Producing video content for the toys of a globally popular children’s TV show. Fun right? Absolutely! But where do you start? That’s the question we’re about to answer.
Working alongside Highlight PR and Moose Toys we were given the task of producing some highly energetic video content for a social media marketing campaign promoting the merchandise for children’s TV series, Bluey.
For those of you not versed in the ways of Bluey, the series is an animated Australian series created by the BBC and ABC (Australia) following the life of anthropomorphic dog Bluey and her family in Queensland. An outstanding animated series in its own right.
So why were we needed?
It was time to take the joy of the world of Bluey into the real world. When there is a successful TV show, there are toys to follow. In this scenario specifically, it was the Hammerbarn Shopping Centre Playset that we needed to put the spotlight on.
Rather than your conventional product video just showing off the features of the toy, this needed more energy and more standout appeal to the social media audience.
With the creative thinkers at Highlight PR in the ideas hotseat we landed on the idea of the “Hammerbarn Trolley Dash”. A competition between three influencers, known for their online content about family life, to race around a Smyths Toys store and find as many Bluey-themed tokens as possible. The winner then gets their hands on the all important toy of the moment.
With Radio 1 DJ, Matt Edmondson, primed and ready to go as our glittering gameshow host, the concept was locked in place.
A hugely exciting idea and something we knew straight away would capture genuine appeal across social media amongst the parental and family audiences. But as much as an amazing idea can change the world, good old reality comes at you quickly. This is why the pre-production phase was very important to get right to ensure we did this killer idea justice.
Pre-Production For The Bluey Social Content
As boring as it may sound, we value planning very highly here at Glacé Media. Of course we all want to be running around throwing cameras and lights everywhere, but the process we go through with our clients in the pre-production phase is our key to ensuring we execute the video in the way everybody has in mind.
Firstly, the storyboard. It was instantly clear that the visuals for this concept would be highly watchable, however, without a strong structure and format there was a risk that the content might not make any sense.
It is all well and good attracting the attention of the audience, but if you instantly lose them, then the job has not been done.
With this in mind, we went through a detailed creative process to get us to a point where we had a tight storyboard covering how the gameshow element of the video would work, how it was to look on screen and the steps we would take to film each shot.
As a result, we were left with a strong shot list and storyboard that everyone involved could reference and in turn see clearly what the end video would look like and the steps we all needed to take to get there.
Even though there was a tight plan for this shoot, there was one key section that had a lot of unpredictable variables on the day of filming. The trolley dash itself.
As much as we can plan for what we wanted to happen, we were setting up a genuine contest between the influencers and we wanted to capture the unpredictable nature of it as much as possible.
There is no magic solution here. With any production, you have to accept some level of unpredictability. But it’s in those moments when the camera rolls when the magic happens. What needs to be done to ensure the odds of success are firmly stacked in your favour is to plan for as many contingency scenarios as possible.
So that’s exactly what we did.
This can be anything from planning time to re-shooting shots to making sure space at the location is cleared in advance to ensure there are no obstacles in the way of the filming.
With all of this accounted for, it was time to take a leap into the production itself and get those cameras rolling.
Filming The Video Content For Bluey
With a tight window to turn around the filming in, it was all hands on deck to ensure we got everything we needed. However, as the prep had been so thorough (see, we said planning was important), everyone knew their role and we could instantly dive in.
Out of opening hours for the toy shop, we had two small filming windows to capture everything we needed. To help keep a flow and energy to the shoot, we shot most of the content in the order that it would appear in the edit.
As there was still a need to keep the competitive element in there for the trolley dash to ensure we captured genuine reactions and attempts from the influencers, this approach was highly conducive to keeping everyone invested in the format and as a result, ensuring what then appeared on screen kept that genuine feeling.
With Matt Edmondson primed with his Bluey branded mic, the influencers buzzed and ready to compete, Bluey and Bingo on standby, all was let loose with the crew, contestants and host darting around the massive toy store to dive into the challenge and capture some brilliant content.
Hectic? Yes!
Thoroughly enjoyable? Absolutely!
Filming of the main bulk of the trolley dash was rounded off with a good old dance to top off what was a tiring few hours of frantically running around a toy shop chasing people with trolleys.
All that was left after the grand set-piece footage was captured was to capture a few detail shots the next day to make sure we really showed off the product in all its glory.
If there were any pre-match nerves going into the filming these were quickly banished the moment Matt Edmondson dropped his first off-the-cuff quip on camera and we knew we were in safe presenting hands.
Another wacky day on set, but one that delivered some top-notch footage.
Editing Content Fit For Social Media
Once the feet had been rested and the trolley safely placed back in its home, it was the small matter of actually editing the content together.
Of course, there are always different directions to take an edit in after the shoot has taken place, but once again that trusty pre-production phase comes into its own.
As everybody was on the same page as to how the videos should look and we captured all the footage we needed, it was then a matter of shaping the footage into the relevant edits.
The campaign was tailored around a social media release. As this was no regular short social media snippet, we produced various edits to do the video justice and optimise the buzz developed when released across the various social platforms.
What this looked like in practice was a long 4-minute version capturing the contest in its entirety. Then a 60-second and 90-second version to really build the interest within the social media marketing campaign.
When producing video content for social media it is easy to think that just one short, snappy clip is the way to go. Short videos are winners, absolutely, however, what is important is not just the format of the video but what reaction you are looking to get from the audience.
Within this video campaign across social media, the aim was to keep the audience’s interest for a longer period of time and not just hit them with a smash-and-grab style video.
The beauty of the shorter edits pairing with the longer edit is that the longer video gives a central location to tease the audience towards once they see the shorter version. You are whetting their appetite with the short social edit and then rewarding them with even more cracking video content.
Not only is the audience getting more from the brand therefore experiencing a stronger connection. You are getting a longer period of time to speak to your audience and as a result, give your message more impact.
Short social media content is the way to go. But if you can pair it with a longer video that offers the audience an even more fulfilling watching experience, then you are on to a winner.
How The Social Media & PR Campaign Performed
Once the edits were done, it was time to get them out there.
As alluded to before, the long version acted as an anchor for the campaign with the shorter versions teasing the full content from the different social platforms.
The full-length version sat on YouTube and was at the heart of a PR campaign seeing industry attention in online publications such as Toy World Magazine.
The shorter 60 and 90-second versions were then pushed out across social media platforms, with great results.
The main hub for the content was the official Bluey Instagram page. The content was also released by the official account of Smyths Toys as well as our dazzling host, Matt Edmondson.
Collectively in the first week across the three accounts, the video drew in over 320K views across Instagram, with the post on the official Bluey page receiving over 16K likes.
The video was also featured on the Bluey Twitter page, receiving 1.7K likes in the first week and on their Facebook page receiving 980 likes.
From the conception of the idea through to the production, collectively between those involved, we’d created pieces of content that truly captured audience attention across the channels that it needed to.
A highly engaging and unique piece of content that also served as a fantastic advert for the brand’s product.
Producing video content for clients is a combination of creativity and practicality in producing something that will stand out, but also deliver on its aims.
This is what we continue to do within our projects at Glacé. Video content that looks great is one thing, but videos that deliver what the client is looking for are the complete package.
If this has gotten your creativity juices flowing and want to speak to our team about getting the ball rolling on a similar project, just drop us a message.
