Scholastic Kicks off Weeklong Maya & Miguel MAYnia
Maya & Miguel, those beloved Latino twins, are back injecting a little spring fever into the brand with a week full of new episodes, online interactive activities and a two-hour TV special.
Scholastic Entertainment’s weeklong Maya & Miguel MAYnia celebration is designed to build new buzz around the property. The event serves as a stepping stone for Scholastic Entertainment to create an online Maya & Miguel fan club, which its plans to launch this summer, said Arminda Figueroa, project director of Maya & Miguel.
New Maya & Miguel episodes include The Bet, which premieres on May 4 and Team Santos on May 5. The event concludes May 6 with Cherry Chipper Cupid Sisters followed by four other favorites—Surprise, Surprise, The Autograph, Maya and Miguel, Comes On Down and I’ve Got To Be Mi-guel.
To further extend the brand, fans can visit PBSkidsgo.org/mayaandmiguel to tap into behind-the-scenes information about the show via an online backstage pass. With the pass, fans can learn how the series is animated and see the “voice” behind the Maya character.
To obtain a backstage pass, fans must click on the “It’s Maya & Miguel Maynia” sign to take a quiz based on the hit show. Fans will then receive a secret code, which can be used to access the art behind the Maya & Miguel show. Consumers can customize their backstage passes with electronic stickers and character phrases and print them as a keepsake.
“When we’re taking about Maya & Miguel, we look at the show as a multi-media property,” Figueroa said. “It’s not only about the show, but the brand experience outside the TV screen. We want to keep Maya & Miguel fresh.”
“It’s really interactive,” Figueroa added of the Internet component. “Kids can experience [the property] in a very rich way.”
Scholastic Entertainment has an exclusive deal to sell Maya & Miguel merchandise in Target stores. Merchandise including girls’ clothing, watches and games hit store shelves in late March, Figueroa said.
And this summer, Scholastic Entertainment plans to unveil yet another first for the property—an online fan club. The property’s popularity is evident. The property has received 150,000 fan e-mails since the show’s launch in October. Scholastic reports 250,000 visitors to the site each day.
“We learned through the e-mails that kids…want to know more and more about Maya & Miguel,” Figueroa said. “So why not create an environment that will give them piece of information to fulfill the need.”
