Aardman at 50: celebrating evergreen IP & brand anniversaries

Brand licensing continues to be a growing trend in the leisure and attractions space. Leveraging IP can create value for operators, brand owners, and ultimately guests if done with skill and an understanding of the value you are trying to unlock together.

Every IP has different values, benefits and considerations that can make a partnership make sense. For example, there are undoubtedly some really ‘hot’ IPs in market. However, they may come with more risk around their longevity because they are often driven by a trend, movie, moment or sudden appeal.

IP owners can be caught off-guard by their popularity and are looking to develop products and experiences quickly in order to engage fans and monetise optimally.

Benefits of evergreen IP

Conversely, some IPs may not be as hot, but their evergreen, multi-generational appeal makes them highly attractive to consider.

Often less risky, IP owners typically continue to invest to maintain freshness in evergreen brands, keeping them relevant and front of mind.

This may be through the creation of new content, such as movies and show releases, or new style guides enabling fresh products to be developed.

It could also be through new storylines relating to well-loved IP - a great example being Hasbro’s recent arrival of Peppa Pig’s baby sister!

See also: Around the globe with Hasbro: IP is much more than a theme park opportunity

Baby Evie arrives at Peppa Pig theme parks and World of Play locations

Another way IPs often drive a ‘moment’ around their brand is by celebrating big anniversaries. Done with impact, this can encourage fans to feel nostalgic, remember their favourite moments, share with new generations of fans, and drive the desire to learn even more about the brand.

IP owners may create content to celebrate, develop new themes, or invest in support to activate the brand and drive engagement around the moment.

Aardman turns 50

This year, the Oscar-winning British animation studio Aardman turns 50. It is perhaps best known for creating and bringing to life the adventure-seeking inventors, Wallace and Gromit; Shaun and his sheep friends; and the blockbuster movie, Chicken Run.

The studio has continually driven new innovations in animation and brought to market story after story that have been loved by families across the globe.

Ngaio Harding-Hill

I recently spoke with Ngaio Harding-Hill, Aardman’s director of attractions and live experiences, about the studio's 50th anniversary and the opportunities IP anniversaries present for operators in the attractions space.

Ngaio leads a team that now works with licensing partners to deliver 13 permanent attractions for fans to enjoy, along with over a hundred temporary activations every year – from theme parks to pop-up exhibitions.

Q: Take us back to the beginning. How did it all start?

A: Our attractions and live experiences programme started back in 2009 with our first successful international touring exhibition, Wallace & Gromit: World of Cracking Ideas.

Created in partnership with the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), it was designed to inspire creativity and innovation – particularly amongst children – while teaching visitors the importance of protecting original ideas as intellectual property.

The exhibition launched at the Science Museum, London, in 2009 and then toured the UK and Australia.

This was followed by the studio’s first permanent attraction partnership with Pleasure Beach Blackpool, and the launch of Wallace & Gromit’s Thrill-o-Matic dark ride and themed retail shop in 2013.

The award-winning ride continues to attract over 500k riders annually, all eager to take their seat in a giant version of Wallace’s slipper and see recreations of their favourite moments from the duo’s adventures.

Q: Why is Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) so important for Aardman?

A: LBE is a vital gateway to Aardman brands. In some territories, it can be the first point of contact audiences have with our brands. In others, it can be a key factor in supporting consumer product programmes and/or extending brand engagement and providing ancillary income beyond content viewing.

This can be particularly important when new content release patterns are irregular in keeping audiences connected to a brand.

For example, in territories such as New Zealand, where traditional TV content distribution is more sporadic than in other territories, our Shaun the Sheep partnership with Agrodome in Rotorua offers domestic guests the opportunity to be introduced to the brand, along with international guests more familiar with the brand through content and consumer product programmes.

Shaun the Sheep at Agrodome

Attractions and live experiences licensing also provides a vital income stream, enabling the studio to continue investing in creating new content.

Q: With many Aardman brands being ‘evergreen’, does LBE play an even more important role?

A: Yes, definitely. Experiences themselves provide the ability to create original narratives and/or reproduce stories featuring our characters in real-life experiences. This allows us to attract and engage visitors and develop brand affinity, even when the IP itself is not new.

As an example, by 2015, Shaun the Sheep had established itself as Aardman’s most successful global IP, with content viewed in over 170 countries – and we did just this with our first Shaun the Sheep permanent attraction.

Fåret Shaun Land at Skånes Djurpark

Fåret Shaun Land launched at Skånes Djurpark, Sweden, in 2016, and fans old and new had the opportunity to engage in a completely original narrative featuring the characters from the show.

The experience tells the story of their journey to southern Sweden to attend a traditional County Fair through bespoke animation and unique themed scenery.

Excited on arrival, the Flock disappear to explore while the Farmer takes a nap. When their appearance at the show is announced, Bitzer needs help to find the Flock and guests are encouraged to jump on board the tractor ride to help find them.

