the merchandising of the animated children’s series Caillou has a distinctly Canadian story behind it. Based on a series of books popular in Quebec since their launch in 1990 (in which the star was a baby), Montreal’s Cinar purchased the rights to Caillou in 1996 for development into an animated kids series and changed the central character into a toddler. The show has been on the air in both French and English since 1997, however the merchandising of Caillou has been skewed heavily toward the French audience.

The first of Caillou’s forays into merchandising, twin video titles released in 1998, was available only in French. ‘It was the success of the video that brought Sony to the relationship. The next two video titles were released in May 1999: two in French, two in English,’ says Mary Graziano, Cinar’s director of licensing. ‘Along with the new video line we released apparel and a bedding program and games and puzzles in 1998, mostly in Quebec and mostly in specialty stores. The games and puzzles are bilingual.’

A full licencing program is now in place, says Graziano. ‘We have bags and backpacks, footwear, all the fashion category. We have a full line of toys, plush and vinyl dolls, melamine tableware, picture frames.’

And all this without an American broadcaster.

‘I think Caillou is very special to Canada – many people may tell you that to launch a merchandising program without a broadcaster being locked in in the u.s. won’t work, but Caillou is a great example of where it did work.’

In part, this success can be attributed to Caillou’s pre-existing currency with Quebecers, says Graziano. ‘In French Canada, Caillou was already well known as a book property. I think the baby book property was a success in Quebec so Quebec retailers were willing to support Caillou because they knew it and clients knew it. Caillou was well known.’

Caillou, a property squarely aimed at preschoolers, stars a ‘typical four-year-old boy. It’s about him and his everyday adventures; he has a cat and friends and he goes to daycare and he goes to the dentist. We found that it was like looking in a mirror [for the viewers]. They can really relate to Caillou because he’s not a dog or a teddy bear, he’s a boy,’ says Graziano.

Parents certainly loved him when he was the lead in the Caillou baby books, but it was the move to television that really opened merchandising and licensing doors.

‘It was with the launch of the tv show that the merchandising program was able to take off into a different demographic. Baby books are purchased by pregnant mothers. Preschoolers want products based on the characters they see on tv – what the marketing industry refers to as the nag factor.’

Caillou has come a long way: right now the tv tie-in book is outperforming the original baby books.

‘What we always try to do with merchandising is really stay preschool. We had baby products but we cut them out because if a kid saw his baby brother wearing it, it wouldn’t be cool anymore.’

Caillou has finally found a u.s. broadcaster – pbs has been broadcasting a version of the series, which in this instance includes live action and puppets as well as the familiar animation – since early September, with the first u.s. merchandising expected to roll out in 2001.

In Canada, Caillou airs on Teletoon (English and French).

‘We’re already getting fan mail from consumers looking for Christmas gifts. For better or worse, Americans are used to having it out there,’ says Graziano. ‘[The u.s. merchandising campaign] would be much more strategic in thinking. We would roll out in specialty stores like Zany Brainy for example. The u.s. is a whole different ballgame.’ *

-www.cinar.com