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BLUEY, LEGO, AND CROSS GENERATIONAL FANDOM · The Media Odyssey

• Evan Shapiro: [00:00:00] Welcome back to The Media Odyssey podcast. That is Marion Ranchet. Marion Ranchet: That is Evan Shapiro. Evan Shapiro: And we've got a special guest, although not the first time you've been a guest here, Jasmine Dawson, SVP of Digital at BBC Studios. Thank you for being here. This is a tradition. Jasmine Dawson: This is. It's become a, hopefully, an annual tradition. Evan Shapiro: So we're here at Cannes Lions, if you couldn't tell. And we've got our special guest. You were here last year. Jasmine Dawson: We were here last year. Evan Shapiro: Let's start, before we get into why we're talking to you today in your lovely headquarters at Cannes Lions on the Croisette, how's your Cannes? Jasmine Dawson: Thank goodness it's AC'd, 'cause I wouldn't be British if I wasn't talking about the weather. Yeah, looking at my wardrobe this morning making sure that I'm not gonna sweat through this dress. But yes, looking forward to it. Evan Shapiro: It's, And I know this is a little impolite for [00:01:00] British, society, but it's hot as fuck here. Right? Can I get a... Yeah. And, we did, I think the crowd is here exclusively for the AC, right? A round of applause for that. Jasmine Dawson: A round of applause for the AC. Evan Shapiro: Yeah. And how is the Cannes? How's the energy on the Croisette so far that you've read? Jasmine Dawson: I think everyone is looking for progress, which I think, we're looking for as well. I think there is obviously a lot going on out there. But I think there is more collaboration that you're seeing. And I think, yes, there's fragmentation, but more people are working together, which I love to see. Evan Shapiro: How, is that what you're feeling out there on the floor then? Marion Ranchet: Yeah, Absolutely. I'm always amazed by the amount of money that is being spent at this place. I wanna see some of that money coming to, companies producing content, being in that ecosystem, 'cause you hear a lot of people complaining about the mismatch between the viewership and the monetization. Yeah, I want some of [00:02:00] that focus and collaboration to reallyturn into concrete progress, as you said. Evan Shapiro: speaking of progress, last year we were here, you were unveiling a whole new business model. Fandom first. Creator mindset. So how'd it go? How, has the last year been, as you focused on the, what we call new K- KPIs, key passion indices, not vanity metrics. What was the last year like for BBC Studios and this initiative? Jasmine Dawson: It's been a fantastic year and an intense year. So many people have said to us, "Gosh, you've been everywhere." Really, we have felt like we have been hard at it, really focusing on the strategy and embedding the strategy, and making sure that the numbers are paying off. And thrilling for us is that the numbers are paying off. And, we think that we obviously revealed some great numbers last year. We talked about the fact that we're number one in watch time. We're number one in watch time for a second year. [00:03:00] And for us, that is about proving out the model. Anyone can be successful once. It's about that repetition, and that shows us that the model is not only working for us, but can be repeatable and hopefully scale. Evan Shapiro: And repeatable is what we're here to talk about. You've got some new announcements that we're gonna cover here. We're gonna actually break some news right here on this pod today, live in Cannes, with a live studio audience. But let's look at those numbers. I actually have them right here. I actually have a clicker. So this is hours watched was the metric that you decided was central to fandom and engagement. Jasmine Dawson: Yes, absolutely. And we talked a lot last year about the fact that we're moving away from views and reach. We felt that was a vanity metric, and all platforms measure views differently, and we really wanted to hold ourselves accountable to actually engaging our fandoms. And for us, that is, yes, hours watched, and it's impressive to see that sort of 60% growth. But really [00:04:00] also average watch time, and making sure that our portfolio is acting as a portfolio, and generating, an incredible 13.3 minutes of average watch time. Which you can see there, is not just a little bit above, it's significantly above. And everyone has a different strategy. This isn't about us throwing shade on anyone. It's around talking about that our strategy works. And that our model is there to not only enhance our portfolio, but also enhance our advertising solutions as well. Marion Ranchet: Yeah. Fascinating. So you have some new things happening this year because I think when we spoke last year, you were very focused on Bluey. And a lot of people said, "Yeah, but you had Bluey. It's, easy." So the idea is really right now to have an actual playbook, something that is repeatable success for you guys. Jasmine Dawson: Yes. Marion Ranchet: So what does that look like now? How do you, are you looking for scale? What, is that [00:05:00] newish KPI that you're