Love it or hate it, but you cannot ignore the toon character Gummy bear. Or for that matter its creator Christian Schneider.
Christian, CEO of Gummybear International Inc. and the man behind the popular ‘I’m a Gummy Bear’ (also known as the Gummy Bear Song) and other hits such as ‘Bubble Up’ and ‘Nuki Nuki,’ loves to crack jokes and it appears his story of how ‘I’m a Gummy Bear’ happened is intended to elicit a few laughs.
Gum candies
But nope, he is not joking. There is a story behind it, one that has nothing to do with the bear-shaped fruit gum candies from the Haribo company, says Christian who was speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the two-day Animation Masters Summit organised by the Toonz Media Group.
Christian found his muse for the single working the bar in a restaurant as he was enjoying his beer back in Germany.
She told him he was her gummy bear, and his first reaction was ‘No…what?, only to respond next ‘I’m your gummy bear.’ The interaction was enough for a light bulb to go off in his head. A tune was born and he recorded it on his Walkman.
The rest is history.
In 2006
Since its release in 2006, the single has become a hit, gone viral, released in many other languages, and has registered over 1.5 billion views on YouTube. Christian says he knew it would be a hit but not this big. Record companies did not want it initially.
That was the time for ringtones, and Christian jumped on to that bandwagon, and the ringtones promoted the song. “It’s a very hooky melody, he’s a great guy (Gummy bear), simple, appealing,” says Christian.
Challenge
It’s a challenge each step of the way.
Christian says they are trying everything to keep the interest up by bringing out Christmas and Halloween videos this year and the next.
His company has been associating with Toonz for an animated series Gummy Bear, which is now into Season 2. They also want to make a Gummy Bear movie.
“Kids want to see, dance and sing, and that’s what we have basically done,” says Christian.
