Case Studies
Angry Birds
The Partnership
In 2017 Popcorn Digital secured its first major partnership with one of the most beloved global brands, Angry Birds. Our goal was to work alongside Rovio to deepen fan engagement, expand brand experience, strengthen the brand’s community and reach new audiences through the Angry Birds YouTube channel.
The Approach
To grow Angry Birds’ audience, we adopted Popcorn Digital’s tailored step-by-step cyclical approach that is rolled out one by one but continuously kept. Hence digital strategy, original content and channel management practices were continually improving.
Step 1: Working closely with the client in creating a two-year strategy that covered the role of the YouTube channel within the brand and a detailed plan on how to optimise the opportunities offered by the platform to exponentially increase brand awareness.
Step 2: Managing the existing library while executing a programming strategy with the aim of gaining views and learning about relevant trends within the brand and audience preferences.
Step 3: Compiling and converting information gained to create new original YouTube shows, fulfilling fans’ appetites and reaching new audiences while developing Angry Birds’ YouTube presence in the direction envisioned by the brand.
The Results
Four original series were created and the Angry Birds channel experienced unprecedented growth:
Examples
Oscar's Oasis
The Content
Oscar’s Oasis is a 78 x 7’ action-packed slapstick non-dialogue comedy featuring a lonely lizard, who lives in an unforgiving environment. From April 2014 to January 2017 the show had accumulated over 630M views and more than 95.5M hours watched on YouTube, but these figures were coming from User Generated Content (UGC) i.e. content that fans were uploading themselves. Popcorn Digital was appointed to build an official destination for Oscar’s Oasis on the platform while diverting UGC traffic to the new Oscar’s Oasis Official YouTube Channel.
The Approach
To open and grow the Oscar’s Oasis Official YouTube Channel, we adopted Popcorn Digital’s tailored step-by step approach that identifies the challenge of the specific client to deliver the most successful solutions.
Step 1: Focusing on understanding the success behind the content uploaded by fans.
We identified the main channels uploading Oscar’s Oasis UGC, mapping general length, format, thumbnail style, themes and main territories consuming content. We also used the UGC content to provide information on our audience’s preferences, when it came to optimal video length based on existing engagement with videos.
Step 2: Research was fundamental in guiding us through the process of defining clear KPIs and what the new official channel could do, in terms of tapping into new audiences. At the same time, we used the information we gathered, to find gaps among UGC uploads and looked at how we could produce videos with unique themes and visuals driving fans’ attention to content on the official channel.
Step 3: We executed our programming strategy with a step-by step cyclical approach, which aimed to constantly improve practices based on the results collected. In addition to strong branding and artwork, we started to upload content more often than fan content as well as uploading longer content. Later, we tested themed compilations with an editorial approach including seasonal repurposed content e.g. Summer and Halloween which were particularly successful.
The Results
From January 2017 to February 2023 the Oscar’s Oasis Official YouTube channel gained:
.jpg)
.jpg)
Total Drama
The Content
Total Drama is an animated parody of a survivor reality show featuring random teenage archetypes, who compete for a final cash prize using any means necessary! This critically acclaimed hit series is now in its 7th season and most recently, launched prequel Total Dramarama, which is now in its second season. While the franchise has been captivating fans globally for over a decade, it was lacking an official online destination, where fans of all ages could enjoy and engage with the brand.
The Approach
Considering the popularity of the franchise across several different countries, Popcorn Digital opted for a multi-channel strategy as a solution to address a significant already-existing fan base that was still lacking official digital destinations to engage with the shows.
Consistent branding was applied to all elements including banner and individual thumbnails, as well as efficient visual communication, which allowed fans to identify official content and distinguish content tailored to specific territories.
Once the new spin-off “Total Dramarama” was released, a fourth channel was opened, acknowledging that this series would be speaking to a different demographic. Cross-promotion between existing channels was applied
continuously engaging existing audiences, while exposing content to new viewers.
The Results
