This Big Red Dog is Stylin': Scholastic Prepares for a New Clifford^® Licensing Effort with Another Round of Artful Guides

By Ron Romanik

Preschoolers find comfort in Clifford The Big Red Dog® and his much smaller Puppy Days(tm) incarnation because of the unconditional love he emanates. The caretakers of the Clifford brand, New York City-based Scholastic Inc., translate this appeal—and the appeal of dozens of other characters—into licensed products and promotions of all kinds through strategic partners.

Scholastic is the largest publisher and distributor of children's books in the English-speaking world, and licensing avenues are strong revenue-generating and brand-building opportunities. To make the licensing process as efficient as possible while still closely guarding their valuable brands, Scholastic produces comprehensive style guides.

Well-packaged style guides

Sharon Lisman, v.p. of creative and product development for Scholastic Entertainment, has produced close to 20 style guides during her 13-year career at Scholastic. Lisman is essentially art-directing thousands of designers through the pages of her style guides. "I focus on visual branding; our partners apply this to their products for manufacture," Lisman says.

In order to art-direct from afar, Scholastic style guides are eminently user-friendly from the moment a designer opens the box or guide, which were traditionally produced in print runs of about 3,000 guides. Though CD and online guides are an economic necessity today, well-organized and attractive printed guides are still valuable as the most efficient way for designers to find what they need fast.

The style guides are meant to answer any imaginable package and product design question possible, and they are meant to inspire creativity as well. Opening the large format Clifford style guide (10.5" x 11.5") for the first time is a meaningful interaction that introduces some common themes. "You get this kind of playful quality right away," says Lisman.

"Most licensees were really wowed by this," Lisman continues. "When you see this kind of commitment from a licensor, you're very impressed."

Scholastic style guides are artfully constructed to be both exhaustive and user-friendly. This image shows how packaging elements should work together on Clifford's first brand extension developed in concert with the Puppy Days television show on PBS KIDS.

Clifford, the Scholastic mascot

Clifford has a very strong identity among preschool fans, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the Scholastic views Clifford as its unofficial mascot. The lovable giant canine is an evergreen brand—a classic, timeless, unwavering icon that will never go away.

To keep the brand fresh, it is important to reinvent it periodically in meaningful ways without losing any of the longstanding equities of the character. "Everything about the Clifford style guide is about the Clifford brand," Lisman says. "You want something that both validates the brand and is relevant to the consumer."

Lisman is constantly viewing Scholastic franchises like any other brand and asking: "What is this brand about?" and "How do you get the brand essence into the product?" Of course, Clifford never speaks, so he can never say, "I love you." Instead, his face, posture, and behavior must convey his unconditional love and be unquestionably Clifford.

"It has to be something you feel," Lisman says. "When you see Clifford, you should feel a certain way." Everything around Clifford must also reinforce his Clifford-ness, including design devices such as dog bones, typefaces, and frames. In addition, Clifford needs to appear BIG and friendly.

The brand identity color palette for the packaging of the new "Grow With Clifford" licensing campaign introduces pastel colors that will go with infant and toddler products.

Growing younger and younger

The Clifford books, written by Norman Bridwell, were first published by Scholastic in 1963, and today there are over 115 million books in print. In the fall of 2000, Clifford made his TV debut on PBS KIDS, and a spin-off chronicling Clifford's "puppyhood," Clifford's Puppy Days, premiered on PBS KIDS in fall 2003. In 2004, Clifford's Really Big Movie hit the movie theaters.

After five successful years in the marketplace, Scholastic commissioned some in-depth consumer research to assess Clifford's image in the eyes of the consumer. What they learned was that the Clifford brand could extend to even younger children, including infants and toddlers.

The new Grow with Clifford style guide is a brand extension, but it is key that it be organically related to the existing Clifford brand. The strategy is to cultivate new fans of Clifford earlier, and to enlist the help of Mom and Dad as well. Scholastic believes the Clifford brand strengths—that he is known, trusted, loved, easy, and safe—are perfect for bedtime or bonding situations. So, the style guide seeks to connect with the nurturing side of Clifford on packages and products in new categories such as baby bottles, cribs, etc.

Meetings with designers are necessary to get on the same page from the start, and to cultivate fresh ideas. Products and packages that are not in tune with current fashion trends, for instance, would reflect badly on the brand. "We educate each other," says Hymowitz. "They tell us what's happening at retail. It's a mutual thing; it's a partnership."

Scholastic requires that every licensee and marketing partner submit their product development for review from concept to completed product in order to ensure adherence to brand standards and quality. Hymowitz explains that most Scholastic licensee and marketing partners are accustomed to the process from the start, since it is customary in the licensing business.

Scholastic carefully protects its Clifford "mascot," so each Clifford brand extension builds on the equities of the original brand.

Style guides in action

Lisman's style guides distinguish themselves by the graphic design approaches she has developed over the years that create a visual feast for the user. She avoids straight lines whenever possible, she allows the graphics and patterns to bleed off the edge of the page, and she tries to make the pages appear as if they were painted on.

The new Grow With Clifford style guide has cute new playful poses, new background colors and patterns, and new style collections. The color palette ventures into pastels, which would be expected for infant clothing or bedding. Hymowitz believes the Grow with Clifford guide colors strike the right balance. "You wouldn't want colors that are too trendy, because they will go out of fashion too quickly," he says.

It may be obvious to some, but you would almost never want a red package for Clifford, because there would be no strong contrast. "You want a package that doesn't compete with the product, but makes it pop," Lisman says. In addition, the tags or boxes for plush toys, for example, do not really need a picture of Clifford to support the product.

Style guides such as the ones produced and used by Sharon Lisman are a boon both for the licensee and for the licensor. For the licensee, such style guides provide clear parameters for design and color with size and color charts. They also enhance licensee creativity by their display of character poses and situation poses, and of brand-identified patterns and frames.

For the licensor, the style guides are a source of both review and direction. The submissions from licensees are measured against the brand standards in the style guide, and the reviewer uses the contents of the style guide brand identity, character identity, and collection ideas to point licensees in new or alternate directions.