Animal Planet roars into Burger King with King Jr Meal toys

Animal Planet, a member of the Discovery Inc family of brands, today announced its collaboration with Burger King on a collection of paper-based King Jr meal toys and activities in an effort to inspire young animal lovers around the world as well as reduce the kids’ meal plastic footprint. Animal Planet fans can find the limited-edition paper premiums in all kids’ meals at approximately 14,000 restaurant locations worldwide, beginning on October 18 in international markets and in the US and Canada on December 6 while supplies last.

The Animal Planet collaboration, which will run for approximately five weeks, includes a variety of paper activity books that showcase animal themes including Safari, Ocean, Pets, Endangered Animals, Wilderness, and Cute and Cuddly. Kids around the world can enjoy their King Jr meal while learning about wildlife with the six different activity books, which each feature colouring sheets, infographics, a poster, build-your-own mask sets, pop-out cards and stickers. Each activity book will also come with a scannable QR code to unlock more play opportunities. Users can use their device to walk through an augmented reality portal to experience the environment and animals of the themed activity book, such as a 3D walk-through safari spotting native animals through an interactive game.

“Animal Planet is dedicated to providing quality wildlife content to a global audience through compelling storytelling across Discovery’s platforms, a mission we deepen through our consumer products offerings and our partnership with Burger King,” says Carolann Dunn, Vice President, Consumer Products Licensing, Discovery Inc. “Burger King shares Animal Planet’s enthusiasm for inspiring curious young fans, and we look forward to delivering on this shared goal through this line of kids’ meal premiums.”

“We take a great amount of pride in the joy that our youngest guests find in the toys accompanying our beloved King Jr meals,” says Paloma Azulay, Global Chief Brand Officer, Burger King. “We are proud to introduce fun opportunities for digital play in our premium programs through this incredible partnership with Animal planet, while also reducing our reliance on plastic premiums.”

The Burger King partnership comes on the heels of recent collaborations and merchandise programs for the Animal Planet brand, including a successful toy line at Target and brand-new educational kids’ magazine, Animal Planet with DC Thomson Media Partner.

 

 

DC Thomson partners with Discovery Inc to launch Animal Planet educational children’s magazine

DC Thomson has partnered with Discovery Inc to launch a new educational children’s magazine called Animal Planet. The new title will build on Animal Planet’s goal of creating content with global appeal and to keep alive the childhood joy and wonder of animals.

Animal Planet is a brand already known for combining content that explores the bonds forged between animals and humans, and is currently available on screens around the world in more than 205 countries. Through the new Animal Planet magazine, young animal lovers will be able to find information on exotic animals and natural beauty.

Exclusive to Animal Planet magazine, kids can join the #PlanetWarriors club which offers the chance to review books, complete challenges and send in their content to feature in future issues.

Animal Planet also has an exclusive panel of experts who will answer questions from inquisitive readers. Dr Jess French, Michaela Strachan, Ben Fogle and Ellie Harrison will feature every issue, tackling questions submitted by Animal Planet’s #PlanetWarriors. These experts feature alongside Animal Planet’s beloved family, The Irwins, from the channel’s ‘Crikey! It’s The Irwins’.

The launch coincides with children and young people becoming increasingly more engaged in planet earth, its inhabitants and environmental issues. Aimed at seven to 12 year-olds, the monthly magazine will encourage kids to discover a world of big ideas, get involved and be inspired and informed.

DC Thomson Media is one of the UK’s leading media creators, with a number of diverse and successful children’s brands already part of its stable, such as Beano, Animals and You and The Official Jacqueline Wilson magazine.

Maria Welch, head of magazine publishing at DC Thomson Media, said: “We’re delighted to launch Animal Planet in partnership with Discovery. The content is perfect for kids who have a keen interest in the wonders of our planet and Animal Planet promises to be an educational and fun addition to the kids’ magazine market.

“DC Thomson Media has a long and successful history in children’s magazine publishing and the team behind this brand-new launch have brought all of this passion and expertise to Animal Planet.”

Joshua Hearn, licensing and marketing coordinator at Discovery, Inc., added: “In what has been over a year of collaboration, I am truly excited for the launch of our new Animal Planet Magazine. I look forward to developing the inspiring content you will find inside every issue and for our readers to engage with the visually diverse and factual information included.”

Charlotte Payne, international marketing and strategy director at Discovery, Inc., said: “For me, the collaboration with DC Thomson is going to enable us to bring the Animal Planet brand to life beyond the screen, inspiring children of all ages to experience the wonder and joy of the animal kingdom, all while maintaining sustainability through the magazine’s printing and packaging.”

Discovery Inc launches its Shark Week 2020 consumer products programme

Discovery Inc has revealed its list of merchandising partner’s for its long-running summer event, Discovery Channel’s Shark Week 2020. The week-long programming event will air on Sunday, August 9th and run until Sunday, August 16th.

This year’s consumer products programme includes new and returning partners across apparel, accessories, toys, and publishing categories, with the likes of Build-A-Bear and Mattel on board for new toy ranges for 2020.

New in 2020, Smathers and Branson, the personalised accessories company, will launch a line of Shark Week themed hand-stitched needlepoint accessories including belts, hats, card wallets, koozies and key fobs in July available at SmathersandBranson.com. Meanwhile, the apparel company RSVLTS is joining Shark Week with men’s apparel, including short-sleeve button ups, neckties and pocket squares available on RSVLTS.com or through the @rsvlts Instagram in July.

Also new, men’s and women’s apparel company The Forecast Agency is debuting an apparel line at the end of July retailing at Urban Outfitters, PacSun and DesertDreamerLA.com.

Discovery has also lined up an extensive list of returning partners that includes Build-A-Bear and its Shark Week collection featuring the Great White Shark and Saw Shark, while Mattel is launching a Shark Week themed UNO this month. Bright Kingdom is returning with a line of shark play-sets, plush shark toys will be made available courtesy of Dandee, and Meredith is partnering with Discovery on a shark-themed bookazine called The Ultimate Book of Sharks.

On top of this, a number of accessories partners are returning for this year’s Shark Week. Knockaround Sunglasses is returning for a sixth year, launching its special release shark-themed sunglasses on Knockaround.com with a portion of the proceeds benefitting Oceana, a charitable organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the world’s oceans on a global scale, and Discovery’s charitable partner.

Sock Fancy is back for a third year with a line of unisex socks, launching in July on SockFancy.com. Freestyle Watches is back for year two with a new collection of its Classic Shark timepieces available with digital or analog movements launching in July at Freestyleusa.com, Ron Jon’s, Tilly’s, Zumiez and other fine retailers.

Freestyle will also be launching a limited series of its signature leash and clip watch straps made to accessorize Apple Smart Watches, launching in July and available exclusively at Freestyleusa.com

“Every year, we look forward to enhancing our viewers’ love for Shark Week by providing them with an appealing and diverse slate of merchandise,” said Carolann Dunn, vice president, consumer products licensing, Discovery, Inc. “Our goal is to allow shark lovers to go beyond watching shark-themed programming by wearing or playing with shark-themed products, and this year’s consumer products programming provides the opportunity to do just that.”

Each year, Shark Week takes fascinated viewers on a week-long journey to the depths of the sea to uncover the secrets of the ocean’s top creature. Found in 220 countries and territories around the globe, Shark Week is a pop culture phenomenon that thrills fans of all ages with dynamic programming around these often-misunderstood sea creatures.