Tomy to Sponsor Milkshake and Nick Jr. UK During Summer 2018

Toy designer, producer and marketer Tomy is to sponsor the UK’s leading commercial kids’ network VIMN KIDS across its pre-school channels Milkshake! and Nick Jr. during the August and back to school period.

Toy company TOMY has teamed up with Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) UK & Ireland to sponsor Channel 5's preschool block Milkshake and top-performing commercial preschool channel Nick Jr. during August and the back to school period.

The partnership will see TOMY take over the Channel 5 Milkshake sponsorship slot on the preschool block from Saturday 28th July to Friday 31st August 2018 with the campaign also running on preschool pay TV channel Nick Jr. in the afternoon slot.

The sponsorship deal was brokered by TOMY’s new media agency Generation Media and booked through Sky Media.

Tomy Aquadoodle Peppa Pig

TOMY will use the sponsorship package to showcase its Toomies and Aquadoodle – which includes a licensed Peppa Pig product – collections. Both will have strong appeal to Milkshake! and Nick Jr’s distinctive pre-school and family audiences. Toomies offers fun, high quality toys that feature quirky characters and hidden surprises whilst Aquadoodle encourages creativity, drawing ability and learning through play. Products also stand out to parents as each toy provides huge developmental benefits for children.

“This is one of our biggest campaigns to date,” enthused Nicola Jenkins, head of marketing at TOMY UK. “Our sponsorship will drive awareness to our preschool brands amongst our key target audience, while amplifying our brand values and utilising the playful style of Milkshake’s brand idents to bring our brands to life.

TOMY Toomies Octopals Bath Toy

“This is the first time we have invested at a brand level in sponsorship at TOMY and we cannot wait to see the results.”

Mark Swift, SVP UK Commercial and International Ad Sales at VIMN added: “The sponsorship of VIMN Kids preschool channels is an excellent way for brands to reach different preschool audiences in the commercial PSB and pay TV sectors on channels which show the very best content for British kids.”

Milkshake! is the number one commercial pre-school channel during the Milkshake! day part and Nick Jr. is the number one commercial kids channel on the kids EPG (Source: BARB, All Homes, Kids 4-15, January 2018 – 24 July 2018).

By partnering with Milkshake! and Nick Jr. Tomy’s sponsorship campaign is estimated to deliver over 1,600 Housewives and Children 0-3 TVRs and reach an estimated 50 per cent of its target audience. Tomy’s sponsorship will also be backed by a heavyweight AV campaign covering kids commercial channels and YouTube with the objective of bolstering sales of Toomie and Aquadoodle collections.

More Nick: Milkshake! Commissions ‘Digby Dragon’ Season 2 from Blue Zoo!

Sources: Licensing Source, Toys 'n' Playthings, Toy World Magazine, Rapid TV News; Product images via Argos.

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VIMN Kids Taps Louise Bucknole for New Role of Vice President of Programming for Nickelodeon and Milkshake!

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has named Louise Bucknole as its new Vice President (VP) of programming, VIMN Kids.

In the newly created role, Bucknole is being tasked with driving ratings performance and brand strength for the Nickelodeon channels and Channel 5′s preschool programming block Milkshake! in the UK.

She will look to develop British preschool content to compete with global leaders in the field, continue to develop the VIMN Kids team and evolve both kids brands to continue to serve and reach their audiences.

In her Milkshake role, Bucknole will look to develop and commission British preschool content, and will also have a business development remit to work with commercial, consumer products and events teams to expand the brand and ensure best in class activations in addition to her responsibility to source for development commissioned and acquired content.

“Louise has an incredible wealth of experience in the children’s television industry across both the PSB and pay TV sectors and her expertise in scheduling and channel planning will help us to further drive ratings improvement for both Nickelodeon and Milkshake,” said Alison Bakunowich, Senior Vice President (SVP), General Manager (GM), Nickelodeon UK and Milkshake.

Bucknole will report into Bakunowich and will have a secondary reporting line into Ben Frow, director of programmes, Channel 5.

Most recently director of programming at Disney Channels UK and Ireland, Bucknole has been described as a passionate advocate of UK children’s content. In her previous role she was responsible for leading all strategic, editorial, commercial and operational aspects of content strategy. Bucknole was instrumental in key commissions including Goalmouth, First Class Chefs, Art Attack, Furry Friends, Access All Areas as well as acquisitions such as Curious George, Miraculous, Hotel Transylvania and Pokémon.

Prior to her six year stint at Disney, Bucknole worked as head of scheduling, BBC Children’s, where she oversaw content strategy for CBBC, CBeebies, the children’s blocks on BBC One, BBC Two and iPlayer.

Bucknole said: “I am delighted to be joining Viacom International Media Networks where I will work across both the Nickelodeon and Milkshake brands to bring much loved content to kids to excite, inspire and entertain them.

“This brings together my 20 years content and broadcasting experience across the commercial and PSB kids sectors and I can’t wait to join this brilliant team.”

The hire follows a number of recent deals for Milkshake!, including a third-season commission for Nevision’s hybrid series Floogals and a pickup of the new 22nd season of Mattel’s Thomas & Friends. Recent activity for Nick UK, meanwhile, includes the launch of a Nick Jr. Adventure Centre last month and the acquisition of all five seasons of Novel Entertainment’s Horrid Henry, with a further 42 new episodes currently in development, which are set to premiere on Nicktoons UK & Ireland from 2019.

Nickelodeon is currently the number one commercial broadcaster in pay TV homes and Channel 5 Milkshake is set for its fifth year of growth.

More Nick: Nickelodeon Unveils Content Pipeline Of More Than 800 New Episodes, Details Expansion Into Location-Based And VR Experiences | Nick Upfront 2018!

Sources: ToyNews, Kidscreen, C21 Media.

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