History
The Baby Einstein Company was founded in 1996 by former teacher and stay-at-home mom Julie Aigner-Clark[3] at her home in suburban Alpharetta, Georgia, as I Think I Can Productions. According to an interview with Julie Dunn, she wanted her babies to be exposed to classical music, poetry, colors, shapes, and more.[4] Aigner-Clark and her husband borrowed video equipment and invested $15,000 of their own savings to produce the initial product, a VHS cassette they named Baby Einstein and later sold as Language Nursery in 2001 to avoid confusion with the Baby Einstein brand as a whole.
The original video shows a variety of toys and visuals interspersed with music, stories, numbers, and words spoken in seven different languages: English, French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Hebrew, and Russian. Eventually, the video was marketed across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It even won the 1997 Parenting Magazine award for Best Video of the Year.[5] More videos followed like Baby Mozart and Baby Bach, with some videos featuring the Clarks' two daughters, Aspen and Sierra, as well as other children.
It quickly became a multimillion-dollar franchise; its revenue grew from $1 million in 1998[6] to $25 million in 2001.[7] Julie Aigner-Clark renamed the company as Aigner-Clark Productions in 1998, as when Julie and her family and her company moved from Georgia and relocated to Denver, Colorado,[8] then renamed the Baby Einstein Company the following year in 1999, and on February 10, 2000, Artisan Entertainment announced they had acquired a minority stake in the company in exchange for a North American home video distribution agreement under the FHE Kids sub-label of Family Home Entertainment, as well as DVD distribution.[9]
On November 6, 2001, The Walt Disney Company announced they had acquired The Baby Einstein Company for an undisclosed amount.[10] Julie Aigner-Clark stepped down from directing Baby Einstein videos after Baby Beethoven in 2002. Disney rereleased the first eight Baby Einstein videos previously distributed by FHE Kids in 2002–03, and then rereleased all the Aigner-Clark videos with some alterations in 2004. These changes were mainly done with the toy scenes and some titular changes in the credits.
The concept and popularity of Baby Einstein expanded as a Disney property. Educational toys and additional videos were developed. Baby Einstein was also the source of inspiration for a preschool-aimed television series called Little Einsteins, created by the Disney-owned Baby Einstein Company and animated by Curious Pictures. The series began with a direct-to-video film in August 2005, with regular episodes airing on Playhouse Disney starting in October of that year.
The success of Baby Einstein was estimated to be nearly $400 million based on revenues. Julie was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" and won various awards, and one in three U.S. households with babies were found to own at least one Baby Einstein product. It received positive media and Aigner-Clark appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and USA Today, among others. President George W. Bush mentioned the Baby Einstein Company in his 2007 State of the Union Address, which Aigner-Clark was invited to attend.
In 2008, Clark, along with actress Jennifer Garner, hosted a tenth anniversary party for Baby Einstein. Clark had also announced plans to launch a toddler brand called Einstein Pals,[11] along with a new Baby Einstein video. But it was all abandoned for reasons unknown.[12]
As a result of Baby Einstein being named after Albert Einstein, royalties had to be paid to Corbis which compensates the Einstein estate. This made Einstein one of the top five earning deceased celebrities.[13]
On October 14, 2013, The Walt Disney Company announced they had sold the Baby Einstein brand to Kids II, Inc., a longtime licensee of the property.[14]
