Pet Alien zooms onto the scene with a pre-constructed brand. All images © 2005 Taffy Productions, Llc./Moonscoop/Crest Communication Ltd./Telegael Teoranta. All rights reserved.

“Fresh, new and branded.” This is a line that is being uttered by acquisition and development executives at both NATPE and KidScreen Summit. What in “tar-nation” does this mean? How can something fresh and new be branded? Is Taffy Entertainment’s latest hit, Pet Alien, a brand?

Brand by its very nature is an established production that is consistent in delivering to its audience a quality product that is always the same — like Coke or Pepsi. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Brand is a class of goods identified as a product or a particular firm or producer.”

Can a new show — like Pet Alien — be classified as a “brand” so early in its life?

Taffy Entertainment/Mike Young Prods. has built a reputation of delivering shows that are appealing to their target audiences. Shows like, Jakers!, He-Man and Clifford the Big Red Dog are projects that have set the brand benchmark for the studio. Whether work-for-hire on pre-existing brands, such as He-Man or Bratz, or original productions like Jakers! or Pet Alien, programming executives expect a level of quality from MYP, which translates into viewership.

Andrew Young (top left), Eric Stein (top right), Jeff Muncy (bottom left) and Bill Schultz (bottom right) — the creative team behind Pet Alien.

MYP approaches each production with a brand management mentality. Not dissimilar to a toy company like Mattel, which fiercely protects each toy line by keeping focused on what it believes is the “brand,” Taffy/MYP principals, Mike Young, Liz Young and Bill Schultz do the same for their studio/properties.

“We take care with everything we do for Pet Alien,” said Bill Schultz, one of the three partners in MYP. “It is our commitment to the properties’ creative integrity that gives a focus to our passion and vision. It helps us to see Pet Alien as a brand. We made a show that we like and would watch,” said Schultz.

Pet Alien didn’t just drop onto the Earth and into the laps of MYP. It was the original concept of Jeff Muncy, a creator with a background in concept art and plush characters and pajamas. He came up with the idea of Pet Alien while creating one of his pajama lines. He licensed the plush alien character key chains to Best Ever Co., as a premium item to be sold in mom & pop gift shops and boutiques nationwide. “The key chains sold very well,” said Muncy, “but the sales reps wanted a story about these creatures.” This is when Muncy came up with the Pet Alien story that he self-published as a book to be sold with the plush characters. Then he set up a website to coincide with the publishing of the book and characters.

It was Puzzle Zoo on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, that helped make the plush an even bigger success. Wanting Muncy to do a book signing, the owner of the store offered him the opportunity to design the store window. With a friend, Muncy designed a window display that wowed all that walked by. But it was a Disney executive that called with great interest. Muncy signed with an agent who suggested showing this property to other development executives. To speed up the process, Disney asked MYP to help with the animation. Mike Young, chairman/ceo, had worked with Muncy before and when the deal with Disney was not working out, Mike stepped in.