Happy with its best Q1 ratings in five years, Nickelodeon has entered into a partnership with Argentinian creative agency Superestudio.
Revealed at the 2017 Kids’ Choice Awards over the weekend, the new look and feel blends live action with 2D and 3D animation and focuses on the playfulness and imagination in the lives of kids.
The new content depicts children interacting with the real world and reimagined versions of Nick’s iconic characters and properties including SpongeBob and The Loud House. The channel also got inspired by the surreal nature of GIFs, memes and emoticons.
The refreshed look features nearly 300 deliverables including bumpers, IDs, promo toolkits and graphic developments that will first roll out on the Nick’s US linear platform before going online across social media and off-channel. New iterations of the content will then head to the network’s international channels.
Interestingly, Nickelodeon’s classic orange logo will now be set against a backdrop of colorful new tones like purple, light blue, lime and cream.
In other partnership news, Nick has joined forces with child rights organization Plan International on Together We Rock, a new pro-social campaign dedicated to encouraging gender equity. The initiative is tied to the kidsnet’s hit sitcom School of Rock.
Running until the end of May, the campaign is part of Nickelodeon’s international Together for Good plan and features an international digital game hosted by School of Rock lead Tomika, as well as a global programming marathon highlighting the show’s empowerment-themed episodes.
In the game Together We Rock, users play as student musicians on a path to rock stardom and use coding concepts to progress to higher levels.
Ideas for the free game and how it would explore the subject of gender equity were developed last fall by Nickelodeon and members of the Plan International youth delegation in commemoration of International Day of the Girl.
The initiative comes as awareness around gender-equity issues is growing worldwide. Earlier this month, Australian pub caster ABC and Screen Australia announced a funding program for female creators of tween content for girls that support gender equity and diversity across the Australian film and television industry.
