ABOUT

The Brief:
In 2024, the BBC Studios marketing team were tasked with raising awareness of the popular series Bluey with UK audiences. As part of this, we were asked to create a piece of content for Children in Need on BBC One, a high-profile charity programme. This gave us a bold idea: to unite two of the biggest family brands in the UK for a spectacular never-seen-before event. 

Mediums:
On-air, YouTube, Instagram, official Bluey website

Concept:
Dancing is a huge part of what makes Bluey so beloved, as Bluey’s family shake their stuff in several fan-favourite episodes. This gave us an innovative idea. Could Bluey, a cartoon dog, perform a world-exclusive dance routine on the most iconic dancefloor in the UK, the Strictly ballroom?

This unique event would be the key asset in a wider campaign called ‘Dance with Bluey’. The ambition was to get the UK smiling and dancing, while raising money for Children in Need.

The nation was thrilled when they heard about the surprising collaboration. There was a flood of excitement on social media and in the press, where the announcement generated over 600 press articles globally – way beyond our wildest expectations! 

The campaign was supported by an online dance challenge, where we invited the UK to get up and dance along with Bluey and drive fundraising. To make sure the challenge was accessible to everyone, we made bespoke content to teach people the iconic dance moves from the show. The dance challenge was a huge success, with entries from celebs, schools and even old people’s homes.  

A huge range of assets were created to support the event including colouring sheets, art activities and dance move bingo, which were incredibly popular with both families and schools. 

The routine was choreographed by Matt Fint and featuring strictly dancers Dianne Buswell, Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Gorka Marquez, Johannes Radebe and Michelle Tsiakkas.

Execution:
When the big night came, audiences loved seeing Bluey strut her stuff on the Strictly dancefloor. The performance was so popular that Children in Need played it twice on the big night, following an intro from presenter and superfan Chris Ramsey, and even got celebrities to dance along. A behind the scenes content piece aired on Strictly: It Takes Two and the piece even featured on Strictly Come Dancing: The Results that week to an audience of over 8 million.

Results:
We sent 24 influencers, including Jim & Sarah Chapman (IG 2.1M & 92k), Amy Hart (IG 1M / TikTok 749k), Megan Crabbe (IG 1.1M / TikTok 36k) and Ellie Taylor (IG 303k) a specially created ‘Dance with Bluey’ bag, which included items to get them up and dancing, such as dance move tutorials, Strictly score paddles and sequinned clothes. The influencers’ reaction videos amassed a remarkable 1.3 million impressions alone.  The content generated an impressive two million views online in less than 48 hours and total views for the weekend exceeded an unprecedented 41 million.  But most importantly we helped Children in Need to raise an astonishing £39.2 million pounds on the night. An increase of £5.8 million on the previous year.

Company/Client Credits:
BBC Studios Marketing
Ludo Studio
BBC Studios Productions
Strictly Come Dancing
Children in Need

Individual Credits
Sam Moor - Animation, Ludo Studio
Rhiannon Steffensen - Animation, Ludo Studio
Sarah James - Strictly Come Dancing, BBC Studios
Matt Flint - Strictly Come Dancing, BBC Studios
Joe Turner - Strictly Come Dancing, BBC Studios
Phil Ball - Head of Creative, BBC Studios
Uzma Painchun - Senior Producer, BBC Studios
Nardis Roscoe - Head of Marketing, BBC Studios
Hayley Croft - Head of Marketing, BBC Studios
Aoife Owen - VP, Marketing BBC, Studios
Jessica Byers - VP, Marketing, BBC Studios
Katie Hibbs - Senior Marketing Manager, BBC Studios
Luisa Lessa - Marketing Manager, BBC Studios
Eleanor Burgess - Marketing Executive, BBC Studios
James Vrakettas - Designer, BBC Studos
Douggy Pledger - Creative, BBC Studios