working after? Jasmine Dawson: First of all, Bluey, phenomenal IP, and we're so proud of what it's done. Evan Shapiro: And that drives a lot of the watch time. Jasmine Dawson: That drives a lot of it. It absolutely does. Evan Shapiro: That has even longer watch time than- Jasmine Dawson: Yeah, that's got a longer watch time than our average. So Bluey's is almost 15 minutes, which is just incredible. Would I class it as easy? I think my team would have something to say about it. So I definitely wouldn't describe it as easy. But I would say that, yes, there is, Bluey is not an everyday occurrence. It is something that isn't easily repeatable as an IP. But it is a model that we can take learnings from and think about how we then optimize our portfolio, and that's what we've done. So yes, we talked about the case study of Bluey last year. We announced that we were acting as a third party for, other studios. So Acamar with the incredible children's IP for Bing. We have lent into that, taken [00:06:00] all those learnings, and we're launching Affinity, which is our advertising network across five different verticals, one of those being family, which allows us to really build on our trusted IP, built around passions of the audience, as well as really diving into fandom. So it is still a fandom-first strategy, but it's a way of us thinking about our advertising solutions and taking that model out to brands and advertisers. Evan Shapiro: So the model itself is, as spoke about last year, and you hinted at here, it's built around fandom. Jasmine Dawson: Yes. Evan Shapiro: So focuses on, in your case, as you said, verticals of fandom. Jasmine Dawson: Yes. Evan Shapiro: So Bluey is one of those, and you've said replicating that is part of the charge through these five new verticals. What are those other, you're not starting just from scratch in these other verticals. Jasmine Dawson: No. Evan Shapiro: You're building it around fandoms that you already operate. Jasmine Dawson: Absolutely. Evan Shapiro: Throughout the ecosystem. What are those? Jasmine Dawson: So it's really important that we're building around that trusted IP, and whether that's ours that we own or that we're operating for others. [00:07:00] But family is our first one which is born from our incredible children's, portfolio. But obviously Bluey, definitely, is taking charge, of that vertical. Then we have auto. Auto is built around our incredible expertise, from Top Gear, and really leaning into creators, and other, auto brands as well. Evan Shapiro: Top Gear has, what size of audience, on digital? Jasmine Dawson: So on YouTube we recently hit 10 million subscribers. Evan Shapiro: For Top Gear? Jasmine Dawson: For Top Gear. So for us it is obviously Top Gear has been around for a long time. It's had many different television formats. But digital has outlasted and it really has built a fandom that is passionate and engaged in a completely different way. The show has been an incredible journey and moved from auto specialism into entertainment. [00:08:00] But really it is, absolute gearheads that watch Top Gear on YouTube. And they also know us for the wit and the entertainment that we bring there, but it is about that incredible auto expertise. Evan Shapiro: And again, it's heavy engagement there. Jasmine Dawson: Yes. Evan Shapiro: So what are the other verticals? Rip through those. But again, they're each built on fandom, right? Jasmine Dawson: Yep, each built around fandom, built around that trusted IP, but trying to pull it through the line. So using incredible IP, creators, as well as bringing brands in from the outside too. So travel and food is one. Entertainment is really where we're focusing on commissioning new IP there as well. And then Our World. So Our World obviously, is really centered around BBC Earth. BBC Earth is an incredible fandom that's been built over 10 years. And it means so much to our fandom as well. There is so much richness there of our IP from Blue Planet, to obviously sort of Big Cats, and some incredible blue chip programming. [00:09:00] But it also brings it home, when we've commissioned creator focused content around BBC Earth as well, and making sure that the messaging cuts all the way through. So these are the five verticals. They're built around fandoms and our trusted IP, but we're also bringing in other amazing studios. So we announced last year around working with Acamar. This year we're working with Magic Light Pictures and bringing Zog into the family vertical. And also we'll be announcing some other amazing partnerships. Evan Shapiro: And the affinity offering is offering ad sales across all these verticals worldwide. Jasmine Dawson: Worldwide. Yes. Evan Shapiro: Including a major investment in the United States as well. Jasmine Dawson: Yes. So we touched on last time sort of the how we sell is really important. We ultimately, we have built our digital focus sales team to enable them to be able to sell our content in a way that we believe is unique. So we are talking about fandom first, we're talking about [00:10:00] social first, as well as making sure that we are thinking about how we bring a