The prestigious fair dedicated to kidswear, scheduled in Florence from 22 to 24 June, will have a special exhibition area dedicated to Pippi Longstocking, to celebrate the rebel heroine icon of freedom, unconventionality and empowerment, which has inspired generations of children and continues to exert an irresistible charm.

The space, entitled ” Pippi at Pitti”,  will be set up at the Cavaniglia Pavilion with iconic objects, rare first editions, tables with replicas of original illustrations and memorabilia to tell, through a novel narrative path, the authentic soul of the strongest girl, independent and unconventional children’s literature.

The girl with the carrot-colored braids and the freckle-sprinkled face, born in 1945 from the pen of the Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, continues to exercise a strong charisma and encourages girls, but also boys, from all over the world, to be free and bold, have self-confidence and reason with your own head.

Pippi’s strength, optimism and courage also inspired the “Pippi of Today” campaign launched in 2020 by The Astrid Lindgren Company in partnership with Save the Children to help girls fleeing war and poverty. The initiative, which continues into 2022, sees the participation of more than 60 partners from oll over the world and has so far raised almost 2 million euros in support of girls on the move.

Pippi is not only the extraordinary and unforgettable protagonist of one of the most famous novels of children’s literature, but has the right cards to confirm even today a prominent presence in the universe of youngest people.

This is also witnessed by the numerous partnerships with leading brands, which give rise to continuous collaborations for the development of products in the most diverse sectors, from publishing to fashion and design, from toys to accessories, to consumer products, music and digital content.

At Pitti Immagine Bimbo 95 will also be exposed some refined garments made by ILLUSTRABIMBI, who interprets Pippi through the original designs of Ingrid Vang Nyman: blouses, dresses, placemats, covers and accessories, made with eco-friendly fabrics and organic cotton.

Oggy Oggy, the cute protagonist of the new preschool animated series produced by Xilam, available on Netflix from August 2021,  is now ready for the launch in style that will take place in the fall, with the arrival on free-to-air tv channels and in the market.

The adventures of the curious and daring blue kitten, who lives in a colorful world populated by other cute felines,  will be on air after the summer on the kids channels of the main television stations in Europe – including F5 in France and Super-RTL in Germany. In Italy will be broadcast on Frisbee (DTT 44) which will promote the arrival of the new series with several initiatives, including video teaser, special premiere and live events with the presence of the mascot. Discovery is also defining special partnership agreements with theme parks.

Oggy Oggy series is made of CGI with bright colors and graphics of the highest level, which can achieve a surprising effect of three-dimensionality, giving “tactile” suggestions.

In the episodes the protagonists do not express themselves with a verbal language but through facial expressions, mimics and sounds, and are accompanied by a voice-over. From the results of a research conducted by Xilam, it emerged that the presence of voice over allows children to feel more involved, makes the stories more fun, educational and easy to understand and also enhances the appreciation by parents.

For Oggy Oggy is also imminent the market launch of the toy collection of Simba, the Master Toy with which Xilam has formed a partnership at a global level. From October on the shelves will arrive the items of the Christmas collection, which will be followed by new launches in 2023, already from the first months of the year.

The arrival of Oggy Oggy toys will be supported by a major advertising campaign, developed both online and offline. Among the support activities is also planned the publication of a series of Toy Play videos in the weeks before Christmas.

In the meantime, an intensive communication and promotion programme has been launched since early 2022, in order to increase the brand awareness of the property and synergistically enhance the important developments of the autumn.

Among the main initiatives, the launch of a dedicated YouTube channel, the creation of a web platform full of interactive content, activities, games to download and advice for parents,  the creation of 30 special video clips with exclusive content, with the release of a new video a week, from January to September, promotional activities in partnership with the YouTube channel Netflix Junior and YouTube Kids, advertising campaigns True-View on YouTube, direct marketing activities towards a large database of contacts in target.   Soon the program will be integrated with influencer campaigns, PR and digital advertising activities, in-store and local events.

Starting April 18, the fans of the animated series Cry Babies Magic Tears will have even more options to follow the adventures of their favorite characters, thanks to a global deal signed by IMC Toys with Netflix, the world’s leading platform in streaming entertainment services. The agreement will ensure the vision of the popular animated series in 24 languages, in over 190 countries where the platform is available, and will include the airing of 400 minutes of content, which this year will be released in two seasons: the first starting from April 18 and the second in autumn.

The animated series Cry Babies Magic Tears debuted in the North American market in 2018, on the IMC Toys youtube channel – Kitoons – following the launch of the Cry Babies dolls. The animated series was followed in 2019 by the release of Cry Babies Magic Tears, the line of collectible dolls, smaller than the Cry Babies.

“IMC Toys couldn’t be more proud to be part of the Netflix offering. Our goal is to provide our consumers with the best possible experience, and this Netflix premiere gives our fans even more access to the content they love.” said Raquel Roca, Communication Manager at IMC Toys. “IMC Toys is a global brand, and Netflix is the perfect platform for children around the world to enjoy our wonderful series and share the message of positivity that it brings.” concluded Roca.

The Cry Babies Magic Tears are small and cute dolls, each with a distinct personality. They live in an imaginary world where tears are magical and have special powers to overcome challenging situations. Each episode of the series, aimed at a primary target of children from three to six years, is designed to propose positive values of solidarity and friendship, in a stimulating and engaging way.

