Behind the strategy: Moonbug.

Shifting Moonbug to the centre of its universe.

Moonbug has a host of incredible content: from Cocomelon to Arpo, the entertainment brand sits at the heart of meaningful content for kids. While the brand experienced incredible growth in the world, it wasn’t at the centre of its own story. Today, entertainment is agnostic, fragmented, authentic, personalised and abundant. To engage with the ever-changing landscape of entertainment, Moonbug needed a brand that was just as fun, confident, and innovative.

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Play, with understated confidence.

Launched in 2018, Moonbug is a global children's media company creating, producing, and distributing children's video and audio content. With over 1 billion viewers worldwide on 100 platforms, Moonbug was impacting the world at an enormous scale. Now, they wanted the Moonbug brand to stand on its own and live up to the value they create for their audiences. 

Our challenge was to create balance: we wanted to respect the influence of Moonbug’s sub-brands, while being an assertive leader in the future of the industry. We focused on articulating the significance of Moonbug’s reputation and putting that at the heart of its universe, so everything in the ecosystem shares in the credibility and equity of the brand. 

Moonbug wanted to keep growing their individual content brand and acquire more groundbreaking shows. This meant new partners, investors and attention from the wider entertainment industry. We worked with the Moonbug team to create a robust strategy and an iconic identity. The strategy had to embody the Moonbug spirit, and more importantly, it had to capture the hearts of the people they care about.

Presence, purpose and play: principles that activate.

We wanted Moonbug to amplify and accelerate their content, and strike a balance between being a provider of children's entertainment and serving parents, partners and investors. Above all else, it’s a brand’s understanding and ability to represent their audiences that attract partners, and we needed to keep that in mind.

Before diving into the creative exploration and execution, we immersed ourselves in the wonderful world of children's entertainment. From our research and stakeholder analysis, we unearthed four key themes:

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1. Moonbug transforms ideas into positive cultural phenomena, amplifying content creators' voices to make a lasting difference.

No other company in the industry had this unique approach to entertainment, but people didn’t know what Moonbug was nor what they stood for. A key learning was that the brand had the ability to transform the content they acquired; any show that came in contact with Moonbug would experience exponential growth. We needed the world to know the positive impact Moonbug has on its shows.

2. Moonbug had to strike a very delicate balance between being a sophisticated corporate brand and a friendly face for young children.

Moonbug’s brand is active, disruptive, intelligent, and young at heart. They had contrasting functions and stakeholders with very different interests, so our job was to create a brand that understood what children wanted to see, without losing the professionalism that Moonbug needed as a global partner.

Our solution was to find the sweet spot between being authentically playful and doing purpose right. The brand had to speak and move through the world boldly without losing sight of their spirit of youthfulness. 

3. Moonbug is more than just content for children; it’s a multi-tool for parents to raise their kids.

We identified an interesting caveat: Moonbug’s primary audience (the brand, not the content) was parents. This meant that Moonbug needed to clearly position itself as an ally to parents. The role of the company was not just to entertain kids, but to support and assist parents through the journey of their children’s growth. The brand invests in purposeful content - it’s not just about entertainment, it’s about values and real life.

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“Just like lasagna, we are layered and good. We are the bits you love, but we are also the vegetables and the nutritious parts.”

Client

“Moonbug is an everyday brand: it showcases everyday experiences through cultural agility and creative diligence.” 

Tobi Arawole, strategist

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4. The industry is dominated by legacy brands. To stand out, we had to understand category conventions and how to offer something new.

Moonbug’s DNA is all about experimentation and disruptive thinking, leading to a shift in how content is created and distributed. Their content represents the reality of homes and families all over the world. We wanted to escape the sea of sameness and create a brand that felt as true to the world as Moonbug’s content. 

“We wanted to create a parent brand that would act as a stamp of quality for the content brands, and to make sure the strategy highlighted Moonbug’s care and cultural impact. The strategy empowered the brand to own the space it moves in.”

Tobi Arawole, strategist

Balancing purpose and play for the world’s largest kids’ entertainment brand. 

Based on these key findings, we developed a new brand strategy around the core idea of impactful entertainment. We positioned Moonbug ahead of the pack as the kids’ entertainment brand that balances purpose and play.

We built the other brand principles around being an ally and resource for parents, being industry disruptors, and balancing entertainment with education, because we knew the brand had to fix and flex across all their audiences. The system had the capacity to dial down the fun and dial up expertise when needed, whilst always remaining energetic, authentic and representative of the people it’s for.