Metrostar, the licensing and literary agency, set up by ex BBC Worldwide marketer, Claire Potter has been chosen by the Estate of the late Michael Cole to manage the first coordinated licensing campaign for ‘Bod’. The range will start with publishing, stationery and greetings.

‘Bod’ was created by Michael and Joanne Cole as a series of four children’s books published by Methuen in the 1960s and was later developed by them into a popular and iconic animated series for BBC’s ‘Watch with Mother’, voiced by John Le Mesurier. The series comprised 13 episodes and ran from 1975 to 1984 featuring ‘Bod’ and his friends ‘PC Copper’, ‘Frank the Postman’, ‘Aunt Flo’ and ‘Farmer Barleymow’. ‘Bod’ also ran on television in many countries including Australia, Scandinavia and the USA on Nickleodeon’s Pinwheel programme.

More recently, the distinctive ‘Bod’ theme tune has been used in commercials for Kinder and in a chart compilation by Universal. Trunk Records have also released ‘Bod, Words & Music’ on CD. Bod has many fan sites, a You Tube page and has appeared at music festivals in the UK. The original Bod series is currently running on Nick Jr.

Alison and Lo Cole, two of Michael and Joanne’s children, created two new ‘Bod’ books in 2002 and 2003, ‘Bod’s New Leaf’ and ‘Bod, The Meaning of Life’. These books attracted very high levels of media coverage and their contents will form part of the ‘Bod’ style guide currently being developed by Metrostar and Lo Cole.

Claire Potter comments : “We are absolutely thrilled to have been chosen by the Cole family to represent Bod. He has so much to offer today’s complicated, stressful world - he is warm, gentle, thoughtful and uplifting – qualities which we aim to build upon with his licensing campaign. It will be very exciting to watch him grow as a brand.”

Metrostar will showcase ‘Bod’ on their stand (479) at Brand Licensing Europe in October.