Weetabix to launch new Shaun the Sheep Promo

By John Freeman on January 12, 2009

Shaun the Sheep creators Aardman have teamed up with Weetabix to launch a special promotion on over 20 million packs of Weetabix, Minis, Bitesize and Ready Brek in the UK.

Yes – that’s right. 20 million boxes of Shaun covered cereal.

The main offer will give consumers the chance to collect two sets of exclusive Shaun the Sheep books (only available through the promotion). There will also be an on-pack competition, inviting voracious Weetabix eaters to put down their spoons and design Shaun a woolly scarf instead.

The best designs will win a framed still of Shaun wearing the scarf.

The deal follows hot on the heels of Aardman’s recent promotion deals for Wallace & Gromit with Kingsmill and Pyrex in promotion deals which tied in with the broadcast of A Matter of Loaf and Death at Christmas.

“Shaun the Sheep is hugely popular with children and their families so it was natural that we worked with the family favourite Weetabix to create this promotion,” said Sean Clarke, head of Aardman Rights.

A new series of 40 seven minute episodes begin shooting in early 2009 for CBBC and Aardman has already secured a number of pre-sales for the second season of the show with broadcasters in Australia, France, Denmark and elsewhere.

Of course, here at downthetubes, we’d really like to see Egmont, who are now Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep publishing partner, consider extending their releases to include not just books and bring us a new comic, especially after the demise of Titan’s title last year. However, given how difficult creating a comic with no speaking characters in the source material is, perhaps that’s unlikely.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.