Positioning of children’s transmedia franchises. Cleo & Cuquín and Piny case studiesPosicionamiento de franquicias infantiles transmedia. Estudio de los casos Cleo & Cuquín y Piny doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | 211July-December of 2022ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978How to cite this articcle: Urbano, R. and Aguaded, I. (2022). Positioning of children’s transmedia franchises. Cleo & Cuquín and Piny case studies. Doxa Comunicación, 35, pp. 211-223.https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n35a1623Rosalía Urbano. International PhD in Communication, Educommunication branch (Media Literacy). Master in Communication and Audiovisual Education. Bachelor’s in Journalism and Diploma in Teaching Foreign Languages (English). Member of the Ágora group from the University of Huelva. Professional in voice-overs and dubbing. Published journalistic and scientic articles such as “Co-creativity in children’s transmedia brands from the producer’s perspective” and “New European teaching model through the children’s television prosumer”. Research in projects on television, education and business creativity; numerous audiovisual material published. Teaching experience in the Masters in Teacher Training, ICT and Teaching Methodologies at the University Antonio de Nebrija, and audiovisual media (Canal 10 TV, Punto Radio and UNITV, Television Channel from the University of Huelva), digital content and social networks. Coordinator of the Gamication block in the Master’s Degree in Teaching Training at the European University of Valencia. Antonio de Nebrija University, Spain[email protected]ORCID: 0000-0003-0954-9596Ignacio Aguaded. Professor in the Department of Education from the University of Huelva (Spain). President of Grupo Comunicar, veteran collective in Spain in Educommunication, and Editor-in-Chief of the renowned scientic journal “Comunicar” (indexed in JCR and Scopus, top 1% worldwide). He is the Principal Investigator of the Research Group “Agora”, which has multiple national and international investigations. He has directed hundreds of research works and 41 doctoral theses. He is the director of the Interuniversity International Master of Communication and Audiovisual Communication (UNIA/UHU) and coordinator of the Interuniversity Doctorate Programme in Communication (US, UMA, UCA and UHU). President and founder of the International EuroAmerican Network of Researchers “Alfamed”, in 18 countries. Awarded the Best Researcher in Social Sciences at the University of Huelva 2015. University of Huelva, Spain[email protected]ORCID: 0000-0002-0229-1118Abstract:Transmedia franchise is part of a child’s daily life, so it is necessary to delve into production, strategies, and the communication model used by these children’s creations. is article aims to analyse the types of transmedia brands and the producer’s pedagogical vision in the cases of Cleo & Cuquín and Piny. It is an interpretive research using a qualitative methodology, construct grounded theory. Analysis Resumen:La franquicia transmedia se encuentra en el día a día del menor, por lo que se precisa ahondar en la producción, estrategias y el modelo de comunicación utilizados en estas creaciones infantiles. El articulo tiene como objetivo analizar los tipos de marcas transmedia y la visión peda-gógica del productor en los casos Cleo & Cuquín y Piny. Se trata de una investigación interpretativa con metodología cualitativa construyendo Received: 16/02/2022 - Accepted: 21/04/2022 - Early access: 04/05/2022 - Published: 01/07/2022Recibido: 16/02/2022 - Aceptado: 21/04/2022 - En edición: 04/05/2022 - Publicado: 01/07/2022

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212 | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | July-December of 2022Positioning of children’s transmedia franchises. Cleo & Cuquín and Piny case studiesISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicación1. Introductione concept of transmedia was named for the rst time by Kinder (1991) through transmedia intertextuality, mentioned in her book Playing with Power in Movies, Television and Video Games: From Muppets Baby to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a new supersystem of children’s and teenagers’ entertainment is determined, the transmedia intertextuality reected in the lm. Ten years later, Jenkins (2001) proposed the term transmedia storytelling or transmedia narrative in the article Convergence? I Diverge. is author believes transmedia storytelling is a cultural convergence featuring content distributed on dierent channels; stories and information presented on the media qualied for it. In the McArthur Foundation report, Jenkins, Purushotma, Clinton, Weigel & Robison (2009) reassert the future of participatory culture and media education; the meaning of transmedia storytelling is the future of entertainment (Jenkins, 2003).Transmedia storytelling can work information through dierent channels (Buehring & Vittachi, 2020). is strategy is used in digital environments to disseminate new or expanded stories, a virtual context established within the current television ction model and consumer behaviour (Rodríguez, 2019). A transmedia brand and its strategy