Penguin Ventures celebrates 40 years of The Snowman with Barbour, Fenwick and The Royal Mint

This year marks the 40th anniversary of The Snowman. To celebrate, Penguin Ventures have partnered with Barbour, Fenwick's and The Royal Mint to celebrate the much-loved book by Raymond Briggs.

Barbour and The Snowman bring together a combined love of family tradition, spending quality time with loved ones and the joy of sharing memories and making new ones in their new Christmas campaign film. Using real life people to depict the impact that The Snowman has had on one family, like the original film, it focuses on actions rather than words.

Speaking of the campaign, Paul Wilkinson, Global Marketing and Commercial Director, Barbour said 'We are delighted to be partnering with Penguin Ventures to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Snowman. It is a classic and much loved story which has become an established part of family Christmas traditions. In our film, Evie’s enthusiasm and magical imagination really brings this story to life. It captures both the innocence of children and the nostalgia of adults. Everyone wants to believe that ‘Maybe just Maybe’, magic can happen.'

The Barbour x The Snowman Christmas collection will be available to purchase from Harrods, House of Fraser, Fenwick, Barbour.com and selected Barbour stores nationwide from 1st November 2018.

A special limited edition The Snowman pin will be given away with every Barbour purchase in store and online. 

On Friday 2 November the highly-anticipated 2018 Fenwick Newcastle Christmas window display was revealed to be centered around The Snowman.

Under snow falling from the rooftop, huge crowds gathered for the launch of the ‘We're Walking in the Air’ animated display while countless others joined in the celebrations on social media.

As part of the collaboration, Fenwick Newcastle will launch a number of special edition anniversary products this month including a Snowman 40 Year Anniversary bauble, Snowman soft toy, Snowman 40 Year Anniversary hardback book plus many more great gift ideas which will be available in store and online.

'We are thrilled to unveil our magical 2018 window display on this milestone anniversary for The Snowman. Both the book and popular animated film evoke a sense of nostalgia among generations and have become a firm family favourite at this time of year' commented Store Director Carl Milton.

And finally, The Royal Mint announced a UK first full colour silver proof coin featuring The Snowman flying over Brighton pier.

In a nod to the beautiful hand-drawn illustrations of the original book, the silver proof edition of The Snowman coin is the first UK coin to feature a design realised entirely in colour. Putting a new perspective on a classic scene from the book, The Snowman flies over Brighton Pier, with the bright city lights and twinkling stars captured in exquisite detail.

The task of creating a new design for the coin that lived up to the legacy of the source material fell to artist Natasha Ratcliffe. She was helped with this by long-time Raymond Briggs collaborator, Robin Shaw, Assistant Director of The Snowman™ and The Snowdog, the sequel to the original animated adaptation of the book.

Director of Consumer Coin at The Royal Mint, Nicola Howell commented on previous successful partnerships with Penguin Ventures: “We are thrilled to be a part of the 40^th anniversary celebrations of Raymond Briggs’ book The Snowman.

'Over the past few years, the Beatrix Potter and Paddington collections have been incredibly popular with our collectors and we believe this stunning flying scene depicting The Snowman and James captured on a commemorative 50 pence coin will be equally well treasured by children and adults alike.'

The Snowman coins will be available from Monday 5 November 2018, both gold proof and brilliant uncirculated version of the coin are also available.

Thomas Merrington, Creative Director for Penguin Ventures commented on the partnerships: 'We’re thrilled with the level of creative thinking and attention to detail our partners for the Snowman anniversary have shown in their execution of these activations.  We are continually looking at new and innovative ways to bring The Snowman to new audiences and this year has seen the biggest and most ambitious campaign for the brand.  Not only has the 40th anniversary provided brilliant opportunities for our licensees and partners but it will offer a complete showcase of the 360 degree approach that Ventures takes when devising a brand campaign for our classic brands.'