Peter Rabbit gets a refresh for 120th birthday

Penguin Random House Children’s has unveiled a brand refresh for Peter Rabbit ahead of its 120th birthday campaign in 2022.

The “progressive brand identity” has been rolled out across social channels and digital platforms and will appear on publishing and licensed product packaging from autumn this year in the UK, PRH said. The global launch will begin in parallel with the 120th birthday celebrations next year. 

The World of Peter Rabbit brand is managed by the owned brands team within PRH Children’s. The publisher enlisted design agency CreateFuture to lead the project, drawing on early source material to ensure updated assets continued to reflect the character's legacy.

A refreshed logo showcases the iconic Peter Rabbit pose which has been reinterpreted by illustrator Chris Mitchell and now incorporates the title font from the first edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, as well as Beatrix Potter’s signature. 

The brand tool kit also includes a newly developed design system – Hop, Skip, Jump – consisting of three “distinct treatments” which can be used to target different audience demographics, PRH said. “Taking inspiration from Beatrix Potter’s animal and insect illustrations, a series of graphic trails has been created to add energy and narrative to static images," it explained. "‘Hop’ uses the trails with a soft and muted colour palette, a gentle application for the infant sector, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, ‘Jump’ uses primary colours on clean backgrounds for a high-energy, contemporary application.” 

Izzy Richardson, global owned brands director at PRH Children’s, said: “Peter Rabbit has an incredible legacy that resonates with multiple generations all over the world. We’ve seen the brand evolve through various creative iterations and touchpoints over the course of its 120-year history and ahead of the birthday milestone it was important for us to refine and refresh the brand identity, to continue to futureproof the brand for a new generation."

She added: "The result is a subtle and contemporary refresh of our ‘running rabbit’ logo complemented by a new design system that can be used across marketing and promotional touchpoints for the brand. It brings energy and adventure to The World of Peter Rabbit, offering our family audience a dynamic and exciting Peter Rabbit experience.” 

Anna Billson, art director at PRH Children’s, said: “Beatrix Potter’s exquisite illustrations are themselves timeless and remain perfectly pitched for physical books.  We are continually considering how best to translate the illustrations for a variety of applications while retaining their integrity and unique originality. Alongside developing a new design system that enables us to be visually consistent across all iterations of the Peter Rabbit brand, a refreshed logo fuses past, present and future, by combining the classic bespoke Beatrix Potter typeface with a reinterpreted version of the iconic running rabbit.”