Straandlooper Blog

Hokey Fyffe! Lifeboat Luke and Straandlooper are planning on turning the month of September into Spot-ember, by giving away free Lifeboat Luke ‘Spotisode’ iPhone games every day, culminating in the launch of 4 new Spotisodes at the end of the month.

Lifeboat Luke, the animated kids TV series for 4-7 year olds and their salty grandparents, has been making waves on the iTunes App store throughout 2010 with the release of interactive games for the iPhone and iPod Touch called ‘Spotisodes’. To date Straandlooper has released 26 of the fun and exciting games, which not only feature a 5 minute episode of the search and rescue adventure show but also an interactive ‘spotting’ game which allows the young audience to play along with Lifeboat Luke and give themselves a chance to win exclusive colouring pages at www.lifeboatluke.tv/spotisode

The locally produced series, set in the mad and magical Irish seaside town of Donaghadoo, is planning the free giveaway to celebrate the centenary year of the Lifeboat in the real life town of Donaghadee in Northern Ireland, who have been saving lives at sea off the County Down coast for a hundred years.

Each Spotisode follows the adventures of Lifeboat Luke and his crew as they rescue the improbable, the reckless and the irresponsible, introducing the young audience to important sea and water safety issues. Made in association with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the charity that saves lives at sea in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, a percentage of all profits go towards helping the volunteer crews of the RNLI.

The first Spotisode ‘Spotisode1 : Rubberduckadoo’ will be available for free download from iTunes on Wednesday September 1st, with a new Spotisode being made available every day throughout the month, until the launch of brand new Spotisodes from the 26th to the 30th September. Keep your eye on the Straandlooper Blog for more information. Or find Lifeboat Luke on Twitter and Facebook to make sure you don’t miss out on the free Spot-ember fun!

Lifeboat Luke has now sold to over 25 broadcast territories around the world, and has launched a DVD ‘Donaghadoodle-One’ featuring the first 13 episodes of the series and well as a read-along kids book of the first ever episode ‘Rubberduckadoo’. You can buy these goodies and find out more about Lifeboat Luke at his interactive website – www.lifeboatluke.tv – which is packed full of fun games and activities.

But be sure to check out iTunes on the 1st September to get your free copy of Luke Spotisode1 : Rubberduckadoo and then check back on the blog every day for details of the latest free Spotisode. Happy Spotting!

Straandlooper Animation are in Cannes this week for the international content market MIPTV.

Straandlooper Animation are part of the UK Indies Pavilion at MIPTV  again and this time we are coming armed with the Hector: Fat Arse of the  Law ‘Badge of Carnage’ game so that we can show it off and be all smug  about how great it is.

So if you fancy an exclusive preview of the Hector point and click adventure game for the iPhone and iPod Touch can and visit us and you can have a sneek peek and maybe even share an overpriced coffee with Richard Morss, the voice of Hector, and Lambert, and Meeks, and Filthy Rich and the Terrorist and….well you get the idea.

You can also have a look at some of Straandlooper’s other properties such as the kids animated series ‘Lifeboat Luke‘ and the series of animated poems ‘Small Tragedies‘. Keep watching the blog for news about how we got on at MIPTV.

Lifeboat Luke’s latest Spotisode features one of the most exciting ever episodes of this fun search and rescue animated adventure series for 4-7 year olds and their salty grandparents. Luke Spotisode13: Boombuskermonkeyjack features, unsurprisingly, a monkey, a couple of busking loons, some antique life saving equipment and a collection of rather interesting bananas. What do all of these things have to do with saving lives at sea – well you will just have to buy a copy to find out!

To find out more about Spotisodes you can go to Lifeboat Luke’s exciting website – www.lifeboatluke.tv – click on the link to the spotisodes in the Shop. On the website you can also plays lots of Lifeboat Luke games and activities and find out about the life saving work of the RNLI, the charity that save lives at sea. The RNLI and Lifeboat Luke have joined forces to help teach children the importance of staying safe at sea, and a percentage of proceeds from the sales of Luke books, DVDs and iApps will go towards helping the volunteer crews of the RNLI.

Woofaloofaboing is the latest Lifeboat Luke spotisode and fans of the Northern Irish TV Show ‘Good Dog, Bad Dog’ might recognise someone from the show.

The likeness of the dog in Woofaloofaboing to Roxy Bryans, star of the Northern Irish TV dog training show, is no coincidence. Tim Bryans, line producer of the series, wrote the episode and put forward his delinquent pooch as the model to the show’s designer and assistant director Dean Burke. And the rest is history. Yes, Roxy Bryans has made the leap from reality TV star to the star of an animated TV series. Not bad for a dog that likes to roll in other dog’s faeces!

Lifeboat Luke is a fun and exciting search and rescue adventure series for 4-7 year olds based in the mad magical seaside town of Donaghadoo. It has been made in association with the RNLI with a percentage of all proceeds from the show going towards the charity that helps save lives at sea. Straandlooper animation have taken the 52 part series and repurposed every episode as an iApp with an interactive game. The Apps are perfect for parents who are looking to keep young hands and minds busy as kids can enjoy watching an episode of Luke and learn about sea safety or they can play the interactive game and unlock exclusive colouring pages online. And all that for just £1.19!

Straandlooper are launching a new spotisode every week throughout 2010 so don’t forget to check out the App Store every friday to see the latest episode. Next Friday it is Muckerooned. Go to www.lifeboatluke.tv/spotisode to find out more!

