Two VHS videos of animations made for Coats Viyella to promote the Ladybird clothing brand

The animation features Benjamin Berrynose, a ladybird resident of Conker Town who lives in a big oak tree. The animation is complex, using a range of styles including stop motion modelling clay, and is of very high quality. It makes little or no reference to the Ladybird brand or clothing but instead creates an imaginary world, perhaps in the hope that the animation would be considered for broadcast on television as an entertainment programme in its own right, which might then boost sales of Ladybird clothing.

One tape (MS 1026_M0001) has a Glass Page label bearing the name 'Ladybirds'; 'old voice' is handwritten on the label. The other tape (MS 1026_M0002) has 'Ladybirds' handwritten on the blank label. Both tapes seem very similar.

Martin Knox ran a design company and did some consultancy work for the textiles holding company, Coats Viyella, in the mid 1990s, including writing a history and producing a set of brand guidelines for Van Heusen. He was asked by Coats Viyella to work on the Ladybird clothing brand and commissioned The Glass Page to produce an animation. The intention was to give the brand a bit of personality to help it break into overseas markets. It followed a controversial rebranding of the ladybird by Woolworths aimed at making the Ladybird logo more modern looking and this animation was a response to that.

The company who created the animation, The Glass Page, was founded on 23rd January 1992 by Dave Priestley and Pete Manship, graduates from Leicester Polytechnic. The company describes themselves on their Facebook page as specialising in live events, employee engagement, brand communication and creative media, with their products listed as consultancy services, live events, creative message delivery using the latest technology, holographic projection, 3D, iPad technology, exhibitions, interactive media, video, and logistics. The last post on their Facebook page was in March 2012. Their website, www.glass-page.com, is no longer functioning and was not captured by the Internet Archive. They are listed in the Design Leicestershire', published by Loughborough University Enterprises, Loughborough, 2010, as having 6-10 employees and are featured on pp134-135.

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The tapes were gifted to Manuscripts and Special Collections in 2019 by Martin Knox.

Records relating to Pasolds Limited, Clothing Manufacturers, Langley, Berkshire, and the hosiery manufacturing industry, 1941-1956 (Reference BPS)