43%

Market share

+139%

Involvement

10 m

Content starts

Agency
Mediaplus

Client
Spin Master 

Year
2021

 

Overview

Spin Master launched the Bakugan action toy without a supporting TV series, while competitors were present on kids' channels with twice the ad budget. Mediaplus developed an online-first involvement strategy featuring a dedicated content hub on toggo.de, engaging mini-games, and a cross-media 360° campaign. The result: a 43 percent market share and an involvement increase of more than 139 percent.

Challenge

Attention without a TV series

Toys sell best through one thing: successful content that opens up worlds of imagination, play, and wishes for kids. Even in today's increasingly fragmented, digital media landscape for younger audiences, free-TV series on kids' channels still play a key role in building reach and relevance for toy brands.

Bakugan by Spin Master launched with a clear disadvantage: without the high-reach support of its own TV series. The competition wasn't standing still: with twice the ad budget and their own kids' TV series, competing products secured a strong market position and captured the attention of the young target audience.

The task for Mediaplus: give Spin Master's new toy universe the same media attention as the competition and build lasting enthusiasm for the new toy among young audiences, without a TV series to rely on. How could the Bakuverse become the talk of the playroom under these conditions?

Solution

Online-first for the Bakuverse

Together with Spin Master, Mediaplus combined three success factors from media and content, for the first time, into an effective online-first involvement strategy for the Bakuverse.

Maximum reach: Based on a sophisticated content foundation, we built a dedicated content hub, including a microsite for the Bakugan universe, on toggo.de, a high-reach portal for young audiences. This gave the new toy line a digital home that made up for the missing TV presence.

Maximum involvement: We engaged the young target audience through an activating approach featuring various mini-games and captivating videos centered on the Bakuverse. Instead of just watching, kids could actively immerse themselves in the toy world.

Additional traffic push: A cross-media 360° campaign with engaging ad formats and game teasers around the “Bakuverse” gave the new toy line an extra attention boost and drove additional traffic to the content hub.

Result: Despite having no TV series and facing a better-funded competitor, Spin Master achieved a 43 percent market share and increased target audience involvement by more than 139 percent.

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"With a bold and effective online-first involvement strategy, Spin Master successfully launched a new toy universe, even without a TV series and against a dominant competitor, achieving sustained sales and market share growth.”

Alf Moka
Consulting and Campaign Strategy | Mediaplus

Alf Moka

Awards

#1

1x Bronze | German Effie Awards

KEY TAKEAWAYS

#1

Online-first strategies can make up for a lack of TV presence

#2

Involvement beats pure reach with young audiences

#3

A dedicated content hub measurably activates young audiences

More Cases from Mediaplus

About Mediaplus

Mediaplus, headquartered in Munich, is one of Europe’s largest independent media agencies and part of the Serviceplan Group. It employs around 2,200 people in more than 20 wholly owned offices worldwide and has a presence in over 40 locations, including partner offices. As an owner- and partner-led company, Mediaplus combines strategic media, data and AI expertise with personal responsibility, a drive to innovate and entrepreneurial thinking. True to its claim “People. Pioneering. Progress.”, the agency drives sustainable brand and business growth. Its group-wide AI framework, “House of AI”, pairs proprietary data models with in-depth market expertise. Mediaplus is a regular in the WARC Media 100 and the RECMA Quality Ranking, and a five-time Media Agency of the Year at the German Media Awards.

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Alf Moka
Alf Moka
Mediaplus
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FAQs

When a new toy lacks the high-reach support of a dedicated TV series, it needs alternative ways to reach young audiences. For Bakugan, Mediaplus relied on an online-first involvement strategy: a dedicated content hub on a high-reach kids' portal, engaging mini-games, and a cross-media 360° campaign made up for the missing TV presence. What mattered here wasn't reach alone, but active involvement from the target audience. The result shows that digital activation can hold its own against competitors with a much larger ad budget and TV support, when content and media are strategically linked.

An online-first involvement strategy puts digital channels and active audience participation at the center of communication, rather than relying on traditional TV reach. For Bakugan, Mediaplus combined three success factors: a dedicated content hub for maximum reach, engaging formats such as mini-games and videos for maximum involvement, and a cross-media campaign as an additional traffic push. This meant the young target audience wasn't just reached, but actively engaged, which translated into a measurable increase in involvement.

The media market for kids is becoming increasingly fragmented and digital, and traditional free-TV series alone often aren't enough to secure reach and relevance. For Bakugan, Mediaplus therefore built a dedicated digital home on an established kids' portal, complemented by mini-games, videos, and a cross-media campaign. This combination of content and activating media made it possible to reach the young target audience with strong attention, despite a better-funded competitor, and build enthusiasm for the new toy universe.