brand into this Affinity network. Really, the unique selling factor here is about connecting with those emotional and cultural moments that sort of only we can bring. Marion Ranchet: The question is, so for any advertisers coming to you, so the pitch is, again, Affinity, Fandom. What does that actually look like in practice? Jasmine Dawson: So for us it is about how we work and what we're commissioning. So as we said, it's the how we work, which is acting like a creator, thinking about different KPIs, making sure that we are being clear to our brands and advertisers that we don't just connect with audiences, we move them. And therefore, we're not just trying to reach them and go, "Yes, here's your sort of fantastic media plan that's gonna reach this many people." We're talking about what is your objective? 'Cause our objective with our audience is to connect with them, to build a fandom, and move them [00:11:00] to do something else. And therefore, if you're showing that you can do that, that's much more effective than a reach play. Evan Shapiro: But, practicalize that for me. We started talking about Affinity last year. We have built a shared language, you and I, around Affinity. I talk about the Affinity economy all the time. This new offering is around Affinity audiences, but it's also called Affinity. But what does that look like in real time? It's not just putting out content there. It means going deep with your fans into the community, into the comment section. How does that look across a property like Bluey? Jasmine Dawson: Bluey for, us, we're lucky with so many of our fandoms. We've got a community that talks back, that actively curates for us, that actively gets involved with everything that we post. They self-monitor and someone asks a question, we don't necessarily need to jump in. The community actively and organically engages with itself to not only answer questions, but also recommend [00:12:00] content. They ask us for partnerships. They ask us for the next, compilation or original commission that we're going to do. Which is what we decided that had to happen across the entire portfolio, listening to that fandom and understanding that actually, if you engage with them and listen to those signals correctly, you won't have to guess at what's coming next. And you're working with them. The audience, as you have said this before, are the new commissioners. If we listen to them, then our content pipeline becomes far easier, far more compelling to them, but also far more compelling to advertisers and brands. Evan Shapiro: When you respond to a prompt from the audience that you get, and I think a lot of smart people, we talked to ITV about Love Island, and they listen and change the show. And you'd, you respond in content, with content from Bluey- Jasmine Dawson: Yes. Evan Shapiro: In response to the audience prompts. What is the reaction of the fandom when they see their ideas come to life out there on the... Jasmine Dawson: It's gratifying. They [00:13:00] realize that they're part of the journey, and that they have control. And of course they should. This is a, it's a social platform. And therefore, we want to be able to work with them, not talk at them. So for example, on Bluey, there's Bluey, if you're not familiar with the show, has a younger sister called Bingo. She's also got an incredible cousin called Muffin who is absolutely my spirit animal. And she is chaos, and she is beautiful chaos, is how I would see it. Her, I'm not sure my mother does. But the fans were crying out for more Muffin content. So we decided that we were going to launch a new YouTube channel around Muffin, and brought that beautiful chaos with the channel. So, did some sort of organic stunts that made sure that we were bringing that spirit with her into her new YouTube channel, creating new content or new compilations, and hopefully in the future, [00:14:00] new original commissions as well. Marion Ranchet: What's fascinating is that given how close you are to your community, it does mean that when you bring the affinity to brands and advertisers, you choose brands as much as they choose you. You have that responsibility, right? Jasmine Dawson: Yeah. Exactly. Marion Ranchet: Any more examples you can share about companies you've, you're working with, you've been working with? Jasmine Dawson: So you're absolutely right. When we work with companies, we obviously, have deep values that make the BBC the BBC. And therefore, we want to work with like-minded partners, and making sure that we're working with partners that share the same values, and that also it's not gonna appear inauthentic on our channels, because our audience will call us out for it. We've done that in the past, and there has been, a self-correction. So you know, we have worked with a lot of different partners. With Bluey, we've worked with some of our licensing partners. So we've worked with Crayola, [00:15:00] who's an incredible partner for us. And for us it is about bringing that magic of our dual audience, and thinking about the fact that we've got incredible co-viewing. 