The Astrid Lindgren Company set to mark major milestone for brand in 2020.
New licensees are being sought for the classic Pippi Longstocking brand, as property owner The Astrid Lindgren Company gears up to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2020.
First published in Sweden in 1945 – with illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman – the iconic redhead has, since then, garnered an international fan base ranging from Lady Gaga and Amy Poehler through to Lauren Child and Chancellor Merkel.
Her influence extends to catwalks, tattoos and grafitti, and 70 million Pippi books have been sold to date, translated into over 70 languages.
The Astrid Lindgren Company – which owns all the rights to and promoted the work and trademarks of Astrid Lindgren – keeps her work alive globally through publishing, theatre, film and TV, music, illustration and licensing.
Recent developments include Copyrights Asia now handling all Astrid Lindgren merchandising rights in Japan, with a special exhibition opening at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum in the summer entitled Pippi Longstocking and the World of Astrid Lindgren. It will tour across the country throughout 2019.
Other successful recent initiatives include the release of an Astrid Lindgren mug collection by Design House Stockholm in June, featuring a range of quotes from Astrid Lindgren and her work – which are being stocked through multiple retailers in Sweden and now in the UK by Skandium – and an Astrid Lindgren t-shirt for H&M’s UNICEF kids collection which was launched in April.
“Pippi is a poster girl for resilience, kindness, fairness and acceptance, and we are actively recruiting new licensing agents who believe in the Pippi brand as much as we do,” said Tobias Mannheimer, head of licensing at The Astrid Lindgren Company. “We are re-introducing Ingrid Vang Nyman’s original artwork for the Pippi series globally in the run up to 2020 and will be marking the anniversary through a range of cultural and charity initiatives across publishing, stage and screen.
“As with all the different brands we look after, we are putting our focus on the international market.”
Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter.
