Penguin Ventures announces plans to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of The Snowman™

Penguin Ventures - which looks after the licensing, consumer products, TV production, and retail strategies across Penguin Random House UK - will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Snowman through a series of exciting retail partnerships and immersive family events.

Susan Bolsover, Director of Licensing and Consumer Products for Penguin Ventures said:

"A key ambition for The Snowman this year is to offer unique and engaging experiences for families, enabling them to create new memories.  We are thrilled with the enthusiastic reaction to our plans from both retailers and partners and we’re excited to see how families will respond to this very special anniversary campaign.’"

A series of celebratory events has been planned this year to allow families to enjoy immersive Snowman experiences.  Penguin Ventures is delighted to confirm The Royal Albert Hall as a key London venue, where the soundtrack to The Snowman will be performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra whilst the animation is simultaneously screened.

The Snowman live show, a magical combination of dance, music and theatre will open at The Peacock in London on 22 Nov – 6 Jan, where Sadler’s Wells will also be celebrating a record breaking 21 year run of the show!   The Snowman will then move to the Birmingham Repertory Theatre from 16 – 26 Jan 2019.

Penguin Random House Children’s, publisher for The Snowman, has recently announced that one of the world’s most acclaimed children’s authors, Michael Morpurgo, will be writing a brand-new novel, re-imagining the much-loved story by Raymond Briggs, which will publish under its Puffin imprint in October this year.  Morpurgo’s new chapter book of The Snowman will feature Briggs’ timeless characters, but bring them to a new and older audience.  Penguin Random House Children’s is working with international publishers to see the book published in local languages around the world.

Maximising the short seasonal window for this festive brand, Penguin Ventures has worked hard to ensure that The Snowman will have a strong presence across all retail environments.  Retailers have been offered a diverse range of consumer products and price points to suit their customer base.  Opportunities for high end department stores will allow for bespoke anniversary product ranges whilst high street retailers and mass accounts will also feature a strong product offering.  The anniversary year has afforded Penguin Ventures access to the widest retail distribution for the brand to date.

In addition JoJo Maman Bébé has recently been confirmed as new destination for The Snowman infant apparel.

Newly signed licensee Boxine will launch a Snowman Tonie for their children’s audio system in Q4, whilst King & McGaw are on board to create bespoke and limited edition prints of artwork from the original Snowman picture book.  Also new for The Snowman, Demand Media will be launching bedtime gift boxes tapping into the trend for Christmas Eve boxes.

For the first time this year, The Snowman will have a dedicated presence at Christmas in July, the consumer gifting festival that will allow Penguin Ventures to present a product showcase and immersive branded experience to over 1000 journalists and bloggers over a 2 day period.  This is a great opportunity to secure national press coverage for The Snowman in the months leading up to Christmas.

Penguin Ventures has secured a partnership with Immediate Media that will see The Snowman feature prominently across their portfolio of festive crafting magazines this Christmas.  By offering their combined readership of over 1 million, a selection of Snowman-inspired craft ideas the partnership perfectly meets Penguin Ventures strategy to ensure that The Snowman is at the heart of everyone’s festive planning this anniversary year.

The entire anniversary campaign will be backed by dedicated marketing, PR activity and social media to support licensees and partners across all digital and traditional platforms.