The brief was to increase the perceived value and usefulness of the BBC through our children’s services, targeting young families who don’t feel the BBC is for them. Recognising the scale of the conversation around children and screens, we saw an opportunity to go beyond an advertising campaign, and build on our values as a public service, delivering a message to parents reaching for reassurance.

The film was created using an innovative stop-motion approach to capture the whole family's imagination. The eccentric hand-crafted characters have a tactile feel, brought to life by inventive mixed media techniques combining digital and analogue animation; from stop motion puppetry to paint on glass animation. To really make the square eyes glow, lights were placed within the puppet, so wherever the puppet would look, it would cast a light, leading to the almost magical screen-like square eyes. All of the animation was done in camera.

The work assured parents that the BBC has beneficial content they can trust. The concluding message of: “Screens it’s what’s on them that counts” is a reminder of the power of BBC content in helping to develop curious, kind and creative young minds.

The campaign drove an increase in perception with an uplift of 20% of people who saw the campaign feeling like the BBC was for them and drove a 22% increase in claimed consumption. As a result, parents felt the BBC had quality content available that can be beneficial for children and contribute to their development as well as recognising It's not solely about the amount of time spent in front of screens but what age-appropriate content is being viewed.