Brief
The BBC, the UK’s public-service broadcaster and global news and information brand, approached us with the dual challenge of creating a new brand leveraging its 60-year heritage and undisputed leadership in nature programming, and expanding the business around their television series One Planet. Through a comprehensive analysis of their content, operations, marketing plans and digital footprint, we developed a brand, product and marketing strategy, and editorial and rollout plans.
Idea
Leverage the BBC’s vast archive of nature content and global reach to launch a new multi-platform nature brand called BBC Earth — starting on the web, and then rolling out internationally in television.
Work
Analyzed consumer research, market research, competition, BBC website data, social media data, business operations and content. Developed a product direction and features roadmap targeting traffic growth and deeper user engagement. Created 3-year digital financial model based on anticipated traffic and engagement (non-UK revenue). Created the brand name. Created directional designs used to communicate visual approach and brand ethos, and product potential. Developed publishing, editorial and social media practices focused on driving engagement across both owned and operated, as well as social media brand touch points. Recommended the launch of a dedicated YouTube channel and cultivation of a digital audience on Facebook to drive distribution and traffic to the BBC Earth website, as well as to grow demand for television content.
Results
BBC launched BBC Earth online in Sept 2014
After one year of operation, social audiences grew to 3.8M followers on Facebook (from 4K), and 420K subscribers on YouTube (from 0)
Won Webby Award – People’s Voice, Science
Today BBC Earth is available on television worldwide and social audiences have grown to 8.2M followers on Facebook and 2.2M subscribers on YouTube