Tomorrow, 8th January 2010, sees the launch of the second Lifeboat Luke Spotisode on iTunes – Luke Spotisode2 : Electrachittyboomfizzle. And to mark the launch of the second in the series of 52 iApps that Straandlooper will be launching throughout 2010, we are offering 10 free promotional codes to our blog readers so that you can get your New Year fix of Lifeboat Luke.

The first 10 people to e-mail me at spotisode(at)lifeboatluke(dot)tv will receive a free promotional code which can be redeemed on iTunes for a copy of Luke Spotisode2 : Electrachittyboomfizzle. Good luck and happy spotting!

The crew of Lifeboat Luke would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thanks to everyone who has supported the series by either buying a book or DVD, joining the crew, watching it on TV or online, befriended him on Facebook, or supporting the series in your own special way!

Special thanks must go to the RNLI for their continued support for the series and we are very proud that to date Lifeboat Luke has helped to raise over £34,000 for the charity. Also thanks to Monster Distributes and NI4Kids and our other commercial partners who have helped us raise the profile of the series both locally and internationally.

2010 promises to be even more successful than 2009 for Luke and his crew so keep your eyes and ears open for some exciting Lifeboat Luke news early in the New Year. Until then enjoy the festive period and remember to keep safe while at sea, so the only place you will be seeing a lifeboat is on the TV!

Merry Christmas!

Lifeboat Luke, our fun and exciting search and rescue adventure series for 4-7 year olds, continues to grow its international broadcast platform. Lifeboat Luke’s distributor, Monster Distributes, has scored a raft of global sales across its animation catalogue, which has seen Lifeboat Luke snapped up by Canal Panda Portugal.

The series has already sold internationally to Ireland, Denmark, Slovenia, South Africa and over 25 countries in the Middle East including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. 2010 promises to be another great year for Lifeboat Luke with many more territories already in negotiation. Let’s hope that 2010 is the year that the UK finally sits up and takes notice of Luke and his friends.

In the meantime, you can watch episodes of Lifeboat Luke by buying the DVD ‘Donaghadoodle-One’ which features the first 13 episodes of the series, or you can read Luke’s first ever adventure book ‘Rubberduckadoo’. Both of these are available now on www.lifeboatluke.tv. Great for last minute Christmas presents!

The Lifeboat Luke team welcomed its latest crew member a few weeks ago, hence the rather intermittent online activity recently. Tim and Emma Bryans are very proud to present their son, Beau.

As you can see from the pictures, Beau has already shown an acute interest in the series, even taking it upon himself to read the first ever Lifeboat Luke book ‘Rubberduckadoo’ while he was just kicking back on the sofa waiting for his next feed.

I had to be a bit more involved in the viewing session of the Lifeboat Luke DVD ‘Donaghadoodle-One’, although when I said that he should watch the DVD he took that a bit literally and seemed to be more intersted in the DVD box rather than the fun and exciting search and rescue adventure series that is Lifeboat Luke (nice plug, eh!). Maybe one day Beau will be able to watch his favourite show on the TV in the UK rather than having to watch it on DVD. Let’s hope he is still of a decent age before that happens!

For more information on Lifeboat Luke and to find out where you can buy your copy of the book and DVD visit the website – www.lifeboatluke.tv.

As part of the current Lifeboat Luke activity that we are working on I have been tasked with finding out various fun and interesting facts surrounding the issues that come up in the various episodes of the 52 x 5 minute search and rescue adventure series for 4-7 year olds ‘Lifeboat Luke’. As the series has been made in association with the RNLI, that has meant that I have found out a great deal about the charity over the last few weeks.

For example, did you know that the RNLI was formed in 1824 and was originally called the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck. It changed the Royal National Lifeboat Institution thirty years later and since then has saved more than 150,000 people!

Or that the biggest rescue in RNLI history was in 1907 when they rescued 456 passengers, including 70 babies, from the SS Suevic off the coast of Cornwall in the UK.

I can’t tell you too much more about what these facts are for but rest assured that they are from a very exciting development in the Lifeboat Luke brand. All will be revealed over the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled for more Luke and RNLI factaculars!

Lifeboat Luke has just joined Hector: Fat Arse of the Law on Brand Director, the site that helps bring brands and entertainment together.

Internet production, Video On Demand, User Generated Content is revolutionising how we consume content. Broadcasters are straining against the regulatory burden placed on them by government, government can’t change media legislation fast enough to keep up with the flow of new ideas and opportunities. The one constant is this maelstrom of change and innovation is that brands want to connect with entertainment and vice versa. The future is in brand and entertainment partnerships. There are many parties involved in this revolution, brands, broadcasters, production companies, social networking sites, media agencies, product placement agencies, legal companies, pr agencies…it’s a long list. Brandirector.com has been created to facilitate and nurture those relationships, allowing a free flow of opportunities and partnerships in a totally transparent and accountable environment. (Apologies about the shameless piece of cutting and pasting, we do have a pretty tight schedule at the minute)

So in a bid to help us finance the next round of activity in the Lifeboat Luke life cycle we have placed the property on Brand Director in an effort to try and attract a brand sponsor who we can work with closely to the mutual benefit of both parties. With quite a bit of activity planned for 2010, we are keen to identify a brand who we can work with as soon as possible and capitalise on the momentum that the property has already built up over the past year since its launch. Just a few of the companies that we have identified as potential collaborators are Marine Equipment, Toy Manufacturer, Travel/Adventure Company, Cruise Company, Children’s Magazine, DVD distributor, Book publisher, Active Play, Water Sports, Water Safety, Sports Equipment, but this list is not exhaustive and if you are interested in finding out more about this opportunity then please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Click here to find out more about the Brand opportunity with Lifeboat Luke or click here to visit the Lifeboat Luke website and see what all the fuss is about!