Why Brambly Hedge is evergreen: Rockpool’s Vickie O’Malley on licensing the classic book series

We’re speaking at BLE, Vickie – and you’re so beautifully softly spoken that I’m worried I won’t record a word of this! Ha!
Ha! That might be better, Deej – I don’t half yak on!

Well, a bloody good yak is what we want! Remind me how Rockpool got started… Whom did you first represent?
I started Rockpool with the TV show Gogglebox. I’d won the rights while I was at CPLG but, when I decided to leave, CPLG didn’t want to move forward with it – and Studio Lambert wanted to work with me, so that’s how I got going!

Hot on the heels of that came another opportunity… My friend Tim Juckes had a connection with the family of Jill Barklem, the writer and illustrator of the Brambly Hedge book series. Jill wrote eight Brambly Hedge books in total, with the first four being Spring Story, Summer Story, Autumn Story and Winter Story.

Oh, that’s very appropriate, isn’t it? I’ll put a picture of Brambly Hedge in here so people can see these books. They’re beautiful, comforting stories about woodland creatures…
Yes, and everything about them is delicious; full of exquisite detail. That’s one of the reasons they’ve stood the test of time, I think… If you’re a family or a child looking at the books, you can pore over them for hours and you’re always going to see new things. So yes… Brambly Hedge grew into an international program, with partners from Royal Doulton to Ravensburger. They had incredible ranges, which were very popular here and all over the world… Do you know of the Hankyu department store in Japan?

Yes – famous for its Christmas windows, is it not?
That’s exactly what I was going to say! I learned that Brambly Hedge was the Christmas window theme for Hankyu for five years running! So there was a very robust licensing programme all over the world but, very sadly, Jill began to lose her sight. The programme began to lose momentum, and even though the book publishing – with HarperCollins – has never gone out of print, everything else faded away over time, apart from perhaps the the beautiful stop-motion animations which you could find on corners of Youtube.

Oh? I don’t know about those…
Well, they were made in the late 90s by McKinnon & Saunders and had incredible production values & voice cast: Robert Lindsay, Neil Morrissey, Jim Broadbent, June Whitfield… Anyway, in late 2014, I was introduced to Jill’s daughter, Lizzie. She and her brother Pete were aware they had something very beautiful and precious and that they shouldn’t let it fade away. Initially, we did a little consultancy, decided on a plan and I came on board as their agent in 2015. Over the last ten years, we’ve been building the brand back and now, in this 45th anniversary year, we find ourselves at a wonderful tipping point.

Lovely! What kind of things are happening?
The publishing programme has exploded! We’ve worked hard with HarperCollins to redesign the look of the books and build the programme. Over the last couple of years, we’ve added new formats including colouring and puzzle books and now board books… They’re coming next year. There are now 20 international translations. We’re back in the US and Japan with a full publishing programme. We’ve launched in in China for the first time! The results are powerful: year on year sales are soaring – in the UK by 33% and, internationally, by just shy of 100%!

Pete has now joined the business full-time and is doing a wonderful job building our social media. Over the last couple of years, he’s grown Instagram to a very engaged 113K followers, having started from very modest numbers. Here in the UK, we’ve now got a small but perfectly formed licensing programme led by Museums & Galleries, who started by licensing just four images for cards but now have a range of over 30 Brambly Hedge SKUs!

Wow! And for context, what kind of product would that be?
The heartland was always greetings cards but we’ve been busy expanding into gifting. One best-seller for us every year is the Brambly Hedge calendar. We also have gifts, stationery, water bottles, kitchen textiles… It’s a very significant range of product. Waterstones is very supportive: sometimes M&G create exclusive product for them, or they take a time-exclusive before new products go to full market. Additionally, we do well with independent retailers and garden centres. We’ve also got a flurry of new partnerships, such as our deal with David & Charles for craft books.