strengthen engagement; the franchise is created to stimulate the user- the child- resulting in their personalised construction of the story and appropriation of the brand (Tur-Viñes, 2015). is experience is called “total entertainment” (Grainge, 2008: 65).e creation of a universe in the transmedia brand originates from a rst narrative (literary or audiovisual origin), an initial product highly consumed by the public that gives way to the rest of the stories; this is the case in e Simpsons, the comic of the two franchises chosen from unstructured and semi-structured interviews, document analysis and participant observations; instruments validated by triangulation. Finally, the theoretical coding is established and the data collected from the Atlas.ti programme are categorised into families. e results indicate four types of transmedia children’s brands (educational, edutainment, entertainment and pure entertainment), as well as the increase in entertainment content and pure entertainment compared in franchises for 6 to 12 year olds, the growth of educational and edutainment stories versus the decline in entertainment and pure entertainment in preschool transmedia brands. e conclusions show the overprotection and parental control inuential in the child franchise and the producer’s vision of the traditional teaching model.Keywords:Brand; transmedia; producer; children; education.teoría fundamentada. Análisis de las dos franquicias a partir de entre-vistas no estructuradas y semiestructuradas, documentos y observación participante; instrumentos validados por triangulación. Finalmente, se utiliza la codicación teórica y se categorizan en familias los datos re-cabados a partir del programa Atlas.ti. Los resultados establecen cuatro tipos de marcas infantiles transmedia (educativa, eduentretenimiento, entretenimiento y puro entretenimiento), además del incremento del contenido de entretenimiento y puro entretenimiento frente a una dis-minución del contenido educativo en las franquicias de 6 a 12 años, el crecimiento de historias educativas y de eduentretenimiento frente a la disminución de entretenimiento y puro entretenimiento en marcas transmedia preescolares. Las conclusiones exponen la sobreprotección y el control parental inuyentes en la franquicia infantil y la visión del modelo de enseñanza tradicional por parte del productor.Palabras clave:Marca; transmedia; productor; infantil; educacion.
doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | July-December of 2022Rosalía Urbano and Ignacio AguadedISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978213for Superman or Batman, videogames as seen in Halo, the doll for Barbie or Transformers and the book for Harry Potter (Scolari, 2013). Recently, national and international production companies have been betting on the sequel and remake of familiar stories, changes to famous narratives, and comic book publishers are further developing characters, aesthetics, and narrative; this trend renews and deepens the franchise experience (Buldakova & Shishkin,2010). Transmedia storytelling helps fans actively modify original content and ramp up stories (mostly ctional plots), which is called “collaborative intervention” (Almagro,2020). anks to their interaction with each narrative’s elements, fans propose ideas and this world is expanded by fans themselves (Ruíz & García-Reyes, 2022). Fan activism impacts the creation of the main characters and the plot (De la Fuente, Garzia & Estables, 2022). Sound, aesthetics, and characters accompany the story and atmosphere, and spark consumer interest (Sánchez-Gonzales & Benítez-Gutiérrez, 2021).e critical element in the transmedia strategy is the main story or tentpole (Jenkins, 2010). e transmedia brands need their main narrative to be easily recognised through plots in the text that give rise to a universe, a temporal, spatial, and character location, expanding in dierent media through the coherence between the stories (Roig, 2008).Pratten (2015) proposes that the rst phase of the transmedia work process begins with a denition of the project, followed by the development phase, design, nalised production with possible testing, bringing the project together for delivery and sale. e creation of the children’s transmedia brand combines the consumer’s experience and problem-solving. us, professionals from multiple elds share a working area. ere is a correlation between the specialists’ number of interactions in dierent media due to their diverse skills and ways of thinking and the quality of transmedia experiences (Norton & Kovacs, 2017: 18-19). A lack of specic business models for this speciality has been found, which aects the brand’s success. In recent years, production companies have outsourced complex work in the creation process, except for the start of production, because it is necessary to think it through (Norton & Kovacs, 2017). Transparency in the return on investment and the commitment to experiences are needed for the market to improve and projects to advance; the concession on the rights to use each product’s intellectual property is essential (Norton & Kovacs, 2017). Just as Norton and Kovacs reveal the transmedia’s business model’s limitations, Freeman (2014) alludes