Miguel Mestre: "we have to think creatively beyond linear TV and embrace multi-platform storytelling"

Last week at Mipcom Aardman showcased much-loved IP and standout third party productions with new and existing partners. To understand the strategy behind that slate, Señal News spoke with Miguel Mestre, Senior Sales Manager at Aardman.

How would you describe the global potential of "The Adventures of Robin Robin"?
"'The Adventures of Robin Robin' has all the elements to become a family global success story. We know that our fans expect character driven comedy from Aardman, and 'The Adventures of Robin Robin' will deliver this in spades to our audience. In addition, it’s also entirely relatable, with Robin and her siblings experiencing real life situations and navigating all sorts of emotions, which will resonate across audiences all over the world. Not only does it speak to the different members of the family directly, reflecting true dynamics that families around the world will recognise and relate to, such as friendly sibling rivalry, but it does so in a world that is very much analogous to our human world. A world that kids will recognise, not just in the geography but also in the situations: doing the laundry, being late for stuff, nothing but old beans in the cupboard for tea, camping holidays and bathtime."

The story is based on "Robin Robin," the Oscar-nominated short film for Netflix. Who does the story represent and evolve from its original concept?
"The original Netflix special follows Robin as she goes on a quest for crumbs and instead learns to embrace her beautiful ‘birdy-ness'. There's a big time jump in the special, between Robin’s egg hatching and her teenage years, and we, along with our kids, always wondered what happened in those intervening years. That wondering has led us to The Adventures of Robin Robin! Set long before the events of the special, the show follows a younger 7-year-old Robin and her mouse siblings. And if we had to say one thing about her, it's that she has a heart of gold, if slightly misplaced. It’s a sitcom for kids about a Robin, her four siblings, their single Dad, and their regular family life out in the wild. It’s a show set in a world as vibrant and alive as kids are. Even though the world of Robin Robin is set in the wild, it's full of recognisable, everyday family situations, but with a slightly more adventurous backdrop."

How do you analyze the preschool content business? What are the clients' demands today for that slot?
"We always keep a close eye on what pre-school content competitor studios and digital creators are producing and seeing what’s resonating with the audience on a general level. This is also supported by Aardman collecting real-time data via our own audience and brand touchpoints across our own IP and researching new consumption platforms to ensure we continue to expand our pre-school catalogue’s international presence. As to clients’ demands, they’re very varied, but we’re currently seeing some common trends such as a higher appreciation for existing and long-running IP, authentic characters and stories, comedy, and relatability. Perhaps most importantly however, we’re seeing the importance of franchises and the ability to build out brands beyond the screen, to support a deeper brand engagement that subsequently satisfies content buyers, but also the pre-school audience themselves."

How does "The Very Small Creatures" reinforce Aardman's preschool offering?
"Our BAFTA-nominated series, 'The Very Small Creatures,' perfectly complements and reinforces our pre-school offering in two main ways. First by reaching an early learning year audience (1-3), targeting a key pre-school demographic that we’d not done before. This offering helps bolster our existing pre-school offering under the Timmy Time umbrella, spanning across Timmy Time, Learning time with Timmy and the spin off digital series Timmy Tunes, as well on the pre-school shows we distribute on behalf of our producer partners, such as Alphablocks Ltd.’s Numberblocks, Hocus Pocus’ Ready, Eddie, Go!, and Beakus’ Big Lizard, to name a few. Further, 'The Very Small Creatures' offers a deep dive on neuro and gender diversity and the celebration of individualism via a softer approach than what we’ve done before, which highly resonates with the target audience, but also the parents and carers co-watching it with their youngest ones."

The kids' content business is experiencing a challenging context. How does Aardman adapt to the always-changing and challenging content demand trends?
"Kids' content producers are all navigating a rapidly shifting landscape, influenced by a shift in audience behaviours and platform fragmentation. Understanding our audience is key to ensuring that Aardman is creating content that kids want to engage with, and that it’s distributed on the platforms where they are spending their time. As children no longer consume content through a single screen, we have had to think creatively beyond linear TV and embrace multi-platform storytelling, and so we’re putting a lot of focus on creating short-form content for digital platforms for example. Ultimately, we have had to respond to our audience and what they like, quickly reacting to consumption and technology trends and balancing the more traditional aspects of linear broadcasting and smart windowing with a fully-fledged digital presence. However, we always remain 100% true to our core strengths of comedy, character, craft and heart in all that we do."