Hasbro is launching the program with the learning app in 2022 as the publishing program with Ladybird launches in January 2023
Hasbro, Inc., a global toy and entertainment company, has announced “Learn with Peppa” – a major new brand extension to help promote early years learning. Towards the end of 2022, the program will kick off with Hasbro’s in-house developed learning app. The offering will expand in January 2023 through an extensive publishing program with Ladybird, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in English speaking markets outside of North America, with the publisher managing rights for most other languages as well. “Learn with Peppa” will also offer a new range of play experiences that can help deliver educational benefits. The rollout will be supported with content and marketing plans.
“Our research has shown that families all over the world turn to loved and trusted brands like Peppa Pig to help support them in their child’s early years development and learning,” said Esra Cafer, SVP, Global Brand Management at Hasbro. “Themes of early years learning feature regularly in the show’s storylines, so the ‘Learn with Peppa’ program feels a natural expansion for the brand. We are excited to bring this initiative to life to help kids have fun and learn alongside their favorite animated characters.”
“Early years learning is such a crucial time for parents and their young ones, and we’re excited to help make those moments easier with the ‘Learn with Peppa’ program,” said Casey Collins, GM & SVP, Global Licensed Consumer Products at Hasbro. “This sector opens up a huge door for the brand and allows us to create all sorts of products and interactive experiences for kids. Early education is an extremely important category for Peppa Pig, and we envision so many great opportunities to come out of this new program. I am certain families will be excited for what’s to come.”
The "Learn with Peppa" app will provide a preschool education-based learning experience for kids aged 3-5, and their grownups, that combines the humour and appeal of Peppa Pig with a carefully crafted, learning framework to help support early childhood development and encourage kids to be active, engaged, and eager learners. It will help preschoolers embrace learning through exploration, creativity, humour and play; with learning activities that adapt to a child’s experience and development. The app will complement the series offered by Ladybird so kids can enjoy them together and independently.
The Ladybird publishing plan will offer more than 80 titles within its first year of launch, including phonics books in five levels, as well as novelty, board and activity books covering a range of early learning concepts. Working in tandem with the “Learn with Peppa” app, the Ladybird “Learn with Peppa” publishing program will provide engaging educational content to support every child’s early development.
Developed by early years specialists, “Learn with Peppa” provides young fans and their parents with high-quality learning support, whilst bringing the power and fun of Peppa to early years development through a full spectrum of topics structured learning experience for our worldwide fan base.
Peppa is trusted by parents to help deliver fun learning experiences for their little ones. From friendship, sharing, creative play, ABCs, weather, seasons, colours and more, early years learning is truly at the heart of Peppa Pig content and a core part of the brand’s DNA.
More information about “Learn with Peppa” will be announced in the coming months.
This focus on early education follows a 104-episode renewal earlier this year, as original Peppa Pig creator Astley Baker Davies (ABD) handed the production reins over to Karrot Animation.
From Publishers Weekly:
Ladybird Is Ready to Learn with Peppa
Hasbro, the licensor of Peppa Pig since its acquisition of Entertainment One (eOne) in 2019, is launching an early-years educational initiative called Learn with Peppa. The program includes a Hasbro-produced app and an extensive global publishing program from Penguin Random House U.K.’s Ladybird imprint, Peppa’s master publishing licensee outside North America.
While most Peppa Pig publishing incorporates an element of learning, as the long-running TV show does, this is a more formal program crossing multiple subject areas that children progress through, step-by-step, at their own pace, measuring their results along the way. “It’s sort of a hybrid that lies between formal curriculum and soft learning,” said Michael Kelly, v-p global publishing. “The intent is to provide children and parents with a more structured learning experience.”
“There is all the excitement of reading and engaging with your favorite characters, along with an age-appropriate pedagogic structure,” said Amy Anderson, editorial director at Ladybird. “You’re steadily building skills in an age-appropriate way.”
The app will be the first component introduced, in late 2022, and complements the books. “We wanted a broad program people could interact with in different ways,” Kelly said, noting that parents can make the decision about whether to use books, audio, the app, or some combination, depending on their child’s learning style and interests.
Ladybird’s publishing program will include 80 titles within the first year. The company’s Peppa Pig list is the largest licensed preschool publishing range in the U.K., with more than 15 million books sold in that country as of September 2021. The new initiative will be differentiated through its own distinct look-and-feel, according to Anderson, and will use the character of Madame Gazelle, Peppa’s teacher, to help guide children through the books and highlight learning opportunities.
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| A still from the TV show that shows Peppa being taught by Madame Gazelle. |
The program will feature formats including five levels of phonics books—set for a January 2023 release and accounting for 70 of the initial 80 titles—with 10 activity, audio, board, and novelty books to follow in spring 2023. In addition to reading, the books will cover academic subjects such as basic math, exploration of the world (basic science), and handwriting; concepts such as colors; and social-emotional learning topics such as friendship and sharing. Content across subjects will integrate life skills, such as getting dressed; creativity and imagination; and physical activities when possible. There will also be cross-curricular links between the different subjects as well.
“It’s a big launch to be sure,” Kelly said. The reason is twofold. First, the partners wanted to introduce a full program out of the gate so parents and children could have options and decide what subject and level is right for them. Second, Peppa’s popularity can sustain a large program. “Parents and kids love Peppa and want to interact with her,” Kelly explained.
Ladybird has English-language rights, excluding North America, and will manage rights for most other languages. Anderson said Ladybird is working to make the program flexible enough to work in different markets, as well as collaborating with its publishing partners to ensure the educational content is tied to early-learning norms in their respective regions. Learn with Peppa does not yet include North America, but Kelly said an announcement about that market is likely forthcoming early next year.
The hope is that educators as well as parents and caregivers embrace the program. Ladybird is developing supporting materials such as PDFs and blog posts, not just to guide parents but for teachers to use in the classroom. “We’re thinking about it as broadly as possible,” Anderson said.
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Originally published: November 19, 2021.
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