Happy New Year! Here’s to a bright 2022!

Despite a later than usual start, last year brought a lot of positivity for the live events industry as well as some wonderful memories… Here are some of our 2021 Highlights!

The easing of restrictions meant that live events could recommence!  We enjoyed a year packed with exciting character appearances including weekly story time sessions with the Very Hungry Caterpillar at London Zoo, a visit to Preston for the unveiling of Wallace & Gromit’s bench sculpture, half-term fun with the Gruffalo at Kew Gardens and a trip to Glasgow with The Wombles to spread the word about their #OneStepGreener initiative at COP26.

Festivals returned and brought with them a host of famous faces including Hey Duggee, Bing & Flop, Fireman Sam and PAW Patrol who entertained festival-goers at Camp Bestival, Gloworm and 5 on the Farm to name a few!

Mr. Men and Little Miss celebrated their 50^th anniversary with a documentary hosted by Matt Lucas and featuring a few familiar faces including Mr. Bump, Mr. Tickle and Little Miss Sunshine… plus our fabulous events team, Vicky and Helene, trained Matt how to perform in costume!

Sporting events were also back on the calendar with the long-awaited arrival of UEFA EURO 2020 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.  Official EURO 2020 mascot Skillzy met with fans across Europe, while Snickers commissioned a life-sized Snickers bar costume to head up their #Snickers4Scotland campaign.  Then Team GB’s Pride the Lion joined forces with Peppa Pig to promote their Summer of Sport campaign, before being joined by Sonic the Hedgehog at Team GB Fan Zones during games time.

The Rainbow team took on the Surrey Three Peaks to rack up some km's for The Light Fund’s #10000km4kelvyn initiative in memory of late licensing legend, Kelvyn Gardner.  We competed in the Southern Light Fund Quiz, narrowly avoiding last place but faring brilliantly in the raffle as always! We were also proud to support our Export Manager, James Barlow at The Licensing Awards 2021 following his nomination for the UK Rising Star award!

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic in-person trade shows pushed ahead. We loved meeting new and existing clients face-to-face once more at the Saudi Entertainment & Amusement Show, IAAPA Expo Europe in Barcelona and the Family Attraction Expo in Birmingham. Plus we were delighted for the return of the much-loved character parade at Brand Licensing Europe in London, which was a tremendous success.

Finally the Christmas season did not disappoint. The Elves Behavin’ Badly embarked on a tour of shopping centres, treating shoppers to festive games and mischievous fun… towns across the country lit up for Christmas with the help of children’s favourites… and Batman got into the Christmas Spirit delivering gifts in Manchester!

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2022!