JLG has expanded its client The World of Eric Carle’s apps with Touch Press on the new Hungry Caterpillar Play School, a subscription service which gives complete access to activities, books, lessons, songs and videos, with exclusive new content added every month. The subscription costs $5.99/€5.99/£5.49 per month, with a seven-day free trial period, and is available now from the Apple App store. The service is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and requires iOS 9.0 or later.
Eric Carle's Hungry Caterpillar Play School app is specifically designed to give young children every advantage they need in math, spelling, reading, writing, science, nature studies and the creative arts. The aim is to help children get ahead and school-ready with internationally-recognized early learning goals.
Research has shown that playtime is when a child's brain is at its most receptive. The Hungry Caterpillar Play School app was created in such a way that a child's experience is filled with wonder and humor, while leveraging the most up-to-date best practices in children's education.
It consists of everything a preschooler needs in one app:
A comprehensive curriculum tailored for 2-6 year olds, using the latest classroom-proven techniques
New content added every month to keep children engaged & coming back for more
Always age-appropriate and safe
Packed with interactive characters from the entire Eric Carle world
Touch Press is excited to bring this new release to the millions of My Very Hungry Caterpillar fans, young and old. Eric Carle’s much-loved character, The Very Hungry Caterpillar™, has won the hearts of millions of children globally for almost 50 years. In 2014, in partnership with Eric Carle, StoryToys (now part of Touch Press) brought the world’s favorite caterpillar to life for the very first time in the stunning interactive My Very Hungry Caterpillar app. To date, 4.6 million users have cared for their digital pets, feeding their caterpillars and watching them grow into a beautiful butterflies.
Additionally, StoryToys will host an exciting sweepstakes on their Facebook channel, starting on April 11th, which will give fans a chance to win a signed Eric Carle print plus a “Very Hungry Caterpillar” themed gift basket.
License! Global covered the news of this exciting new digital brand extension for The World of Eric Carle. The launch of the new app was extremely successful with 70,000 downloads in just five days. Thanks to robust marketing efforts the app ranked in the Top 5 Education/iPad category in 26 countries (#1 in US) and Top 5 Kids/iPad category in 22 countries (#2 in US).
Marketing efforts to promote the launch included:
- Working with Apple to be featured on the homepage of the App Store in several countries as well as in the Kids category.
- Paid search campaigns with Apple, Facebook and Tapjoy.
- Cross promotion across all StoryToys apps.
- An email blast to the StoryToys database.
- An App page on the StoryToys site and a dedicated microsite.
- Social media promotion across the StoryToys and World of Eric Carle channels.