to production model restrictions and their extensive development thanks to technological innovation in recent years and upcoming transformations in the industry. Transmedia is the present and future of media production, which incorporates multiple stories that can involve the audience. Moreover, there is a co-creative model between production companies, producers, external companies, departments, artists, and fans, as well as a creative narrative co-creation, problem-solving, design, and R&D; this co-creative model leads to savings in production costs, time, innovation and the transmedia franchise’s eciency (Urbano, Aguaded & Bernal-Bravo, 2018). Dierent brands appear in other media and the Internet; this mass media’s evolution has impacted the population’s consumption as they create new formats and transmedial, cultural, and transgenic narratives. e media use dierent avenues for various stories; novels have adapted to other media in terms of their form, materials, content, technological devices, participation, and interactivity (Weigel-Heller, 2018). e media, in turn, introduces their platforms and narratives into the classroom. Mobiles with Snapchat, Instagram, or WhatsApp are used in everyday school work, giving way to an ‘emerging cultural practice’ (Rummler, Grabensteiner &
214 | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | July-December of 2022Positioning of children’s transmedia franchises. Cleo & Cuquín and Piny case studiesISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónSchneider-Stingelin, 2020: 108). Fans expect a great deal of interaction with the platform from non-linear formats, fostering the augmented and virtual reality industry, articial intelligence, and the Internet (Cinque & Jordan, 2018).e transmedia producer proposes a comprehensive entertainment experience, entertaining and enriching for the audience, based on the convergence between old and new media and the producer and the audience (Jenkins, 2008). All the franchise agents are responsible for connecting the old and new media with the existing ones’ impetus and the necessary creative co-creation, production, and dissemination (Carrión, 2012). e transmedia producer must become a storytelling specialist and have extensive knowledge of the sector to drive these narratives. In this case, it is necessary to set out a dissemination strategy in various media and to maintain the storyteller’s importance; the transmedia producer needs to follow up on all the brand’s documents and information and must also be able to lead the way for the creatives who do each work (Gómez, 2010). e producer must be consistent with their creations and their impact on children. e creator must protect the child and parents, teachers, and legislators; the lack of control over screens can harm children’s health, leading to obesity, emotional and behavioural alterations, and acting out with their peers (Ortega-Mohedano & Pinto-Hernández, 2021).2. Methode research sample comprises 60 agents linked to Piny and Cleo & Cuquín during the creation of each ctional brand. ey leave the company once their mission in the franchises is fullled. Only the key informants, who are hired on a permanent basis, stay on until the end of the journey. Key informants or key creators are the executive producers who make up the primary samples and form part of the key decision-makers (Stake, 2010). ey are anonymous members and are listed under the following: executive director or CEO (E₁), communication and marketing director (E₂), sales director (E₃), development director (E₄), Cleo & Cuquín series director (E₅), production managers at Cleo & Cuquín (E₆ and E₉), R&D technology manager(E₇), business manager (E₈), creative development department and script coordinator (E₁₁), production manager at Piny (E₁₂), scriptwriter at Cleo & Cuquín development department (E₁₃), 3D animators of Cleo & Cuquín (E₁₀ y E₁₄) and brand assistant (E₁₅).Representative brands in the sector are chosen for the case studies, two transmedia ctional animation entertainment franchises Cleo & Cuquín, also called Familia Telerín, targeted at preschoolers aged 4 to 5, and Piny, Institute of New York, an animation production for girls between 6 and 8 years old. Works from the Spanish company Ánima Kitchent Media S.L were included, a company based in the Community of Madrid, specialised in children’s animation and entertainment brands. is company was selected due to its extensive experience in the sector, interest and creators’ career, the national and international brands’ trajectory, access to the eld of study, exhaustiveness of the interviews and documents provided, and the previous productions’ success data. e franchises have been established in transmedia since their creation.e research aims to analyse the transmedia brands and the producer of Piny and Cleo & Cuquín’s pedagogical vision. A qualitative methodology with an interpretative research approach is used for this purpose. Stake’s (2010) instrumental case study was followed within the qualitative methods. e grounded theory approach is implemented to deepen the study of the producer’s perspective on transmedia children’s brands. It is the interpretation of symbolic interaction (Bryant, 2002).
doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | July-December of 2022Rosalía Urbano and Ignacio AguadedISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978215e research instruments used are observation, document analysis, and interviews. e rst research instrument used is observation, namely participant observation during visits to the company. ese visits make up 100 face-to-face hours and 25 and a half hours of recordings containing crucial ideas from informal and formal discussions, gestures, procedures, and the production company’s daily activity. A tape recorder was used to record formal conversations, and they were photographed to back the observation. erefore, quality data collection and interpretation are established for the highest possible objectivity (Dewalt and Dewalt, 2002). According to Flick (2012) and based on Spradley (1980), the observation of the rst visit is called “descriptive”; the researcher adapts to the producers’ agenda, the rst documents, interviews, and observations are obtained, and key daily meetings are attended. e second observation carried out is called “localised”; at this point, the focus is exclusively on new situations that respond to the study problem. e last participant observation carried out is the so-called “selective” one, in which the previously coded data is validated and cross-checked. Interviews were also used as a complementary research technique to participant observation. On the rst visit, interviews were exploratory or diagnostic, unstructured or open-ended to obtain as much information and sincerity from the sample as possible; these are followed by follow-up, developmental and nal interviews or semi-structured interviews on the second and third visits. e interviewer’s and creator’s time is not limited; it varies according to each interviewee’s availability, style, and expression. e interviews were transcribed using the Dragon: Naturally Speaking 12.0 software. A le is entered for each agent, which includes age, gender, profession, studies, and profession, among others, to support the transcription. us, the context and circumstances of each interview were set out (Flick, 1996). We followed the guide recommended by Sánchez-Gómez and Revuelta-Dominguez (2005); for these transcriptions, agents were determined in a standardised way, blank lines were included, and there were no formatting codes. Spelling was revised before analysis, and a copy of the data was saved. Two groups of codings are set up, on the one hand, the coding of the critical sample and, on the other hand, inuential players. e third tool is the analysis of documents requested by the researcher and provided by the company. is is composed of 344 digital published and unpublished documents. ese documents include the records during the production of the transmedia brands, bible, style guide, sales strategies, audiovisual les, applications, published news, and product tests gathered by the researcher that reinforce the other tools. ese tools are validated through the triangulation of data and methods. Following Bisquerra-Alzina (2004), we identied three types of data triangulation in this study: temporal data triangulation on dierent dates, spatial data triangulation since it involves digital or physical documents on the applications, web page, news, the production company itself, or social networks, and personal data triangulation because there are many agents in the sample. e interviewee veries the previous interview transcripts for reliability. Triangulation is also based on the methods of participant observation, document analysis, and interviews.e research data collection ends once “theoretical saturation” has begun (Trinidad, Carrero & Soriano, 2006: 24). e data is coded and categorised using the qualitative analysis programme Atlas.ti7; it is backed up by Glaser and Strauss’ theoretical coding approach (1967) and its development in 1978 and 1987 and Strauss and Corbin’s proposal (1990). is approach starts with open coding, in which text is broken down and in vivo codes are attributed to each interviewee, which includes the categorisation of the set of codes and memos; this is followed by axial coding, in which the most named categories are selected based on the element of study and interaction between them. Finally, selective coding occurs when the data are interpreted, and the main category and subcategories are conceived, giving rise to grounded theory. ese steps are followed
216 | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | July-December of 2022Positioning of children’s transmedia franchises. Cleo & Cuquín and Piny case studiesISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónusing Atlas.ti7 and data coding, categorisation into families, and networking of categories in a ow chart or concept map to extract results according to the objectives. e main category within selective coding is “children’s transmedia brand,” 139 subcategories emerge dierentiated into 1,098 codes and 55 groups of major categories or families of codes, including development, communication, coproduction, education, pedagogical advisor, funding, decisions, or human resources. e categories of codes, and thus the combining of families, are created according to the number of repetitions of the various codes in the observations, interviews, and case study documents. e primary information is described; thus, a formal theory is established based on substantive theory. e documents entered into Atlas.ti are called “P.D.,” i.e., primary document; this primary document accompanies each code. It is given the letter “P” and the corresponding document number (P345), the location of the paragraph, and the number of the sample agent or absence of the sample agent in the case of a non-authored document (P30, 22-67, E3).3. ResultsBased on Trinidad, Carrero & Soriano (2006), the results revealed