PR Case Study: Mr. Men and Little Miss: 45th anniversary

To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Mr. Men and Little Miss children’s series, Aduro Communications created the first ever ‘Mini Museum’, designed specifically for children, with the creation of a virtual archive.

mr men aduro

The Mr. Men and Little Miss children’s series celebrated its 45th anniversary this year

Campaign: Mr. Men and Little Miss: 45th anniversary
Client: Mr. Men Ltd
PR Team: Aduro Communications
Timing: June – August 2016

Overview:

Aduro designed a family friendly campaign that put kids at the heart of a real-life experience, creating the first ever ‘Mini Museum’ designed specifically for children with a nostalgic element to appeal to millenials and press through the creation of a virtual archive.

The agency devised and ran an event with media angles that worked across its audiences’ most-consumed media; radio, online and print, simultaneously hitting all their touch points. Capitalising on the brand’s 45th anniversary, the team created a variety of assets to give press a strong hook to talk about the campaign.

Objectives:

  • Rebuild the Mr. Men Little Miss archive and celebrate the brand’s 45th anniversary.
  • Remind parents, grandparents and millenials how positively they feel about Mr. Men & Little Miss.

Strategy

To bring the campaign to life, Aduro:

1. Created a virtual archive

Aduro provided a platform for fans to upload pictures of their own treasured Mr. Men Little Miss memorabilia, engaging the brand’s audience to help rebuild their archive.

2. Brought the archive to life

The agency designed a news-worthy, week-long ‘Mini Museum’ to help the brand reconnect with both families and millenials. The Mini Museum, a world first exhibition designed specifically for children, was made up of rare and unusual Mr. Men Little Miss memorabilia donated by fans and held at the Oxo Gallery on South Bank.

3. Created a bank of press assets to celebrate the 45th anniversary

Offering press a variety of angles and news stories, the team created a bank of media assets from consumer research, video content and new Mr. Men and Little Miss characters, bringing the activity to life.

Results

  • 20,000 visitors to the Mini Museum over five days (double Oxo Gallery’s usual visitors in that time period).
  • 50% uplift in web traffic, attributed directly to the event.
  • Five million consumers reached via social media, resulting in more than 500 uploads to the new Mr. Men and Little Miss virtual archive in under a week.
  • The event directly drove £12,000 worth of merchandise sales.
  • 63 pieces of coverage were generated, including seven national features.
  • Video content with national online and broadcast titles were viewed over 100,000 times in under a week.
  • Additional billboard space worth £6k+ on Waterloo bridge was secured for free.

Client testimonial:
“ Our objective was to launch an online archive for our fans to interact with and to remind the British public of their ongoing love for this classic property. The outcome surpassed our expectations on a number of counts. Not only in terms of the quantity of engagement (visitors to the Oxo Tower, turnover of the pop up store, and uploads on to the archive) but raising the Mr. Men profile with existing and new partners by reinforcing the breadth and popularity of this brand and internally lighting a fire in the creative team about new (and vintage directions) we can take Mr. Men.  We are now looking at how we can build on this momentum with a regional tour in 2017.” Lisa MacDonald, vice president, Mr. Men Ltd

“It’s fantastic to see the characters displayed like this, having their own exhibition really shows that they are a modern classic.” Adam Hargreaves, Mr. Men and Little Miss illustrator and son of creator Roger Hargreaves


Got a cracking campaign – with impressive results – that you’d like to showcase? If so, please email richard.odonnell@gorkana.com.

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