How Beano became the social currency for a new generation
Brand: Beano Agency: Red Brick Road
Beano is best known for Dennis the Menace, a character infamous for his disruptive tendencies and much loved by children young and old. But like a lot of publications steeped in tradition (the comic is 80 years old this year), Beano was struggling for relevance in a digital-centric world.
With print sales ailing, it needed to take inspiration from Dennis – rediscover its youth and pummel its way into the 21st century.
Beano stablemate Dandy had tried and failed to launch a paid online edition, with the digital title “folding” after just six months. Not only that, Beano's own online presence had proven lacklustre for several years. Clearly, there was a significant challenge ahead.
Beano and agency Red Brick Road set out to grow the comic's online user base to a sufficient volume for ongoing commercial success. To do this it needed to redesign its digital offering, creating a brand and message to relaunch it.
The strategy was built on a deceptively straightforward insight: that children are both digital and binary, technologically sophisticated and perceiving the world in terms of “yes” and “no”, “good” and “bad”. This observation informed the campaign: viewing the world through the eyes of a child.
Launching in October 2016, the campaign used TV, print and digital advertising to bring kids to Beano.com, using examples of "So Beano!” (bad) and "No Beano!” (good). Once kids visited the site, they encountered a user interface built specifically around the branding, including opportunities to submit user-generated content.
The results spoke volumes, with penetration up by a huge 1500%, awareness leaping from 50% to 75% and, perhaps surprisingly but certainly not unwelcome, print sales growing 10%.