Manchester, 30 June 2014: CHF Entertainment Ltd has appointed iChild, the leading child development, childcare and education website, to promote Pip Ahoy! to over two million pre-school families through its iChild network. The company will be developing fun education resources and activities based on the Pip Ahoy! characters and storylines which will be available online.
Simon Hall, managing director of CHF Entertainment comments; “We are delighted to be working closely with iChild to launch Pip Ahoy! into the pre-school education sector. The company has already had a great deal of success launching brands such as Peppa Pig, Roary the Racing Car and Fifi and the Flowertots into this sector and we are looking forward to seeing Pip Ahoy! continue in their footsteps.”
Pip Ahoy!
iChild helps brands engage with parents, teachers, carers and children by developing fun educational content and activities in line with the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) national curriculum in England, which are then promoted through the iChild network which comprises parents, grandparents, teachers, nursery carers and child minders.
Phil Bird, managing director of iChild.co.uk says; “We work with our team of education consultants, teachers, marketing consultations and children’s designers to ensure that brands are able to engage effectively with parents, teachers, carers and children. For children’s TV shows we produce branded entertainment content that can be used in nurseries, pre-schools, schools and homes, to help teach children in a fun way, and raise awareness of the show and characters.
“We are thrilled to be working alongside CHF Entertainment on Pip Ahoy! and this week we will be launching a competition amongst nurseries and pre-schools for a chance to win a visit by Stacey Solomon and the Pip costume character. We will also be producing Pip Ahoy! nursery packs which will include lesson plans, activity books and stickers, and we have more activity planned throughout the year.”
CHF Entertainment is also in the process of evaluating a number of toy and merchandising opportunities for Pip Ahoy! through their master licensing agent, Lisle International. Lisle currently has signed licenses with PJSL Ltd, who have the rights to the Pip costume character for meet and greet appearances and KiddyRides, the UK independent coin operated manufacturer who will develop coin operated Skipper boats to go in various venues in the UK in 2015.
Pip Ahoy! follows the adventures of an eager happy-go-lucky young pup called Pip and his best friend Alba the kitten around the colourful and enchanting seaside resort of Salty Cove. Aimed at pre-school children from the age of two, Pip Ahoy! brings fun and laughter into every home with a mixture of the extraordinary and the familiar. Appearing every week day morning on Channel 5’s Milkshake at 7am, the series has been produced by CHF Entertainment’s hugely talented creative team under the leadership of multi award-winners Jean Flynn and Ben Turner and features Sir David Jason as the voice of Pip’s caring uncle, Skipper. X Factor finalist, singer and reality TV star, Stacey Solomon, has also recorded the theme song and is the voice of the pink flamingo, Fuchsia.
Salty Cove boasts everything a proper seaside resort should have – a sandy beach with little coves and pools to visit, along with welcoming beach huts and a sunny promenade with its parade of shops of all kind. To one end of the cove is an observatory manned by the brainy and erudite Professor Evie, and to the other end a lighthouse stands overlooking a boatyard, which contains several crafts of various shapes and sizes. Some of these belong to the most respected inhabitant of Salty Cove, the redoubtable Captain Skipper, Pip’s uncle.
The folk that live in this idyllic place are as motley a crew as you could imagine from Pasty, the acquisitive crab with an extraordinary collection of bric-a-brac, Hopper, the one legged acrophobic seagull with big ambition and little gumption, Madame Éclair, a French poodle of high-breeding and exquisite taste in confectionary and cakes, Mrs Twitcher, a keen birdwatcher and Salty Cove’s very own taxi driver, a colony of rather well spoken puffins clustered around an island offshore and a flock of seagulls, Kevin, Cyril and Percy who make mischief. A quintet of singing limpets, the Squiblets, pop up from time to time to warble a brief barber’s shop type harmony and beneath the waves, resides a drummer of multi-limbed capability, the renowned Rocktopus.
