Zinkia Entertainment's "Pocoyo™" to Serve a Third Term as Global Kids' Ambassador for World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour 2013 Campaign

MADRID, March 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Earth Hour today announced that Pocoyo would serve a third term as Earth Hour's Global Kids' Ambassador, spearheading the initiative to reach kids through a new partnership with the organization, Ocean Defenders Alliance Organization. Earth Hour 2013, the global initiative in partnership with WWF, takes place Saturday, March 23rd from 8.30pm to 9:30pm local time as individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour to show their support for environmentally sustainable action.  Crossing borders of race, religion, culture, geography and society to unite in a single moment of contemplation for the planet, hundreds of millions of people participate in Earth Hour each year in celebration of their year-round commitment to protect and preserve the planet.

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As part of the 2013 Earth Hour "I Will If You Will" campaign, Zinkia Entertainment is introducing Pocoyo's Ocean Cleanup Game, available beginning March 18th through Earth Hour's website (www.earthhour.org) and the Official Pocoyo Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pocoyo). If 100,000 children go online and play the new Ocean Cleanup Game, Pocoyo and his Friends have pledged to help collect over two tons of Ocean debris. The cleanup will be carried out by Ocean Defenders Alliance whose mission is to eliminate dangerous man-made debris threatening ocean wildlife.
 To promote the initiative, Pocoyo is featured in a new Public Service Announcement available for on-air broadcast and online across websites and social media platforms.  There will also be special Pocoyo Earth Hour activity booklets available for printing and distribution, as well as Pocoyo Earth Hour screensavers and wallpapers.

"Pocoyo continues to grow in popularity around the world, bringing Earth Hour's message of protecting and preserving our environment to more and more children, who in turn involve their families," said Andy Ridley, CEO and Co-Founder of Earth Hour.  "Using fun and imaginative ways to engage children, such as the new Pocoyo Ocean Cleanup Game, Zinkia is making tremendous strides in creating lifelong eco-friendly habits among today's children, who are tomorrow's guardians of our planet.  Children's involvement and sense of responsibility is vital to our mission and through our alliance with Zinkia and Pocoyo's role as our Global Kids' Ambassador, we're able to engage these children in many languages and on every media platform around the world.  We're thrilled to embark on another year of Earth Hour outreach spearheaded by our endearing Global Kids' Ambassador, Pocoyo." 


"We are delighted to continue to collaborate with Earth Hour and use our extensive communication platform to reach a young audience and their families to help raise awareness for a cause that is of such high importance," explained Zinkia Entertainment Co-Founder and Chairman Jose Maria Castillejo.

"Oceans are the life blood of our planet and no matter how far you live from the coast, our everyday actions can directly affect a resource that we all depend on so greatly.
 Taking care of our Oceans is a theme that encompasses so many of the values that are intrinsic to the Pocoyo series. If we recycle and reduce waste in our daily lives the end result will only serve to benefit our Oceans."

"Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) is very excited to be part of Pocoyo's adventures.  Collaborations, such as this one with Zinkia Entertainment, help ODA share our important message with the children of this water planet," said Kurt Lieber, Founder and President of ODA, and Captain of their vessel.  "Many of the problems facing the oceans are little known by the general public, and if we don't do something soon to improve things, the consequences will be drastic.  We are working to help educate the children not only about what is going on, but what they can do to help make things better.  ODA looks forward to working with Pocoyo and all his friends to rid the oceans of man-made debris, and have fun in the process!"

Zinkia, producers of the hit animated children's series, Pocoyo, has been working with WWF and Earth Hour for several years. The association began on the local level in Spain and expanded to a global level with the 2011 appointment of Pocoyo as the first-ever Global Kids' Ambassador for Earth Hour's global "Beyond the Hour" campaign.  
 
Daily episodes of Pocoyo air in over 150 countries around the world and online, with over 1.4 million Facebook fans and 1.6 billion hits on YouTube.  As the Global Kids' Ambassador for Earth Hour, Pocoyo continues to raise environmental awareness among today's children, empowering kids, their parents and caregivers to "turn off the lights" during Earth Hour, and use easy, environmentally sustainable actions to encourage kids to play a vital role in preserving our planet year round. 
In 2011, Earth Hour was reported as 'the world's largest campaign for the planet' with participation in 135 countries and territories across every continent, including the world's most recognized man-made marvels and natural wonders "going dark" in a landmark display of environmental action.