77% of our viewing is on CTV, Evan Shapiro: Wow. Jasmine Dawson: Which is obviously compelling when you're talking to advertisers, but also wanting to bring it into the real world. So thinking about how we leverage all our platforms. So Crayola was an incredible package where we were using not only our website, but social, but also in real life partnership too. So that's something that we always look to replicate. Evan Shapiro: And that, the big screen represents co-viewing, so there's a, you're getting four quadrants, as it were, on this. A good deal of this viewing, as you said, 77% is on big screen, which is crazy. Bonkers. And that means that's a lot of co-viewing. Jasmine Dawson: Yes. Evan Shapiro: And what does that represent to you from the living room, you put research up at Stream TV Europe that talked about co-viewing being really on the rise and the living [00:16:00] room taking over control of video in the home. what do you think that represents from the co-viewing standpoint, and what does it r- represent to your partners? Jasmine Dawson: Yes. Incredible stories resonate with, or should resonate, with all ages. And Bluey has definitely moved from preschool IP to being a family attention environment and a multi-generational audience. We can see that through the data. The 77% on, CTV is compelling from an audience perspective, but also from an advertiser perspective. And it's showing that co-viewing can translate into connecting with audiences and advertisers. For us it's really important on the ramp-up to movie. So Bluey has a movie coming out next year. The next year is incredibly important, and only going to get more intense. But for us it's a moment for us to expand that Blueyverse. So thinking about- Evan Shapiro: Blueyverse. Jasmine Dawson: It is. Evan Shapiro: No, I love it. Jasmine Dawson: A Blueyverse. Yeah. Come on the journey with us because you'll see new channels, you'll see new content. And an [00:17:00] amazing movie coming out next year. Evan Shapiro: And, speaking of partnerships, you are, have another announcement. So Affinity was the first piece of news you're breaking with us today, and then you have another piece of news that we're gonna break about expanding your partnership inside the BBC. We'll do that in just one second. We'll be back in one second. Marion Ranchet: Please give it up to Dan. Dan, welcome to The Media Odyssey podcast. Amazing having you here. Evan Shapiro: Dan McGolpin Dan McGolpin: Pleasure to be here. Evan Shapiro: Director of iPlayer and Channels at BBC. Dan McGolpin: That's right, yep. Evan Shapiro: And so just before the break, we talked about you expanding your partnership. The BBC and BBC Studios are two different organizations that live inside the same umbrella brand. I have to explain this to American friends all the time. And when it, you talk about expanding partnerships across to the Beeb. What does that mean? Dan McGolpin: Yeah. So we work with a wide variety of producers and rights holders. BBC Studios is or obviously has a historic connection to the BBC and is part of the BBC Group. So the announcement we're [00:18:00] making today is that some of our YouTube channels, some of our YouTube content that we make within the public service part of the BBC that I work in, will now be sold by Jasmine and her team. Evan Shapiro: And that's worldwide? Jasmine Dawson: That is X UK. Evan Shapiro: Right. Jasmine Dawson: So for us, it's about taking the incredible portfolio out to market. So a lot of the work that sort of the teams have been doing across BBC group is to think about this as one portfolio, rather than, as we said, it's obviously it's two different areas of the business. but ultimately, we are speaking to one audience and making sure that we are engaging them. It's incredible sort of privilege for us to be able to take out some of these channels as part of the Affinity network. Marion Ranchet: And so Dan, can you tell us a bit more about, what does that look like, the BBC group on YouTube? 'Cause I think there's a bit of a misconception. Dan McGolpin: Yeah. Okay. So the BBC has been on YouTube for twenty-plus years, and I think there's been, areas of, that we've been, [00:19:00] doing things in, such as BBC Studios have built a really fantastic, globally renowned studio for working on YouTube. Within the UK, we've mostly seen it as mar- a marketing activity, so we still continue to do that. It's a great place for us to promote our brands in the UK. But we've added a couple of things to that. So in our new strategy that was announced at the start of this year that we were working on last year, we added the things of building communities for under twenty-fives in the UK. So not just marketing to them, but actually living and breathing with them, learning how to create communities for them there, seeing that as actually part of our content offering rather than just a simple means to an end. And then the other part to it is also in news, which is not the part I work in specifically, but it's part of the overall group strategy. And in news, we want to be the number one English language news provider globally, so they have a global ambition. So that is a real statement of intent that goes