The popular animated series Oggy and the Cockroaches produced by the French studio Xilam is proposed to fans with a refreshed graphics, new content and a completely new version of the cute blue cat.
The new series – Oggy and the Cockroaches Next Generation – will be on air on K2 from May 2, Monday through Friday at 7:30.

In this revamped version of the iconic Oggy and the Cockroaches series, Oggy hosts Piya for the holidays, a 7-year-old elephant, daughter of a couple of Indian friends. Sensitive, carefree and full of energy, the young pachyderm completely revolutionizes the daily routine of the lazy blue cat, who must learn to be a parent, while cockroaches exploit the presence of Piya to ruin his life.

With a modern design and a focus on emotions, tenderness and friendship, the new series “Oggy and the Cursed Cockroaches – Next Generation” (78 x 7 ) represents the evolution of the original classic series “Oggy and the Cursed Cockroaches”, which for 20 years collects great international success and includes seven seasons and over 500 episodes.

The expansion strategy that Xilam wanted to give to its flagship property Oggy and the Cockroaches, through the launch of Oggy Next Generation and the preschool series Oggy Oggy, aims to expand the audience of fans and increase the strength of the brand, also encompassing a robust international licensing and merchandising program, to offer a 360-degree Oggy universe, incorporating a large number of product categories and activations.

On April 19, new exciting adventures arrive in the bookstore with the brave Nefertina struggling with the mysteries of Ancient Egypt.
Published by DeAgostini these are two books with exciting stories, and two books with games, coloring, stickers and many stimulating activities.
Nefertina is the intrepid protagonist of the animated series “Nefertina on the Nile” produced by Graphilm Entertainment with Waooh! and Cyber Group Studios in collaboration with Rai Ragazzi.
The episodes of the series combine fun, adventure and a taste of historical information, telling stories based on solid values such as the stones of the pyramids: friendship, loyalty, a sense of justice and a desire to learn.
Nefertina is the 8-year-old daughter of the scribe of Pharaoh, who can read and write and aspires to become the first scribe-reporter in the history of Egypt.
Together with his trusted friend Piramses, and accompanied by the cat Micerina, he lives fantastic adventures in the shadow of the pyramids between investigations, small fears and great discoveries.

With over 50,000 copies sold in less than 2 months for – Sfida all’Ultima Battuta –  and 70,000 copies for – Ridi che è meglio! – Pera Toons also confirmed as an editorial phenomenon as well as an undisputed star of the web.

These record successes are part of a general trend that sees a strong growth in the reading of comics in Italy. According to a study conducted by Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE) in collaboration with Lucca Comics & Games, ALDUS UP and Eudicomin, there are in fact almost 9 million comic readers in Italy.

The results of the research show that the reading of comics is widespread in all age groups, with a prevalence in those young: readers of comics from 14 years old and up are 8.7 million, or 18% of the population and 35% of the total audience of readers.

The search – explains Emanuele Di Giorgi,  head of the commission Comics and Graphic Novels of AIE – shows as the reading of comics is diffused in all the age groups, above all those youths, and as the readers of comics are also strong readers of other genres, thus denying the commonplace that sees comics as a world separated from the rest of the editorial landscape, the culture considered “high level”».

According to the AIE research, comics are read more by men (21%) than by women (14%) and in terms of age groups reading is very transversal with a significant presence up to the under-55. Those who read comics, moreover, in 83% of cases also read fiction, non-fiction and other genres (against a national average of 52%), read e-books (48% against an average of 23%), listen to audiobooks (27% vs 11%).

Emanuele Vietina, General Manager of Lucca Crea, said “The research commissioned by AIE confirms the observatory of Lucca Comics&Games: the enthusiast of graphic novels is an active and conscious cultural consumer, distributed over all age groups. Knowing it means understanding the reasons why comics, today, is one of the main languages of contemporaneity”.

Data compared to other research in the past also show a remarkable growth: comic readers were 3.96 million in 1996 and 7.28 in 2019.

The study also shows a powerful growth of comics that in 2021 is the genre most purchased by Italians in 2021 in terms of number of copies and the one that records in percentage the largest increase compared to 2020 at volume:+ 134% (Source: AIE Studies Office elaboration on Nielsen BookScan data).

Also strong of this data, Pera Toons confirms itself as a Property with great potential, which through the irony of its original comic book jokes can intercept a very wide and transversal consumer target. In addition to the successes in the publishing field, the property is activating interesting collaborations for projects in the licensing field, where negotiations for new agreements are underway. The partnership with Biembi for the creation of gift items and accessories distributed in selected stores of stationery and gadgets continues with flattering results and two new collections are planned for 2022: Summer and Christmas.

Cristina D’Avena, legendary interpreter of the most famous themes of cartoons, and Carletto, the most curious chameleon of the universe, icon of fun branded Findus, sing together in a cheerful and surprising song – “La Canzone di Carletto”- that is on air on Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube from Sunday, March 20.

And after the adventure with music, new stimulating experiences await Carletto also in the world of licensing thanks to the partnership agreement that ETS has signed with Findus for the management of licensing rights of the irreverent chameleon. With his original personality, good mood and sociability, Carletto is proposed as an original character able to successfully transfer these values in all product categories where they are rewarding.