a shared perspective on the innovation measures determined by the company. e results are linked to the primary document, the location of the paragraph in Atlas.ti, and the agent number. e most frequently cited codes of the families in the network are identied to analyze transmedia brand models, i.e., four types of children’s media brands. e educational transmedia brand (educative), edutainment transmedia brand (edutainment), entertainment transmedia brand (entertainment), and pure entertainment transmedia brand (pure entertainment).3.1. Educational children’s transmedia brand (educative)It is necessary to analyse each type of children’s transmedia franchise in more detail. e results show that the educational content is not commercially viable; according to the producer, the educational transmedia brand is tedious, repetitive, and incorporates curricular content, which is why this agent is not very committed to its creation (P42, 101-121, E8), (P50, 207, E5). e concept of school is also considered boring; it is dened as a space for learning curricular content only (P35, 094). However, the amount of fun children have depends on the type of activities the teacher teaches in the classroom (P36, 735-741, E1). An educational transmedia brand’s production viability is supported by 87% of the data collected; commercial viability decreases to 13%, a type of creation not recommended or carried out by producers, and few products are purchased for children’s television if they are not specialised in this type of content. Transmedia children’s branding can include educational products or activities via the Internet and through a computer, mobile, or tablet (P49, 232-253, E4).e legal parent of the children’s audience has become the prescriber of the series since they allow the preschoolers to consume content with fundamental and accessible values; they want the content to be thoughtful (P41, 198-207, E7). e indirect adult consumer, who represents the direct consumer, is overprotective. Consequently, they aect the production of “soft” content as they want it to have a minimum psychological and emotional impact on the child. e producer calls this ‘at content’ (P37, 168-175, E2). Animation on platforms is adapting to society’s new types of parents, who are demanding in terms of the unhelpful situations depicted in children’s stories (P37, 168-175, E2). Content must not be made “soft” and “white” as
doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | July-December of 2022Rosalía Urbano and Ignacio AguadedISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978217this would detract from emotions evoked in their audience: idealised, perfect children who live in a bubble like the U.S. majors show in their children’s franchises.In contrast, Cleo & Cuquín show real, active children, who get angry, throw tantrums, or cry, among others. Child consumers admire natural responses, as they can relate to the character and aspire to be like them; they are fascinated by an older individual’s actions (P50, 132-141, E5). e Piny brand’s narrative is more dramatic, incorporates more complex plots for an older target audience, and is a soap opera. Piny’s new style diers from the “white” and “soft” format, making television channels reluctant to buy it. e brand has lost some credibility, and sales of Piny have been complicated and slow (P47, 103-113, E1).Teachers often use YouTube videos, and producers are aware of this, so they try to generate more educational content on the platform. However, there are few of these types of videos on YouTube. Due to specialists’ guidance in that discipline, these audiovisual educational videos have a fun pedagogical basis (P48, 118, E2). Educational content boosts and generates knowledge and information acquisition and allows for personal development as children learn values. (P49, 224-226, E4). Educational narratives foster children’s development. e franchise provides techniques, encourages exploration, and gives children tools for the experiences they will encounter in their daily lives; in particular, this is achieved by viewing the characters’ conict resolution in the series (P53, 253 E13). erefore, the children’s transmedia franchise must be entertaining; the child should be able to interact with the brand as a participant and be a protagonist in situations with dierent content. e children’s transmedia brand producer creates narratives through which the child can learn by playing; adults distinguish between learning or only playing, but the two are always connected for a child. Fun is not associated with acquiring knowledge when the child goes to school. (P53, 436-464, E13).Musicology is used as a strategy to grab the child target audience’s attention in Cleo & Cuquín, which features in the episodes and educational videos. Music makes the child more condent and motivated and helps the legal guardian to recognise the brand so that they will allow it to be consumed more, leading to more signicant prots for the franchise (P51, 136-140, E7). Cleo & Cuquín is committed to teaching values. Primary children’s curricular content is incorporated to adapt it to the target children’s needs and their development, which is based on psychological and pedagogical advice provided to the company by the external educational advisor for each transmedia story, especially the cartoon (P51, 136-140, E7). ey aim to create a specic project in the future, a new narrative in the framework that incorporates educational cards and games on dierent multi-platforms for educational centres based around educational videos on YouTube for Cleo & Cuquín (P49, 232-253, E4). 3.2. Children’s edutainment transmedia branding (edutainment)e results in the second family of codes, children’s edutainment transmedia branding, show the present and future model for the preschool transmedia branding industry. e concept of edutainment is interpreted as a connection between animated stories. ese educational and entertaining narratives incorporate a moral to the story: universal values are embedded in as many cultures as possible (P29, 218-232, E3). For the producer, the edutainment formula is the following edutainment=entertainment + fun education. For this agent, it is fundamental that children have a good time and learn without being aware they are doing so (P29, 233, E3). In recent decades, the number of edutainment franchises has increased
