Nickelodeon’s iconic and ground-breaking series, Blue’s Clues is back as, Blue’s Clues & You! The original play- along preschool series stars Blue, a preschool-aged puppy and a new live host, Josh. The interactive, curriculum-based series was re-introduced to a whole new generation of preschoolers on Nickelodeon in November 2019. What makes this property unique and special is that it elicits a sense of nostalgia, bringing back memories for those who remember the original Blue’s Clues and can now share that with their own kids and their fans.
Since the reboot, the interest around the series has been tremendous with coverage across social, blogs, YouTube and several news outlets. This excitement has built significant anticipation with fans now clamoring for product. The launch of the brand-new Blue’s Clues & You! product line was set for July 2020 as a first to market at Walmart, with a wider release at other major retailers in August.
Our main objective was to launch this brand-new assortment of Blue’s Clues & You! toys to a new generation across retail, building awareness and driving shoppers through the path to purchase activating conversion at retailers nationally.
Nickelodeon aimed to leverage nostalgia amongst millennial parents whilst driving demand amongst fans/viewers of the show by creating on-air events, cross-functional marketing support across ViacomCBS and digital-first retail activations ensuring there was flexibility in campaign activation due to delays in inventory and operational challenges brought about by the Covid Pandemic.
A full omnichannel marketing campaign that used a mixture of tactics to achieve a blended mix of awareness and conversion for the Blue's Clues & You! launch. Awareness tactics included a cross-category commercial, filmed and directed via zoom, that was amplified across Nickelodeon social handles, the linear network, YouTube Pre-roll and OTT –
We also leveraged the video shoot to capture a number of video and social assets that helped to showcase the attributes of the initial product line from Just Play and Vtech that had strong learning and educational components tied to them.
In addition, we activated digital display media through Walmart, Amazon and Target to help target shoppers with a propensity to purchase toys and who fell within the key demographic to move them further down the funnel to purchase, resulting in +45.96% conversion rate vs window prior to the media.
The launch of the CP line was aligned with new episodes on the network including a Sing-a-long special, that was supported across the entire Nick ecosystem including CRM, letters from blue and Josh, Nickelodeon Parents, YouTube and social all driving to the sing-along-spectacular special, to drive awareness and engagement across platforms.
We also reduced the gap between viewership and purchase by tune-in media with a drive to some of our top retailers, watching our organic product searches surge +156.8%.
Aligned with this we kicked of a Blue Skidoo dance challenge, leveraging the nostalgia of the dance with millennials activating a dance challenge across Tiktok and instagram, whilst driving to Walmart.com/bluesclues for an exclusive dance tutorial from the host of Blues Clues, Josh De La Cruz. This was complimented and enhanced through a number of influencer partnerships taking part in the challenge and promoting key items from the assortment delivering over 10M impressions.
We also activated some key conversion tactics including on-site retail search and display, developed brand destinations across our top retailers and key CRM tactics through Nickelodeon fan club and retail databases.
Towards the end of what will go down as one of the most challenging years in history, Nickelodeon was determined to find a way to help families during the Holidays. That’s why, for the first time ever, Blue’s Clues & You! celebrated its first ever Blue Friday on November 20th!
On Blue Friday, Nickelodeon donated to Baby2Baby to support their mission of providing children living in poverty with the basic necessities that every child deserves. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, Baby2Baby provided over 40 million essential items to some of the most vulnerable children across the country
The marketing program was rooted in a special :15s spot featuring the host of Blue’s Clues & You!The spot was distributed across linear, OTT, Spotify, social and digital media driving awareness of the partnership with Baby2Baby and the products available at retail.
To further extend the conversation about Blue Friday, giant Blue plush were sent to select celebrities and influencers. Mindy Kaling, Ciara and Carlos Panevega, among others, supported on their social handles.
The program took over major retailers such as Walmart, Target, Amazon and Kohl’s with hero display media campaigns including homepage takeovers, banner ads, and custom destinations driving conversion of BC&Y products.