Oh! I just interviewed Ame Verso from David & Charles. People can read that here. What are they doing?
David & Charles is commissioning Emillie Ferris, a wonderful embroidery artist, to recreate Jill’s work for embroidery and cross stitch. We’re also excited about everything that’s happening in the live-event space. We’ve established Brambly Hedge trails in Epping Forest – which is appropriate, because that was the inspiration for the setting of Brambly Hedge – and at Abbotsbury Swannery…

We’re thrilled to be working with the National Trust for the first time this year. This Christmas, Petworth House will be using Brambly Hedge as the theme of their Christmas experience. We’ve seen tasters of the creative, and it’s going to be absolutely magical. Next year, we’re working with National Trust Hidcote for a year-round trail in their wonderful gardens. family which will change with the seasons.

Gracious me, Vickie! You have been busy…
We really have! In addition to our puzzle deals – with Cobble Hill in North America, Cheatwell in the UK and Vox in China – we have a tableware collection from Gil Trading in Korea, and new deals with Stickerscape for their beautiful home décor. Also, fascinatingly, we have a collaboration for bone China with Stoke on Trent’s prestigious family tableware company, Roy Kirkham!

Fascinatingly? I would’ve thought bone China was perfect for the brand…
Oh, no – you’re right! The fascinating thing is that Ian Kirkham came to us following enquiries from China for a Brambly Hedge range. Wonderfully, it seems there is strong demand in China for china made in Britain. It seems that, combined with a classic British heritage brand, featuring adorable mice is a winning combination for the Chinese market.

Amazing. You mentioned earlier one of the reasons you think the brand endures. What are some of the others?
A few things stand out. There’s generational timing. The books were first released in the 80s, so the children that first had the stories read to them, are now parents of Brambly-Hedge-aged children, and their parents are now grandparents of Brambly-Hedge-aged children! Generationally, we’ve hit a beautiful sweet spot. Then – awful as it was – lockdown had some influence, as does the sense of unrest in the world.

Oh?
The yearning that so many of us now have for a more mindful, wellness-based lifestyle. Brambly Hedge is so grounded in the themes of nature, awareness of your surroundings, the changing of the seasons, flora and fauna, families and togetherness… In the last few years, these things have become even more important to those of us who felt starved of it. It’s an established trend, but during lockdown in particular, families really started reaching out for brands which feel traditional and wholesome.

One final thing that I touched on before is intrinsic with the brand… We all remember that feeling of being a child, looking at pictures you love and losing yourself in them. You can do that as a child, can’t you? Just stare at your favourite picture book, knowing an illustration up, down, left and right… With Brambly Hedge, you can always look at the illustrations and see something you never saw before. Even Lizzie and Pete say they still do that to this day! Isn’t that amazing?

It is! And yet the pictures aren’t busy in an overwhelming way…
No! And if you do look at the artwork, Deej, you might also appreciate how Jill’s illustrations changed over the years. From the beginning of the first story to the end of the very last stories, you can see how the artistic style evolved. You don’t necessarily see the transition as you go through the books in order because it’s quite subtle… But you can see how she evolved as an artist and really honed her craft.

We need to start wrapping things up, Vickie, but let me ask you: are you still looking for new Brambly Hedge partners?
Oh, yes. We’re still building. People are very hungry for these products because they’re a loyal, passionate audience and we’re doing things that are relevant. And on that: Lupus Films has optioned Brambly Hedge for a new animation. We’re so excited at the prospect of developing something with such a prestigious partner… Lupus Films is the production company behind the critically acclaimed adaptations of The Tiger who Came to Tea and The Snowman and the Snowdog! It’s been in the pipeline for some time, but now it’s really happening.

And how far along is that?
Good question! The script is in development and we’ve seen some of the character design… It’s excellent! Absolutely beautiful. We’re so thrilled. It’s really amazing to see what’s possible with the CG technology now, I can’t tell you. It’s magical.

Fantastic! Well, thank you for sharing that, Vickie. I hope you’ll come back again and tell us more!