Written by Patrick Egerton.
When David Webster and I founded Cheeky Little we didn’t just want to make animated TV shows, we wanted to make brands. 12 years on, our goal remains the same, so where are we on that journey?
Pictured: Patrick Egerton and Kangaroo Beach cadet mascots.
Firstly, I should make one thing very clear. ‘Just’ making a TV show is no soft option. Anyone who has successfully green lit a first season knows all too well what’s required to take the seed of an idea, nurse it through development, finance the production, and successfully produce and deliver the show. It’s a long journey that requires many things – creative talent, pitching prowess, strategic thinking, steely nerves, good partners. The list goes on and given the odds seem overwhelmingly stacked against you at every turn, the one thing you need in abundance is blind faith. So, keep that flame alive!
A note of caution. A Herculean task it may be, but delivering one season, however brilliant, is not a firm enough foundation on which to build a brand. Licensors won’t take a risk on your IP unless there is strong evidence of audience engagement that can conceivably translate into consumer demand for product. That means multiple seasons in rotation on leading platforms in enough key territories global territories to support a merchandising and licensing strategy. Your show’s YouTube reach, plus the number and frequency of google searches for product, is probably an even bigger factor.
Pictured: David Taylor and Ginger mascot.
Let’s say that you’ve bravely reached that first summit and delivered season 1 of your show. Have a quick sit down and get someone to pat you on the back, because you truly deserve it. (I say this because sometimes you’re so busy climbing that you forget to look back and appreciate how far you’ve come and all the things you’ve learned along the way.) Then drink deep from your trusty ol’ cup of blind faith as you now survey the more precipitous peak beyond. That’s Season 2. And the bigger one behind, the summit of which disappears into the cloud canopy above. That’s Season 3. The air may be thin and the light blinding, but up here somewhere, brands are forged.
Back to Cheeky Little’s lofty goal of building brands. Are we there yet? Well, we’ve successfully delivered 3 seasons of one original IP (Kangaroo Beach) and we’re in production of a 4th season for another (Vegesaurs), so we’re well above the cloud canopy. Both shows have distribution with leading platforms in multiple international territories and we already have key licensing partners attached in toy, publishing, apparel and more. We’re also extending beyond the small screen into live shows with Kangaroo Beach and a big screen immersive experience for Vegesaurs which will land in venues around the world in 2025. So we’re certainly getting there!
No time to rest though. We have feature films in the pipeline and family content on the bubble to broaden our brand building potential. Onwards and upwards. Check back in another decade and we’ll let you know where we’ve landed.