Following the global celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The World of Eric Carle is announcing new licensing partnerships and retail initiatives for 2020. With new products from Magna-Tiles along with retail initiatives with Target, the series of children’s book titles from author Eric Carle continues to diversify through licensing.
“Eric Carle titles not only continue to stand the test of time, but in fact, become even more relevant as their storylines and imagery find new expression with contemporary brands and products,” said Debra Joester, CEO of the brand’s worldwide licensing agent, The Joester Loria Group.
Beginning March 1, Target is the exclusive home to seven new Magna-Tile Story Sets from creation studio, CreateOn, featuring imagery and storylines from Carle’s books, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider, and Brown Bear What Do You See? Each set was designed and vetted by early educators and includes an activity sheet. Lesson plans will be available on the CreateOn website to help teachers and parents teach STEAM skills using these new sets. While at Target, parents and gift-givers can also look out for a new Eric Carle Let’s Count Soft Book designed for ages 0-12 months in late spring. The soft book, a consistent top selling category for the brand, lets babies play and explore colors, sounds, and textures.
The World of Eric Carle and Penguin are providing marketing support for these initiatives, including tapping PR and marketing agency, Brilliant PR & Marketing, to execute a targeted campaign designed to raise awareness and drive sales of the new products and their exclusive retail placements.