Children’s Television Workshop celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with a new branding strategy designed to broaden its audience base.

The strategy, announced in March, includes the development of new programming, the new CTW Family Workshop Web site and a host of licensed product line launches. A new logo was also introduced, designed by Pentagram in New York City. The logo will be used to identify all CTW-produced media and licensed products, as well as any CTW-initiated or -endorsed public programs.

CTW’s global branding strategy includes mandates to serve families and new parents, increase research and development of content and services for new media platforms, increase publishing content development through books, magazines, CD-ROMs and the expansion of new product and services development and cross-promotional opportunities with global business partners.

As part of the new strategy, CTW is collaborating with Columbia TriStar Television on the development of Dragon Tales, a daily animated preschool series, and its parental companion, Show And Tell Me.

In addition to the branding strategy, CTW is undertaking an extensive promotional campaign to celebrate 30 years of Sesame Street in 1998. Events include the ‘Sesame Street Unpaved’ college tour, designed to give television, film and communications majors at schools across the U.S. a behind-the-scenes look at the series. A celebrity art exhibit, tour and auction is planned and Tyco and Mattel will be marketing toys and collectibles. A book, tentatively titled A Walk Down Sesame Street: The Fan’s Guide, is in the works by Hyperion Books and is scheduled to hit bookstores in September. Production of a new Sesame Street movie is also scheduled to begin this year.

CTW and PBS recently extended their partnership with a four-year agreement that will see the continued broadcast of new Sesame Street episodes on PBS. In addition to first-run broadcast in the U.S., PBS maintains the right to transmit new episodes of Sesame Street on its principal direct-broadcast satellite service and to jointly host the Sesame Street Web site on PBS On-line.