Paddington tells the story of a Peruvian bear finding friends, family and compassion in London and it has made him a timeless symbol of British national identity since 1958. Our social media strategy needed to reach and resonate with a broad audience, to protect and grow Paddington’s continued appeal over generations.
The campaign needed to please fans who grew up with the original Micheal Bond books, as well as delight the younger fans and families who enjoy the Nickelodeon animated series, plus moviegoers who fell in love with the first two feature films.
To reflect this diverse audience, we used Facebook, where 32% of the audience are heritage fans and aged 45+, and Instagram where 70% of the audience are under 44, representing both movie fans and parents with young children. Carousel was tasked with leveraging the Jubilee as an opportunity to maximise awareness whilst staying true to the brand’s core values, such as inclusivity and acceptance.
We devised a content-rich social media approach to reach a diverse audience, both in the UK and globally. Building on the previous success of craft and recipe Reels on Instagram, we worked with a cookery creator to produce a recipe Reel for macarons shaped like Paddington’s face. To keep the excitement going we brought Paddington to life with bespoke lifestyle photography of a Paddington teddy bear on a Jubilee banquet complete with Union Jack bunting and marmalade scones.
Incorporating fans into the strategy was important. We worked with fan photography account Abearcalledpadddington, who take their Paddington teddy across the globe, sharing a photo of their well-travelled Paddington outside the real Buckingham Palace gates alongside tourist crowds. Finally, our content production team created a series of Paddington-themed jubilee mobile phone wallpapers for fans, shared via Instagram Stories.
This campaign cemented Paddington’s British brand heritage globally and produced 69.4m social reach, 1.59m social engagements and a 219k follower growth.
Want to find out how we can help build your brand awareness? Click here to get in touch.
Paddington is a licensed character owned and managed by The Copyrights Group (a STUDIOCANAL company).
©P&Co. Ltd/ SC 2023
