight of the event was seeing narrator Michael Palin join creator Peter Firmin, executive producer Dan Postgate and, of course, Major Clanger on the Blue Carpet.
Among the first to see the Clangers episodes were a whole host of journalists from Guardian, Daily Telegraph, What’s On TV, Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph to name a few. Before the screening started, guests were treated to a musical performance from composer John Du Prez and Young Musician of the Year Sophie Westbrooke.
Swanee-ese expert Dan Maddicott then took to the stage to show the kids how the Clangers talk to each other, shortly before our fantastic host Maggie Aderin-Pocock was joined by Michael Palin, Peter Firmin and Dan Postgate to talk about what went into creating the new series.
The event saw coverage from Yahoo, BT, Independent, Sunday Express and Sunday Telegraph, among many more and the event was part of a huge press campaign for the launch of Clangers!
Clangers is on CBeebies every day at 5:30pm.
Katy x