Wildbrain’s Strawberry Shortcake is back, with a cool new look and confident, savvy attitude for today’s kids in a new animated series, Berry in the Big City, plus a brand-new global franchise program specially designed to inspire and bring joy to today’s girls through events, toys, games, books, music, learning and experiences they can share with their moms and friends.
It all started over 40 years ago, with a simple Valentine’s Day greeting card in 1973 – it was the auspicious birth of Strawberry Shortcake, the sweet little girl with the bonnet who loved baking. She came to be adored by generations of girls, who cherished the little dolls with their signature strawberry scent. Baking, scents, friendship and adventures have always been at the heart of Strawberry Shortcake, and so many of today’s moms have fond memories of their childhood Strawberry Shortcake dolls and watching her shows.
WildBrain chief brands officer Michael Riley said, “Strawberry Shortcake has brought so much joy to children over the years, and now we’re thrilled to provide today’s generation with the opportunity to create new experiences and memories with the brand. While staying true to what makes Strawberry Shortcake special – her sweetness, scent and joyful strawberry motif – this new vision aims to inspire today’s girls with relevant and empowering themes of diversity, sustainability and entrepreneurship. We’ve teamed up with some amazing brand partners and have a fantastic schedule of events, social campaigns and activations lined up for the brand beginning this fall. Whether it’s baking with Mom in the kitchen, playing with scented dolls, enjoying new content on YouTube, immersing themselves in Roblox, or reading books and listening to music, today’s little girls are going to love making the new Strawberry Shortcake a big part of their lives.”
The re-launch marks the beginning of a new era for Strawberry Shortcake, as WildBrain takes the beloved Strawberry into the future, fully engaging its deep expertise and resources in brand management to activate the property with content production, digital distribution and consumer products licensing. A wildly popular line of toys and consumer products in the early 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake was then licensed annually across US $500 million worth of consumer products. It went on to sell over five million dolls and has generated more than four billion dollars at retail to date. WildBrain is ready to return Strawberry Shortcake to her glory, delivering engaging entertainment, learning and fun, all designed to appeal to today’s girls wherever they’re playing games or watching content.
The fun kicks off on 18 September with the premiere of WildBrain’s original new animated series, Berry in the Big City, in an exclusive double-episode event only on the official Strawberry Shortcake channel on WildBrain Spark, the company’s leading AVOD network on YouTube and YouTube Kids, where it will be available initially in English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese, by territory. Fans of Strawberry Shortcake can enjoy a sneak peek of Berry in the Big City today in the series trailer unveiled on the official channel, where new episodes will drop each Saturday following the premiere, through June 2022.
Produced by WildBrain’s Vancouver animation studio – with renowned show runner Michael Vogel, one of the creative forces behind the success of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the theatrical feature My Little Pony: The Movie–Berry in the Big City finds Strawberry Shortcake traveling to Big Apple City, where all the biggest names in baking go to get their break. Along with her cute cat, Custard, she teams up with her new berry besties – Orange Blossom, Lime Chiffon, Lemon Meringue and Blueberry Muffin – as well as their lovable pets. Together, the entrepreneurial girls run their fabulous food trucks and enjoy daily adventures filled with laughter and singing as they strive to bake the world a better place!
Vogel said, “Working with WildBrain Studios to reimagine Strawberry Shortcake for Berry in the Big City has been a dream come true. This is a sweet and funny series, with modern, inclusive storytelling that I think today’s kids are going to love. We’ve and share their love of Strawberry Shortcake with their little ones. The new program builds on the foundation of classic Strawberry Shortcake consumer products that continues to grow as it appeals to a sense of nostalgia in today’s parents.
Central to the new consumer products program, WildBrain has appointed Moose Toys as Master Toy Partner for Strawberry Shortcake. Known for such innovative and highly successful toy lines as Shopkins, Bluey, Little Live Pets and Heroes of Goo Jit Zu, Moose has been hard at work with WildBrain’s franchise brands team and leading licensing agency, WildBrain CPLG, developing an amazing line of new Strawberry Shortcake toys and play sets to be unveiled in early 2022. Today’s moms who loved Strawberry Shortcake when they were little will be delighted to learn that Strawberry Shortcake’s signature scent is set to return in a line of collectible dolls their daughters are sure to love.
Additionally, WildBrain CPLG has expanded its existing Strawberry Shortcake partnership with Penguin Young Readers Licenses, an imprint of Penguin Random House, for a range of new Berry in the Big City story books, board books and sticker books, set to launch in 2022 in North America.
Other household-name brands launching new Strawberry Shortcake partnerships at retail beginning in early 2022 include Naturipe (strawberries and blueberries), Sunkist Growers (oranges, lemons and limes), Envy Apples (apples),Langers(juice),ZolliCandy (dentist-approved lollipops),Dippin’ Dots (ice cream), Snip-Its (kids hair salons), Challenge Butter (butter) and more.
