Cloudco Entertainment and WildBrain Studios are bringing together two ’80s mega-brands that have never paired up before. Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake will unite in a 44-minute animated preschool special with the working title The Care Berry Switch.

The companies are co-developing the project, but WildBrain will take the lead on animation production. And both partners will be pitching the concept at MIPCOM next week. 

Brand crossovers have become a natural move for IPs with large fanbases and aspirations to reach even more potential devotees, and Cloudco has been driving this growing trend in the consumer products and gaming markets this year. It partnered with Sanrio in January to launch co-branded products featuring Care Bears and Hello Kitty, and brought the Bears into Toikido’s Piñata Smashlings Roblox game in September.  

But the company is far from alone. Last year, Hasbro and Mattel signed a wide-ranging licensing agreement to co-create new toys and games that bring together brands from both of their portfolios, including a Barbie-branded Monopoly game and a Transformers-themed version of UNO. And in June, Warner Bros. Discovery’s consumer products division brought its Looney Tunes characters into the free-to-play game Stumble Guys. 

Screen crossovers are less common, but when you have two brands based on similar concepts (charming, magical characters) that emerged in the same era—meaning their original fanbases are the same age and had similar experiences growing up with the properties—doing a joint project featuring both of them was very compelling for everyone involved, says Ian Lambur, EVP of content strategy at Cloudco. 

“Bringing these two much-loved and instantly recognizable brands together for the first time was an opportunity too good to miss, and their shared ethos of sweetness and friendship is perfect for crossover adventures,” says Steph Betts, EVP of content creation at WildBrain. 

In The Care Berry Switch, Strawberry and Cheer Bear both wish upon a star for a new adventure, which opens a magical portal between their realms. The fish-out-of-water story that ensues sees characters from both franchises team up to save these two worlds from the villains who want to dominate them. 

Courtesy of WildBrain