This Media Studio Is Bringing Multicultural Content to Families Around the World

Encantos Media Studios, a public benefit corporation, aims to produce stories from unique perspectives that everyone can relate to, regardless of their background. Its main goal is to create purpose-driven family entertainment that serves a purpose: to connect people with engaging stories and to foster understanding and empathy around the world. Recently, Encantos Media closed a deal with Nickelodeon to produce first collection of consumer products for infants and toddlers inspired by Canticos, the first creator-led brand from Encantos that launched in 2016. These products and more short-form content from Canticos will launch in spring of 2018, but the award-winning brand's founders are already amped about what's to come. Adweek conducted a Q&A with Encantos' chief creative officer, Susie Jaramillo, and co-founder/CEO Nuria Santamaría Wolfe to discuss what makes this sort of company so important in today's industry. Adweek: How important is family-focused entertainment today? How does Encantos help develop these projects? Jaramillo: Family entertainment has never been more relevant than today, given the many divisions that exist in our society both culturally and generationally. The average household can have four family members staring at four separate screens featuring four different pieces of content. We believe kids' content, if developed thoughtfully and carefully, can be quite engaging to the kid that still lives inside every adult. We create purpose-driven brands, and that starts and ends with the creator who’s inspired to tell a compelling story that will bring families together. We have set for us the task of creating world class content for a global audience. Canticos recently signed a partnership with Nickelodeon; how will Canticos continue to grow in the future, and what does a deal of this size mean for this brand? Santamaría Wolfe: Nickelodeon is a pioneer in family entertainment, always putting kids first. They have such a deep understanding of consumer insights, and they are breaking the industry mold, creating premier entertainment experiences for kids and families all while building brands that are beloved across generations. [kickout id="1"] Leveraging the power and support of the Nickelodeon ecosystem, Encantos will create an animated series based on Canticos nursery rhymes and children’s songs to exclusively stream across Nick’s digital platforms, such as Nick Jr., Noggin, etc. In addition, no one understands consumer products better than Nickelodeon, and we will work together to launch a Canticos consumer products line across [various] categories, including toys, apparel, bath, bedding, and more. The Canticos brand will continue to be a Latino-inspired brand with cross-cultural appeal, helping Latino families share their culture while giving families of all backgrounds a beautiful and engaging way to be exposed to diverse content and to a second language. What should media companies strive to be in today's world? What challenges face this industry? Santamaría Wolfe: One of the biggest challenges for today’s media companies is truly understanding the demographic shift happening in the United States and how this change needs to inform their content strategy. Over a third of the U.S. is multicultural today, and by 2040, the majority of the country will be diverse...[O]ver half of all millennials today are multicultural. Media companies must understand that diversity is a business imperative; people across America want content that is more inclusive and representative. [Brands and companies] should strive to fully understand the multicultural nation we are living in. Today’s media is not reflective of the population, and consumers are no longer staying silent about it. Consumers are demanding to be represented and speak up when they are misrepresented. Traditional media companies need to increase their pool of diverse talent to provide more inclusive perspectives on content strategy as well as partner with new media companies led by market experts and authentic creators that are already building content for this new generation.