beyond what the BBC was doing on YouTube and actually now expands into these four key areas that we've spoken about. Evan Shapiro: And one of the reasons for you, it's not just this big, hairy, [00:20:00] audacious goal to be the number one English news provider out there. But one of the goals, one of the missions is to fight misinformation. And you're taking that really responsibly by attacking it on the platforms where a lot of misinformation takes place. Dan McGolpin: Yeah, exactly. So our BBC News team do a fantastic job day in, day out. We're globally very famous for that. And we think there's even more opportunity to help on other third-party services, including YouTube, to provide really trusted, high quality, accurate information. We think that would be a great thing for the UK and beyond . Evan Shapiro: And this was all part of a strategy that was put together during the course of last year, and that was launched over the course of, let's say, the last couple of quarters. Is that accurate? Dan McGolpin: Yeah. So what happened was, last year we decided to create a strategy where the BBC group would work together for the first time. So instead of having different YouTube strategies in different parts of the BBC, we decided, okay, it makes sense now to think as a whole. So we brought everything together. We came up with these four missions, which is build communities for under 25s, promote our brands in the UK, fight disinformation [00:21:00] globally, and make a good commercial return globally. And then we worked that strategy. We took it to the executive committee of the BBC and the board for sign-off. That was at latter end of last year. It was announced at the start of this year, so you would've seen the announcement in January. And now we're- Evan Shapiro: I think I wrote something about it. Dan McGolpin: You probably did. Yeah. I think you may have done. So yeah, so we've been busy rolling that out. And just to say as part of that, this isn't just a strategy, this is a plan with action. So over the course of this year, we are launching 50-plus new YouTube channels. Around half of those or more are with Jasmine and her team in BBC Studios and at least 25 or more within Public Service. So that's channels with content to populate it. Marion Ranchet: And what's the approach? Are you looking at building a network? Is, when you're talking about, affinity, what are the verticals that you're tapping into? A big event is happening right now. He calls it soccer, but it's football. Evan Shapiro: So what do you call it? Dan McGolpin: Actually, you're quite knowledgeable about the [00:22:00] World Cup. I saw what you said, Evan Shapiro: I appreciate it. Dan McGolpin: And Mauricio Pochettino, who was, from my previous team, is now the coach of the US. That's the reason the US are doing so well, because of Mauricio. Evan Shapiro: Thank you very much. Marion Ranchet: They should listen to us. Evan Shapiro: I'm learning on the go mostly because of Marion. Marion Ranchet: Yeah, you're gonna have to because we're gonna win this year, again, sorry. Evan Shapiro: We'll see. We'll see. Okay. Yeah. Marion Ranchet: Ooh, I hear England here. Evan Shapiro: Controversial But, to her point, so some verticals, sport is a big part of the offering, right? Dan McGolpin: It is. So within what we do in Public Service, there are a number of verticals that we're really focused on. We had Accounts before, but they were big umbrella accounts. So we had an account, BBC Sport. We had, a BBC Masterbrand account. We had a BBC Music account. What we've learnt working with Jasmine, working with YouTube themselves, and working with various teams and third parties who we've spoken to, it's far better with YouTube to be really specific about the communities you're building. So we're moving on. So in the case of sport, instead of just having one sport account, we just, launched out of that, span off a BBC football account just in time for the World Cup, and we'll be doing that more within sport to be much more specific. So [00:23:00] rather than spamming people with lots of things about sports they may not be interested in, let's find some passions for specific sports and major on that. So the same approach would apply to some other verticals. So we now have a number of kids channels, not just two or three. Within audio, we're thinking beyond just BBC Music. And then in youth commissioning, we have a number of channels that we've either just launched, like BBC Deep Watch. That was one that we launched last week. BBC Perspectives, which is a channel we have planned for the later part of this year, and then a number of others beyond that. Evan Shapiro: And so just from a mechanics standpoint, 'cause I think there are some nerds out there like myself and Marion who wanna know how does this work, right? so it sounds like there are, half the channels that you're launching, you said 50 or 60, are gonna be operated within BBC Studios Digital Enterprises, and then the other half will be operated underneath the BBC and operated from the core operation on a daily basis. Dan McGolpin: That's right. And the announcement today would