Tune into Pip Ahoy! weekday mornings at 7am on Channel 5’s Milkshake.
For more information about Pip Ahoy! please visit www.chfentertainment.com/site/shows/pip-overview
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Notes to editor
About Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Media Group – Quality Family Entertainment
Formed in 2011, CHF Entertainment, part of the CHF Media Group (CHF) is the reincarnation of the multi award winning animation house, Cosgrove Hall, famous for big brand children’s shows such as Danger Mouse, Wind in the Willows and Count Duckula. CHF continues that tradition by creating entertaining, innovative and brilliantly characterised children’s television shows. CHF‘s new suite of shows are produced in the UK by a highly talented creative team headed by Brian Cosgrove and Simon Hall. The production team offers a solid production base with experience, creative talent and an infrastructure to deliver quality family entertainment, including dramatic real-life features for factual, educational and interactive projects for a global audience. CHF programmes benefit from a diverse set of revenue streams from broadcast, publishing and gaming to mobile and internet content and merchandising. www.chfentertainment.com
Pip Ahoy! is based on an original concept by Charles Ward.
About Milkshake!
Channel 5’s Milkshake! is home to some of the world’s favourite preschool characters. There is a range of stimulating and engaging programmes that include strong story led animation, genuine documentaries for pre-schoolers and presenter led high quality musical entertainment. Channel 5 broadcasts 24 hours of children’s programmes every week. Milkshake! is on air from 0600 – 0915 every weekday and 0600 – 10.00 on Saturday and Sunday. For further information visit www.channel5.com/milkshake
About Channel 5
Channel 5 launched as Britain’s fifth terrestrial broadcaster in March 1997 and was bought by Northern & Shell in July 2010. It currently attracts well over 42 million viewers a month.
It delivers programmes that combine creative flair and popular appeal, and continues to bring viewers a mix of smart new shows that sit alongside popular long running series such as Killers Behind Bars, Ben Fogle’s Animal Clinic, Botched Up Bodies and Benidorm ER. Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother are well established in the schedule – and stripped of any pretentiousness about “social experiments” are focused on real life entertainment. They sit alongside ratings stalwarts like Eddie Stobart and The Hotel Inspector.
Channel 5 acquires the best of international drama – Wentworth Prison, Under the Dome, Person of Interest, Love/Hate, Castle, CSI, Law & Order, The Mentalist and NCIS. Aussie soaps Neighbours and Home & Away continue to delight. For sports fans Channel 5 is the terrestrial home of all England Cricket summer Internationals and regular title boxing.
Channel 5 News debates the main topics of the day. The channel is committed to children’s programing with their award winning strand Milkshake!. Sister channels 5* and 5USA compliment Channel 5 with a mix of must see entertainment and US Drama.
For all the latest about Channel 5, follow us @channel5press and @channel5_tv
About iChild: experts in taking Children’s brands into Education. With a team of education consultants, teachers, marketing consultants and children’s designers – and a large membership database – iChild helps brands engage with parents, teachers, carers and children. They do this by developing fun education content and activities in line with the national curriculum, and then promoting these through their network. For Children’s TV shows this allows branded entertainment content to be used in nurseries, pre-schools, schools and homes, to help teach children and to help raise awareness of the show & characters.
iChild has over 280,000 registered members comprising parents, grandparents, teachers, nursery carers and childminders. They access the thousands of high quality education activities and resources on the iChild website. This audience cares for over 3.2 million children in the UK.
iChild is owned by specialist promotional marketing agency Family & Education Marketing Limited. www.familyandeducation.co.uk
For more information contact Phil Bird, phil@ichild.co.uk, 020 7267 8279. iChild website: www.ichild.co.uk
For Further information contact:
Julia Vockrodt, CHF Media Group Ltd, juliavockrodt@chfmedia.com 07710 942 943
Helen Doherty, VP Communications Ltd, helen@vp-pr.com 07713 175850
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