AGP Readies New 'Strawberry Shortcake' Revival

Strawberry Shortcake is getting another new look…

Scheduled for a re-launch this coming fall season for the brand's entirety, Strawberry Shortcake, the lovable little girl of saccharine charm, will be getting yet another, slightly updated look to accompany her continued dominance of the consumer product landscape.

The Shortcake brand itself, under the ownership and guidance of American Greetings Properties (AGP), the intellectual property and outbound licensing division of American Greetings Corporation, holds hundreds of licensees across the globe, many since its latest re-launch back in 2003.

Miss Shortcake has rightfully been busy since 2003, making new friends of a similar sugary sweetness (in name and in character), effortlessly keying into its primary target of Girls 2-7. Although the current version of Strawberry Shortcake has done well to foster an immense following of direct-to-video sales, themed consumer products, and much more; Shortcake, in order to stay current, must similarly adapt to the times. Announced at AGP's presentation at this year's International Licensing Expo, the 2009 slate of Strawberry Shortcake programming and related items will feature "the berry best" of what the brand has to offer.

The new Strawberry Shortcake, currently scheduled to debut in Fall 2009, will feature a hipper, more social, and certainly more chatty Strawberry Shortcake than before. The red-haired girl is "small in scale but big on adventure, friendship, fashion, and fun." Looking to bank on AGP's 2008 plans to move Shortcake merchandise into additional specialty and mid-tier stores for the first time, the future of Miss Shortcake is a slight aging-up of the brand, searching out pre-teen girls who likewise are exploring their own social life as it changes day-to-day. Still carrying with it the fanciful events that accompany Shortcake and Friends' delights in humor and friendship, Strawberry Shortcake is evolving.

But Shortcake's redesign is not exclusive. According to American Greetings Properties, the entire world-environment where Shortcake's life takes place, is getting a new look. In the world of Berry Bitty City, her new world is now miniature, hidden beneath a berry patch as akin to many of the property's books published in the 1980s. Similarly, Strawberry Shortcake and her friends run their own little shops: including a cafe, a salon, and a general store. The entire look and feel of Strawberry Shortcake will not necessarily be changing as much as it is repositioning itself to reflect its status as the go-to brand for key demographics.

The source of a healthy $2.5+ billion in worldwide retail sales since 2003, Strawberry Shortcake continues to move right along. Come the 2009-year, this may only be a faint memory as the re-freshening of the character and the brand could push Miss Shortcake to new heights. Other than a simple redesign of her character, Strawberry Shortcake will also star in a few new animated titles, to mark her new entry into the world of tween entertainment.