say that some of the channels we're doing for the UK- 'cause our focus is the UK, our money is from the UK, Jasmine and her team will then be able to sell advertising ex-UK for some of the content and some of the [00:24:00] channels. Jasmine Dawson: Yeah. And it's important to distinguish that sort of Affinity is our advertising network, and the way that we're curating that at BBC Studios is global and an advertising portfolio that is connected, but not the content portfolio in which we are trying to organize, around as well. But there are learnings from both, right? And understanding as to, how audiences engage, really informs, both approaches. But it's great for us to think about this as one. As I said earlier, making sure that we're engaging with the audience and we're not being fragmented, and we're thinking about how those passion points really connect, across all of BBC Group. Which is just a huge opportunity. We've got an amazing catalog. We've got amazing new IP coming out every day. The sort of 50 channels sounds like a sort of big, hairy goal, but to be honest, we've still got more to come. So it really is, this year is about the progress part of it, learning, adapting, and iterating, [00:25:00] and to achieve perfection at some point down the road. Evan Shapiro: And, and don't let perfection be the enemy of progress. Jasmine Dawson: Yeah, agreed. Evan Shapiro: Is that what you, said earlier today? And then, just more nerdy, mechanic stuff. This is a big expansion for you into the US market. So you're gonna be representing tremendous number of channels and hours watched- Jasmine Dawson: Ye. Evan Shapiro: Across the US for the, not for the first time. You've been there for some time, but you're expanding your availability there, and, this new affinity operation around the verticals of fandom itself. Jasmine Dawson: Yeah, absolutely. So BBC Studios is a global enterprise, and our advertising solutions are global. The US is obviously a massive market for us, and we've been ramping up our advertising sales team and our solutions in the US, in prime for this. Because whilst obviously operated outside of the UK, great storytelling should travel. Great channels should travel. So whilst, those four goals are really important, the only way you can achieve that one on the end, is by ensuring that [00:26:00] the opportunity is global. Evan Shapiro: Cool. We've got another partnership. So this is about an internal partnership. Now we're gonna bring someone from the outside. A very special partnership and a groundbreaking historic partnership as far as I can tell, right? Jasmine Dawson: Absolutely. It is a full circle moment for us. Evan Shapiro: Cool. We'll be right back. Thank you very much. Marion Ranchet: Welcome to Anna Rafferty, SVP Digital Consumer Engagement from the Lego Group. Hi, Anna. Anna Rafferty: Hi. Marion Ranchet: Amazing to have you on. Evan Shapiro: Why are you here? I've... First of all, what's Lego Group's, seriously, what's Lego Group's relationship to Cannes Lions, and what do you do at Lego, the Lego Group that involves entertainment and would be, put you on this podcast today? Anna Rafferty: Excellent series of questions. Evan Shapiro: Thank you. Yeah. All at once. Anna Rafferty: I'll start with the latter. So I look after, all of our digital consumer engagement touchpoints. So it's things that are [00:27:00] mainly digital, actually not just digital, but all owned social fan experiences. So very lucky to work for, like the BBC, a almost 100-year-old- Evan Shapiro: Yeah, we've got two brands here that are about a century old working together. Anna Rafferty: Yeah. We're waiting for 2032 for our Evan Shapiro: That's your, that's your 100th birthday. Anna Rafferty: Our 100th birthday. Evan Shapiro: You look great for 100. Anna Rafferty: But, two brands that I think Jasmine, you mentioned earlier, wanting to share values that I feel very aligned, with in values terms, and I am always gonna say that because I used to work for BBC Studios. Evan Shapiro: Right. Anna Rafferty: And I, 10 years ago- Evan Shapiro: You hired Jasmine. Is that, is that- Anna Rafferty: And I hired Jasmine a decade ago, almost, and worked on our YouTube platform then. But now I run everything consumer-facing, digitally that's for the Lego Group. We are a business that I believe you probably will be [00:28:00] familiar with. Evan Shapiro: Yeah, very. Anna Rafferty: And the reason I'm here today is because we have got a big partnership about Bluey. It's not just about what we're going to talk about. We are products, it's a product partnership. We see and love the IP as well. We can see how much it is cross-generational. It is the stories that parents aren't just enduring, but really enjoying, and loving spending time watching it. So it's perfect for us, who has play and co-playing and co-building at the heart of our experience, to be able to create Bluey sets and products as well, and sets that actually we've stretched Bluey from our big bricks, our Duplo system, which is for the very youngest of preschool kids, through to what we call our system bricks. So these are the bricks that you step on that