Cloudco Entertainment, owner of the Care Bears franchise, has announced six all-new animated Care Bears: Unlock the Magic specials set to air on Narrative Entertainment’s commercial children’s channel, Tiny Pop, as well as four new UK-based consumer product licensees.
These additions provide further momentum to a brand already experiencing huge growth across all channels and audiences, on TV, in retail, on social media and YouTube, and across audiences of all demographics and genres.
Launched to great fanfare on free-to-air broadcasters Tiny Pop and POP in 2019, Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, will soon add six all-new animated specials to its existing Care Bears content slate, the first of which, “Grumpy’s Ginormous Adventure” is set to premiere on Tiny Pop on May 20, 2023. The debut of the other specials will be announced shortly, with all of them leaning into bigger, more “theatrical” stories from the Care Bears while nonetheless remaining true to the look and style of the animated TV series on which they are based.
The success of the new Care Bears animated series has helped spark growing fan engagement of the Care Bears brand in the UK. From a good base in 2019, retail sales of Care Bears in the UK have grown 894% to the end of 2022, with further growth forecast in 2023 and notably brisk momentum across high street, grocery, and fast fashion. Capitalizing on that interest, Bulldog Licensing, Care Bears’ UK agent, has recently signed new brand partners, including Gibson’s Games for jigsaw puzzles, Flamingo Candles for candles, Pawprint Trading for pin badges and embroidered badges, and Famous Forever for apparel such as t-shirts, hoodies, and sweatshirts. These new partners join a family of strongly performing UK Care Bears partners that include Fizz (gifting), Somerbond (loungewear and nightwear), Basic Fun! (toys, plush, and collectibles), Bioworld (clothes, bags, gifts, and accessories), Dennicci (infant and babywear), and many others.
The Care Bears also recently marked their 40th anniversary and had a strong brand presence at the most recent MegaCon. Those experiences, combined with a YouTube Channel that has recently surpassed 175 million views, collectively demonstrate that Care Bears is a brand that captivates its existing fans while simultaneously appealing strongly to the next generation.
“We’re thrilled to announce that the first of six brand-new Care Bears: Unlock the Magic 22’ specials. This fresh content continues the Care Bears’ commitment to promoting empathy and positivity, but also showcases a ton of (perhaps unexpected!) wild fantasy, humor, and fun”, said Sean Gorman, President of Cloudco Entertainment. “We’ve always promoted The Care Bears as the rare commercial brand that’s also authentically caring, sharing, and emotionally impactful”.
