As the official Global Kids’ Ambassador for World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour initiative for a second year, Zinkia Entertainment’s character Pocoyo will support the new Earth Hour 2012 “I Will if You Will” campaign by spreading Earth Hour’s message to children around the world and by participating in his own challenge.

For Pocoyo’s challenge, Zinkia has pledged to plant up to 10,000 trees—one tree for every person who goes online to play Pocoyo’s Recycling Game, which launched in February through Earth Hour’s website and the Official Pocoyo Facebook page. A pre-launch test campaign generated nearly 10,000 plays in less than one week. The trees will be planted by charity partner Trees for the Future, whose mission for this year is to plant 17 million trees worldwide.

To promote Pocoyo’s initiative, a new public service announcement featuring Pocoyo is 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.

Zinkia Entertainment has entered into an agreement with Random House Children’s Books to develop a broad range of books for the U.S. and Canadian markets for its award-winning children’s brand Pocoyo.

Under the terms of the multiyear agreement, Random House will publish Pocoyo storybooks, leveled reader books, coloring and activity books, board/novelty books, and e-books (based on the published books in the referenced formats) in the English language. The first three books, to be published and available at retail this summer, include a Pocoyo storybook, coloring book, and board/novelty book.

The animated series Pocoyo (104 x 7 minutes), co-produced by Zinkia and ITV Studios Global Entertainment, is now airing seven days a week on Nick Jr., Nickelodeon’s 24-hour commercial-free, educational preschool network in the U.S. The series currently airs regularly in the 4-5pm afternoon slot, as well as other time slots during the day.

Aimed at young children, parents, and caregivers, the series advocates tolerance, curiosity, love, and laughter.

Bandai America, master toy licensee for Pocoyo in the U.S. and Canada, is currently launching an extensive toy line for the series, including Squeeze n’ Play plush, Bath Fun figures, and a Bump n’ Go electronic car. Products are due to hit the shelves at national retailers in North America this fall.

Pocoyo follows the adventures of an inquisitive, fun-loving three-year-old and his animal friends, Elly (the elephant), Pato (the duck) and Loula (the dog).  In addition to the TV series, the virtual world Pocoyoworld.com has attracted more than 4.5 million viewers.

International rights for Pocoyo are handled by ITV Studios Global Entertainment, excluding Spain, Portugal, Italy and Latin America, which are handled by Zinkia.

Following the online success of the “Pocoyize” feature, which allows users to create personalised Pocoyo-style avatars, entertainment brand specialists Zinkia Entertainment has unveiled a “Pocoyize” application for iPhones, which is now available from the gallery at Apple Store.

Users can design their own character by accessing the micro website , where a host of different options are available to define features and style, including World Cup football shirts from each participating country. Completed creations can be used as iPhone profile pictures, sent to friends, or posted on social networking sites such as Facebook.

The App, which is available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, has more than 6 million characters ‘Pocoyized’ to date. Competitions are being organized to create celebrity lookalike characters, World Cup team players, and generally to inject some laughter into life.

Since Pocoyo first aired on the small screen in 2005, the property has evolved into a multi-platform global brand. The series has been licensed to more than 100 countries worldwide, with over 100 licensees on board, over 1,000 licensing references in the market, over 4.5 million visitors to the virtual world pocoyoworld.com, over 130 million hits on YouTube, and 25 million downloads from the offical Pocoyo website.

Preschool TV show Pocoyo, from Zinkia and ITV Studios Global Entertainment, is coming to the U.S. as part of Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. lineup starting later this spring.

The series revolves around the adventures of a 3-year-old boy named Pocoyo (“little me,” in Spanish) and his animal pals Elly  (an elephant), Pato (a duck), and Loula (a dog).

Bandai America, master toy licensee in the U.S. and  Canada, will be launching a new line of consumer products inspired by the CGI  series later this year. Television rights to the series are distributed internationally by ITV Studios, while Zinkia handles distribution for Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Latin America.

Check out the recently launched, kid-targeted Pocoyo website from Zinkia here.