About Zinkia Entertainment:  
Zinkia Entertainment specializes in the creation and management of entertainment properties for today's global marketplace.  Zinkia's primary focus is the development and production of content for all media platforms to engage, entertain and educate children of all cultures.  Zinkia is the exclusive worldwide licensor of global brand sensation Pocoyo, one of Spain's most successful animation productions, with a potential global audience reach of 3.5 billion.  In April 2011, Zinkia acquired a 51% stake in London-based family entertainment company Cake.  Founded in 2001, Zinkia is headquartered in Madrid, Spain and operates offices in China.  www.zinkia.com


About Pocoyo
 
Zinkia Entertainment's Pocoyo is an award-winning animated series about a young boy's discovery of the world around him, representing a universe of core values that promotes a philosophy of curiosity, sincerity, interest, tolerance, respect and love.  With these guiding principles, Pocoyo fosters "Learning through Laughter™," utilizing a blend of humor and learning which mimics children's development to inspire and inform them.  Pocoyo is narrated by writer/actor Stephen Fry (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Alice in Wonderland, Bones) who guides Pocoyo with gentle humor.
 
Today, Pocoyo boasts a potential global audience reach of over 3.5 billion. With more than 1.6 billion hits on YouTube®, 1.4 million Facebook fans, and more than 30 million content downloads from the official Pocoyo website, the series, licensed in over 150 countries worldwide, is recognized as a global hit property. In addition to the successful TV series, the virtual world, Pocoyoworld.com, has attracted more than 2.5 million unique visitors, enabling children and care-givers to share a host of fun and educational activities with their favorite characters. 
In the U.S., Pocoyo has gained a large following of young fans with episodes airing seven days a week at 1:00 pm ET on Nick Jr., Nickelodeon's 24-hour commercial-free, educational preschool network, as well as on Univision's Saturday morning programming block Planeta U and select PBS Stations.  Internationally, Pocoyo airs on major international broadcaster outlets, including Televisa (Mexico), ABC (Australia), Kika (Germany), Nick Junior (UK & France), TVE (Spain), Disney Pan Asia and Discovery Kids (Latin America). Pocoyo has attracted a host of international accolades including a prestigious BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for Best Animated Preschool Series, three Pucinella Prizes at Italy's Cartoons on the Bay Festival and Best TV Series at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France.

About Earth Hour 
Earth Hour is a global environmental initiative in partnership with WWF. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 23, 2013 at 8:30 PM to show their support for environmentally sustainable action. In 2013, Earth Hour's I Will If You Will concept invites individuals and organisations to challenge others to an ongoing environmental commitment beyond the hour. Earth Hour began in one city in 2007 and by 2012 involved hundreds of millions of people in 152 countries across every continent, receiving reports as 'the world's largest campaign for the planet'.

About WWF 
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organisations, with almost five million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.      

About Ocean Defenders Alliance 
Using volunteer boat and dive crews, Ocean Defenders Alliance eliminates dangerous man-made debris threatening ocean wildlife and habitat and works to eradicate the sources of these problems through public education and meaningful action. To date, ODA has removed 18,500 pounds of net; 200 traps; 20,000 feet of line; and massive amounts of plastic and garbage. 
www.oceandefenders.org

About Mission Blue 
Mission Blue elevates public awareness about critical ocean issues and inspires support for organizations, projects and initiatives that are making a positive difference for the ocean. Decades of overfishing, pollution, climate change, acidification and other human pressures threaten the fundamental nature of the ocean -- and therefore threaten the future of humankind. Presently, a small fraction of 1 percent of the ocean is fully protected nationally and internationally. There is time, but not a lot, to take care of the ocean that takes care of us. www.mission-blue.org

Contact: 
Maria Doolan, Zinkia Entertainment +34915240365

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SOURCE Zinkia Entertainment