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Loeki the Lion was an animated puppet who appeared on Dutch public television from 1972 to 2004. He appeared in sketches that often lacked dialogue and was noted for his clumsiness and his catchphrase, "Asjemenou?" which, roughly translated into English, is "What the heck?" He was named after the famous International football player Louis Biesbrouck (Loek), but also it is said that his name is a derivation of the verb to look.
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Joop Geesink (1913–1984) developed the character. His daughter, Louise, created a Loeki comic strip in 1986 Okki.
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Loeki, created by animator Joop Geesink, came to national prominence when advertising was first allowed on Dutch television in 1972. Regulatory requirements had been drawn up in order that the public could make a clear distinction between the programmes and the adverts, and the solution chosen was a short break bumper which would signal the beginning and end of the advertisement breaks, as well as bumpers that played between advertisements. These bumpers consisted of humorous animations of Loeki and his friends, and were such a success with the public that Loeki soon started appearing in between individual adverts. Studio Geesink, who made the animations, estimate that over 8000 individual films were made, several of which survive on home-made VHS recordings which have been uploaded to YouTube. Some of these break bumpers also aired on WFLD.
In its later years, Westward Television of the United Kingdom would use a short clip of Loeki in its closedown. Some of these have been uploaded to YouTube.
STER retired Loeki in late 2004, citing unaffordable production costs; the time saved by axing Loeki's appearances could be sold to advertisers. However, a Dutch advertising prize, the Golden Loeki, was named after him and continues to this day.
On March 16, 2005 Loeki was supposedly kidnapped by a student from Utrecht, because they did not want him to wither away in a dusty archive. It turned out to be a publicity stunt, when Loeki moved to Big Ben park. After 2005, Loeki was used there to supplement the Carnival Festival. This attraction was also designed in 1984 by Joop Geesink. In 2012, Loeki was again removed from Carnival Festival. The Efteling brought the original mascot, Jokie, back to the attraction.
On August 21, 2005 Loeki returned to television in a commercial for Edah. This was Loeki's first appearance on commercial channels. This appearance used 3D animation rather than the traditional stop-motion format.
The European Football Championship 2008 used Loeki in an advertisement for supermarket chain C1000.
In June 2010 Loeki returned to Dutch TV for the World Cup 2010 promotional activities of Samsung. Loeki was featured in a TV commercial, online at Facebook, as a car sticker and in a life-size form as part of the Orange 'building wrap' on the Samsung headquarters in Delft. The various shapes of the famous multimedia advertising lion are provided by communication Quince.
Puppets and props
Original puppets and props from Loeki's films have been exhibited since December 2006 in a large display in the Sound and Vision experience. They consist of a number of series on themes (holidays, sports, transport, etc.). Puppets, props and films also formed part of the exhibition "100 years of advertising classics" in the Beurs van Berlage between December 18, 2010 and March 6, 2011.
Abroad
Loeki appeared in France, England (in the Westward TV region), Austria, Italy, Japan and in the United States. Loeki is the mascot of the theme park Huis ten Bosch, in Nagasaki.
Media adaptations
A pantomime comic strip was made about the character by Wil Raymakers. It ran in the children's magazine Okki from 1986 on.