218 | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | July-December of 2022Positioning of children’s transmedia franchises. Cleo & Cuquín and Piny case studiesISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónthanks to cultural maturing and the population’s social evolution (P47, 426-435, E1). Producers focus on what is closest to the child’s understanding and experiences when creating edutainment stories (P43, 171-188, E9). Cleo & Cuquín’s videoclips are classied as edutainment. e producer does not intend to educate through their creations despite working with values in their products. Children benet from consuming stories based on cultural values. Both Cleo & Cuquín, and Piny incorporate values, fun, and a happy ending into their stories; the character’s dierent emotional phases in everyday life are funny (P30, 005-009, E4). At market fairs, the sale of edutainment and entertainment brands is carried out according to the broadcasters’ demand for content aimed at a specic target; producers create new brands for the ages established by the market (broadcasters) until the market is saturated and there is a new target trend. erefore, the producer needs to know about the international markets, read specialised magazines, and be aware of the new franchises in the same eld. Edutainment brands have greater access to public or traditional television channels, while purely educational franchises’ have lower sales, are more complex, and are of interest to Nordic countries and the British Broadcasting Corporation (P38, 442-461, E3). 3.3. Transmedia entertainment branding (entertainment)Entertainment is the third family of codes, and it lacks curricular content and teaching, although it can incorporate values at the creator’s discretion. Subtle values feature in children’s aspirational and entertainment stories through clear, understandable, motivating, ingenious, and appealing narratives and no parent or dense curricular aspect (P47, 070, E1). It also incorporates non-repetitive morals and is targeted at an older, more teenage segment (P31, 056-067, E1). Entertainment content is accompanied by dierent platforms to be able to tell the story and feed it back into all the possible channels (P43, 171, E9). e use of multi-screens and multi-platforms has changed children’s consumption of new entertainment brands; and is a new model (P36, 554, E1). Content types do not aect the company’s R&D (P31, 056-067, E1). e results reveal no mathematical formula for successfully creating a transmedia brand. Six essential requirements contribute to the success of a transmedia children’s brand, highly qualied professionals such as producers, script-writers, animators, etc., their experience in the sector, and the in-depth knowledge of the eld of work, as well as social changes, i.e., changes in the consumer’s cultural tastes over time and nally, in the sixth position is chance, i.e., the consumer’s reaction to all of the above in the same franchise, a factor that also needs to be considered (P47, 143-154, E1).Piny is categorised as an entertainment brand (P49, 232-253, E4). Piny y Cleo & Cuquín integrate “responsible entertainment,” especially compared to the sample from previous years. Franchises are currently more delicate and sensitive, toned down, and show content that is appropriate for the target consumer’s age (P47, 106, E1). During international trade fairs, the best-selling and, therefore, most impactful content is entertainment brands’; the more entertainment content increases, the more sales there are (P38, 442-461, E3).3.4. Pure entertainment transmedia brand (pure entertainment)Pure entertainment is the fourth family of codes. ere are few dissimilarities between the type of entertainment content and pure entertainment; both incorporate very subtle values not limited to religion or civilisations, i.e., found in all cultures (P29,
doxa.comunicación | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | July-December of 2022Rosalía Urbano and Ignacio AguadedISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978219233, E3). e story’s importance lies in the ability to entertain and fascinate the child: the aim of entertainment is not to teach or care for the child; it solely focuses on generating fun through playing games in leisure time; for the producer, the child learns at school and home. However, the transmedia children’s brand is designed for entertainment (P47, 064, E1). 4. Discussion and conclusionsFour types of transmedia brand models are established, rstly, the educational brand (educative), this type of franchise incorporates tedious and repetitive curricular content for the producer; secondly, the edutainment brand (edutainment), which is characterised by fun learning and balanced curricular content, it is, therefore, more appealing and pleasant for the producer, thirdly is the entertainment franchise, which is not paedagogical, but can incorporate underlying values, nally, in fourth place is the pure entertainment brand, aimed exclusively at leisure, it intends to amuse, distract and create enjoyable content for its audience, it also can incorporate disguised values. Concepts that are dicult to dene so as not to interfere with the company’s R&D. Educational Content and edutainment in children’s preschool transmedia franchises from 0 to 5 years old are increasing, in contrast