hurt at home. [00:29:00] Everybody knows. Evan Shapiro: But this is a historic thing. You've never spanned those two- Anna Rafferty: We've never packaged them together like this. They've never been positioned together. They've never been in the same visual identity. So no, bringing those sets out like that is a first for working with Bluey in this way. And I'm here to talk about the thing we've done most recently with Bluey. So obviously, we're very proud of our sets, which will continue to give children and their families opportunities to play their stories together. They're playing their stories sometimes in front of what they're watching, right? Evan Shapiro: That, I think a lot of kids will play with the, the toys themselves as they're watching themselves. Again, speaks to the big screen aspect of this watching happening in the living room. So the two brands have come together, not just here at Cannes, but long before this, to make a brand-new piece of content, which is another piece of [00:30:00] breaking news that's dropping the day that this podcast drops. So we're in Cannes right now. But we're getting this breaking news in advance. And this brand-new piece of content is dropping today on YouTube. Jasmine Dawson: It's a 10-part series. Evan Shapiro: Okay. Jasmine Dawson: So with the first, part of that series dropping today. Evan Shapiro: And it's a marriage of these two brands inside a program. Jasmine Dawson: It's a marriage of these two brands, and I think a real testament to the fandom. I think, I can only speak for Bluey, but I would say the same as a part of the fandom for the LEGO Group, is that there is so much passion there, so much UGC content there that sort of building goes far beyond what we could show. But it's amazing to be able to bring it to life, so, so beautifully. Evan Shapiro: I will say neither Marion nor I has seen this. This was loaded up onto this machine just seconds ago. Jasmine Dawson: Breaking news. Yes. So we're gonna play a clip here. You're gonna get the first look at this in the world, out in the worldwide [00:31:00] world. So here we- Jasmine Dawson: And then separately get a reaction video from you guys. Evan Shapiro: Yeah. So we'll be filming our reaction video. Jasmine Dawson: Yeah. Exactly that. So here's the world premiere clip: Bandit Heeler: Oh, man. Bluey: Oh, man. Bandit Heeler: Huh? Bluey: Huh? Bandit Heeler: Are you copying me? Bluey: Are you copying me? Bandit Heeler: Oh, boy. Bluey: Oh, boy. This episode of Bluey's called Copycat. Bandit Heeler: Oh. Bluey: Oh. Evan Shapiro: That was adorable. Marion Ranchet: It was amazing. I'm actually disappointed my kids are too old, so I've completely missed out on Bluey. Anna Rafferty: The thing about Bluey is you can watch it now. Yeah. It really is for everybody. Marion Ranchet: Okay. So let me give it a shot at that. Or wait until I become a grandma and Bluey will still be around. Jasmine Dawson: Oh, yeah. You bet your bottom [00:32:00] dollar it will be. Yeah, I think just the, magic of it, as Anna said, is the, multi-generational audience, and also who hasn't grown up doing copycat with a parent or with a, with an adult. I most certainly have, and my kids do it to me. So it is just regardless of whether you connect with Bluey. For us, the excitement is not just about reflecting the fandom back at the fandom, but also bringing in new lovers of this content. Anna Rafferty: I completely agree. And, I think for us, what I love particularly, and I hope that you feel similarly, is the real craft and care. This is a co-commission. This is an editorial co-commission. This is about taking that insight that we know that children love to play their stories. And these are, by the way, not the sets, actually. That's not what this is. This is about taking other iconic moments that they love to play and mixing, blending the sort of gorgeous world of Bluey with the [00:33:00] brick-based play, that they can create something completely new with. So there's this lovely loop of watch and play and build and watch and play and sit down and play and break it up and play it again that, this enables and continue to perpetuate. And your point around, you talked a lot about it, about fandom. Because we can see that parents enjoy it. Sincerely, it is funny. I think we share a lot of the tone of voice that we love in the LEGO Group to have this multi-layered, witty tone of voice that works across kids for sure, always, but also adults, in a way that isn't compromising anything, but it is just genuinely joyful. Bluey has that too, and we really, love that about it. And our fans who may be parents themselves, obviously there's children fans, but there's adult fans who are adult consumers, they're parents or they're creators themselves. Evan Shapiro: Right. Anna Rafferty: And [00:34:00] they love it too. So they're creating content. And to your point around, you listen to your community, we can see this other lovely loop perpetuating too. Evan Shapiro: And, so you've got the Blueyverse, you've got the LEGOverse, right? This kind of deepens the well for both. This expands this universe. It's a Venn diagram of universes, the