The unique narrative speaks to our ambition to create stories for live experiences that celebrate and develop the partnership between the venue and/or territory and the brand.

Q: Do ‘Evergreen’ brands come with other advantages for operators?

A: A big benefit legacy brands like ours often have is multi-generational engagement: parents who watched the content as kids themselves, now watching with their kids and bringing them to themed restaurants, escape rooms, and attractions.

Grandparents who watched the content with their kids and are now taking them and their grandchildren for overnight experiences in Shaun’s Wagons (themed Shepherd's Huts) in a Shaun the Sheep-themed farm attraction.

Thrill-o-Matic at Pleasure Beach

With our permanent attraction partners, we also collaborate to keep experiences fresh.

For example, the updated Thrill-o-Matic ride at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, which added scenes from Aardman’s latest Wallace & Gromit feature film, Vengeance Most Fowl, in 2025, driving renewed interest and guests to the ride and theme park.

Q: Aardman turns 50 in 2026. How are your partners joining in the 50th celebrations?

A: Our licensees can be quite spoilt for choice when it comes to ways to celebrate! Some develop seasonal programmes of celebratory activities; others produce bespoke product ranges; and some amplify their on-site activities with new marketing and social media assets produced to support anniversary activities.

For example, the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is producing a year-long ‘intervention’ treasure hunt through its permanent collection, celebrating Aardman’s impact on the city over the last 50 years.

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

At Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, the intervention provides a rolling activation, adding new items to discover across the anniversary year, driving repeat visitation.

A bespoke product range and Aardman-branded dining experience launching at the museum support the anniversary-themed event programme.

Q: Do you have any other LBE partners getting involved over the anniversary?

A: We have lots of plans with new, existing, and previous partners, all eager to benefit from the halo effect of celebrating the studio's 50-year history and legacy.

Young V&A

Our partnerships with the Young V&A and the MShed have already been announced. The Aardman Exhibition has resulted in the Young V&A's highest pre-launch ticket sales to date.

And more recently, our announcement of Larger Than Life, starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun & Morph, in partnership with Lightroom, London, as the perfect immersive, experiential finale to our 50th year.

Lots more is to be announced, so watch this space!

Lightroom

Q: Can anniversaries drive secondary spend?

A: They can – for example, there is a great opportunity to produce anniversary and limited-run ranges.

Risk can be managed by leveraging print-on-demand, and badging/sleeving can be an efficient way for permanent attractions to produce select anniversary product ranges to drive increased ancillary spend.

Internationally, particularly in East Asian markets, anniversaries can extend beyond a 12-month window, often launching ahead of the calendar year, offering greater opportunity to establish demand for bespoke product ranges.

For example, in Japan, our Shaun the Sheep 30th-anniversary exhibition, which launched in Shibuya in 2025, has secured tour dates through the end of 2027 and is supported by a substantial bespoke product range.

Featuring 30 bespoke SKUs, the Aardman product range created for Longleat’s Festival of Light proved exceptionally popular, generating strong ancillary spend and selling out over the course of the event.

Q: What has been your favourite experience to work on over Aardman’s history so far?

A: There have been a lot, and it’s a close call, but Fåret Shaun Land at Skånes Djurpark comes top. The creativity behind the original attraction concept has allowed us, year on year, to work with the team to continue to develop both permanent and temporary (annual and seasonal) activations at the park.

Fåret Shaun Land at Skånes Djurpark

In 2023 and 2025, we launched and increased their themed accommodation offering with the truly unique Shaun Wagons overnight experience.

In 2026, we’re celebrating with the addition of a new ride and enhanced dining experiences and continue to plan for the future of what the partnership can deliver for their guests.

Q: What do you hope the next 50 years bring for Aardman in the attractions/LBE space?

A: We have always had the ambition of establishing a permanent Aardman Studio Experience – ideally with the first in our hometown of Bristol, but with the capability to roll out to multiple locations across the world.

We’d love to use the studio's creative legacy to inspire the next generation of animation production talent and to pull back the curtain on what an amazing industry it is to work in, across all our areas of business.

Credit Justin Sutcliffe

We are also extremely excited to continue to push the boundaries of technology in the experiences we create and the content we produce, so the sky is the limit creatively, as is our ambition to always be present wherever our audiences find themselves, anywhere, anytime, anyplace!

Celebrating anniversaries is just one way to benefit from partnering with ‘evergreen’ IP

Often, IP is ‘evergreen’ for a reason. People have loved it for a long time, which has allowed continued investment in the brand, created broad, multi-generational audiences, and built whole franchise ecosystems around the IP (from products to video games, TV shows, live experiences, and beyond).

When you partner with an evergreen IP, you may gain access to its brand, stories, and characters, but it’s exciting to consider how you can leverage the IP's full power to keep creating newness and become a truly integrated piece of its broader ecosystem.

Anniversaries can be just one touchpoint- and developing ways to be the physical location for celebrating IP anniversaries can be a great opportunity to capitalise on, injecting excitement, freshness and relevance if executed effectively.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Aardman!