to the decline in content for the 6 to 12-year-old target, which is experiencing a growth in the number of entertainment and pure entertainment production and a reduction in educational or edutainment content. Parental control and overprotection aect franchises, contributing to the creation of soft and at content; also, parents have become prescribers of transmedia children’s franchise content. e educational brand supports the child’s individual development, encourages exploration through play, promotes participation with the user, and makes the consumer the brand’s focus. Neither producers of children’s content nor television channels are committed to educational transmedia brands because they are not commercially viable. erefore, the producer’s traditional view of the concept of education is veried. ere has been an increase in the use of YouTube educational videos for classroom learning; production companies are determined to increase the creation of short videos; for this purpose, external psychologists/pschyopedagogues, also known as educational advisors, are hired by the company. Brand values do not aect the return on investment. Still, they pressure companies to create an easy-to-understand narrative appropriate for the target audience and attempt to maintain the brand’s interest among indirect and direct consumers (parents and children).e edutainment brand is valued and bought by traditional television channels. e producer strategically chooses an untapped target with a content style dierent from the rest of the producers to smooth line the sale of transmedia children’s brands. e aim is not to saturate the market and follow the television channel’s demands. Edutainment means making the entertainment content consistent with morals, universal cultural values, and so-called fun learning with a moral at the end of the story and a happy ending (entertainment + fun education= edutainment). e entertainment franchise is children’s most consumed content from 6 years old onwards. e entertainment brand’s narrative incorporates subtle and unrepetitive values—the entertainment brand’s creator advocates so-called responsible entertainment. Multiplatforms have transformed the way entertainment brands are consumed. Today’s tween-targeted franchises incorporate values in the form of reality and low-quality content. Fun and intelligence are essential for creating a successful brand. A solid script, quality product features, transmedia strategy specialists and the children’s animation sector, broad experience in the eld, constant social changes that aect consumers’ tastes, and the degree of change in the combination
220 | nº 35, pp. 211-223 | July-December of 2022Positioning of children’s transmedia franchises. Cleo & Cuquín and Piny case studiesISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978doxa.comunicaciónof all of these factors are the main factors that determine the brand’s success. Once the brand has become successful, the rest of the franchises imitate this type of content, the animation model, platforms, and the use of each one, or the target audience for years to come, among others. It is found in the research discussion that the co-creation revealed by Norton and Kovacs (2017) in which an organised work team creates a narrative, solves problems through technology, and constructs a plan for the user experience. Likewise, following Buldakova & Shishkin (2020), the production company Ánima Kitchent follows the trend and nds new narratives using the characters from La Familia Telerín, known in Spain since the 60s; therefore, television channels are more condent about purchasing tried and tested transmedia products, merchandising companies, and the family audience rather than acquiring a new, unfamiliar brand. e producer has observed that the child learns behaviour reected in the animation by consuming and viewing the series, as Cahill & Bigheart’s (2016) theory showed, revealing the solution to a problem or situation thanks to the transmedia franchise’s materials. Among the research limits is the lack of transmedia children’s brands from when the brand is established. It is not easy to correctly structure the timing of the franchises’ creation with the timeline set out for this research. It was challenging to access the eld and sample, a mysterious area, and producers had little time and fast-paced work routines. ere is a barrier to acquiring the appropriate materials and research analysis organization due to the complex and diverse information found during the transmedia children’s franchise creation. It is a relatively new research topic, so nding scientic contributions focused on the producer’s perspective is dicult. Also, the timing of the research and the creation of the analysed brands are dicult to coordinate; both have constantly been changing over the last 10 or 15 years, making it dicult to nalise the research. Future research should focus on the development and trend towards the use of transmedia in children’s animation brands, new models of exploitation through tax incentives, and the convergence between platforms and narratives. We must delve into the target audience’s interaction with the narrative and the development of scenarios and characters, and an educational brand should be explored in greater depth. e producer needs to gain more knowledge regarding the concept of education with the help of a coach who can help reformulate their fears and guide them towards creating educational content. Finally, it is necessary to continue the research by adding the audience’s perspective to the topics discussed and to identify whether the conclusions are analogous in all transmedia children’s productions and whether this occurs in creating non-transmedia brands. 5. Acknowledgmentsis article has been translated by Sophie Phillips.
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