univi. And you're expanding by addition, which is really nice. I am, again, nerdy kind of mechanics question. You said this was a co-commission from two, two iconic brands. How did that collaboration work? How did the... I don't wanna ask about the note sessions, but how did the, how did the both studios working together, how did that collaboration go? Anna Rafferty: I don't think it was that difficult actually, because, you know, it is true, and it's not intended to sound trite, that I think that we do have shared values. And some of those values, for instance, are really understanding craft and care, [00:35:00] really understanding our audiences, the granularity across multiple audiences, and therefore really wanting to make sure that what we create is right. And that's that bringing the right parts of whether that's the play, the original IP, what this, making something new editorially together. I would say that, of course, we're a product partnership, and very proud to be so. But in this context, it's an entertainment partnership. And, the Lego brand, or certainly on YouTube, and this is for Lego Little ones, so talking about the granularity of our channels, it really is thinking, from my perspective, about that family, shared experience. It means that we all have standards, and we respect that each other has them, and we quite like that about co-creating with each other, I think. Jasmine Dawson: I completely agree. And I think when you're working with a partner that shares the same values, and critically for us, [00:36:00] holds the same respect for our fandoms and audiences that we do. And that's when the partnership works best. And I think for us, there isn't that tension point because I think where other partnerships, perhaps that I've seen from the outside, not involving us, have possibly been mismatched, is when you don't hold that same respect for your audience. And therefore, it can possibly ring foul or slightly inauthentic. Whereas this, for us, is such an authentic way to reflect both fandoms back. As you say, bringing two universes together, which is hopefully, when we launch, gonna create some amazing magic. Marion Ranchet: And what's the release strategy? Are you dropping everything at once? Is it one episode a week? And, looking a bit ahead, what does success look like? What are you gonna track? Jasmine Dawson: I'm gonna start with the last one, of those questions, 'cause what are we gonna track? Average [00:37:00] watch time. For us, ultimately, this is a incredible way for us to making sure that it goes back to that model of engaging our fandoms, and making sure that the stories are resonating. There are so many more stories here to tell if the partnership continues, which we obviously hope it will. So that success is average watch time and hours watched for us around the world. In terms of we are dropping one a week, that repeatability very much helps us. The sort of consequence of not being predictable, we know the algorithm will punish us for. But ultimately, also we know that's what works. We've had so many original commissions with Bluey, and we're so excited to see this one land. And I think, we both share that sentiment. Anna Rafferty: I have nothing further to add. Evan Shapiro: I do have a pitch for you since this is a partnership here, right? Top Gear Legos. I'm just saying. I gave you that. That's for free. Anna Rafferty: I [00:38:00] think we've done that before. Jasmine Dawson: We've done that in the past. Evan Shapiro: Have you? All right. All right. Anna; But it's a great idea. Evan Shapiro: Yeah, it's a great idea- See? Jasmine Dawson: It was a great idea, but you don't get a cut. Evan Shapiro: Bring it back. I definitely get a cut. We get- We definitely get a cut Anna Rafferty: We do a lot of cars every year. We do make a lot of cars. Evan Shapiro: Absolutely. And so I think, this is a, this is two partnerships, one internal, one from the outside, but obviously a kinship there. This seems to be the strategy you're looking to scale Affinity as an offering, both the ad sales part of it, but also the vertical channels itself, is come inside these worlds, live inside these worlds with our communities, and we can partner on reaching those communities together as opposed to advertise to people and get them to buy shit. Jasmine Dawson: Exactly that. No notes. Evan Shapiro: Oh, no notes. Wow. So this was a lot of fun. Jasmine Dawson: Maybe a no shit. Evan Shapiro: No shit? Oh, come on, Jasmine. Jasmine Dawson: I know. I'm so- Evan Shapiro: We know each other too well. Jasmine Dawson: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Evan Shapiro: You, and you keep coming back no matter how much I curse. Jasmine Dawson: Yeah, I enjoy the cursing. Evan Shapiro: Thank you. This was a lot of fun. Jasmine Dawson: That was amazing. Evan Shapiro: You have a good time? Thank you for this venue. This, thank you for putting us up at the headquarters here. [00:39:00] Did you have a good time? Yeah. Thank you for coming to the Media Odyssey Podcast in Cannes. That is Marion Ranchet. Marion Ranchet: And that is Evan Shapiro. Evan Shapiro: We'll see you next time.