Taking Heritage Brands Online

Taking Heritage
Brands Online

Dubit -

Taking Heritage Brands Online

Presentation takeouts:
- Which heritage IPs are most in demand
- How kids are consuming IPs across platforms
- How audience engagement informs the adaptations of heritage IPs
- An adaptaion model for de-risking the process and ensuring you meet audiences expecations
- Examples of how kids would adapt a number of heritage IPs in a way that would make them consider paying
- Including Brad’s experiences when designing both the digtial and non-digital elements of Summertime
Entertainment’s Oz franchise
Co-presentation:
Peter Robinson, Head of Research, Dubit
uk.linkedin.com/pub/peter-robinson/3/585/699/
@PeterRobinson81
Brad Jashinsky, Head of Digital, Summertime Entertainment

Questions we get asked

1. How do we ﬁnd the new IP we should be investing in?
2. We have a series of IPs, which should we be investing in?
3. We are adapting a IP, how can it engage the audience?

Dubit -


So let me start with some of the questions we get asked and I am sure many of you also ask or answer...
In no order of importance, but perhaps in an order of logic
How do we ﬁnd Angry Birds before it becomes Angry Birds?
Which properties, that we own or are interested in owning, have the most potential to engage an audience
And once we have found or chosen that property how should we develop it in a way that most engages our target
audience
and of course...

1. How do we ﬁnd the new IP we should be investing in?
...and how do we make money out of it
2. We have a series of IPs, which should we be investing in?

Dubit -



How do you take a heritage IP online

Dubit -


And today we wanted to focus on how to take a heritage IP online

He-ri-tage

“Something that is passed down from preceding
generations; a tradition.”

Dubit -


Before I start talking about heritage, how is it deﬁned
It is traditions, stories, toys, films, books, TV shows, games that have been enjoyed by one generation and then past to
the next.

He-ri-tage

1989

Dubit -

1937

2012


In 1989 my brother and I began to read the Hobbit, which I received as a Christmas gift. The Hobbit is the christmas
gift I have owned the longest.
However this book is no longer in my book shelf, its in my 5 year old nieces who loves it, proven by her worryingly
accurate and scary Gollum impression
And its not just my niece, as part of most in-home immersions sessions we conduct with families we use the very
innocent sounding, but messy media sort.
We basically ask kids, before their parents stop us, to empty their book shelves, DVD collections, toy boxes - all over
the floor. Its a great way to allow them to control the discussion guide by allowing them to categorise entertainment in a
way that makes sense to them - not to us - and talk to us about what each category means to them.
And almost every time we conducted this process we found a special pile - this pile was the ‘classics’ pile. Famous
Five books, Thundercat DVD’s, original Star Wars toys, youtube videos of the Mysterious Cities of Gold - all of this
entertainment handed down from parents and grandparents
And without doubt this ‘self-defined category’ was the one that kids spoke and parents about with the most passion the characters, the theme tunes, the plot lines, the humour.
And that set us off on a mission. We wanted to explore what kids and parents thought of heritage IP’s and how those
stories could be told in the context of todays media experiences
So we asked kids what heritage brands they would enjoy and parents what heritage brands they would like their
children to enjoy.

Parents want for their kids
50%

38%
36%

25%
23%

23%

Inspector Gadget

Charlotte’s Web

21%

20%

Popeye

The Addams Family

13%

0%
The Jetsons

Dubit -


We gave parents and kids a long list of books, toys, ﬁlms, TV and asked what brands they would like to
brought back.
The Flinstones was without doubt the most popular amongst kids and parents, but this list includes brands
that perhaps aren’t so mainstream today...

Top heritage for kids
50%

38%

25%

18%
13%

14%

0%
Charlie & The Choc FactoryCharlotte’s Web

Dubit -

13%

13%

The Pink Panther

The Berenstain Bears

11%

The Jetsons


and then we asked the kids what they would like brought back
So we know that heritage IPs are popular, but what can digital add in the telling of these stories...

86% of kids have crossed platforms
200%
Film
Online

Book/Mag
TV

Toy

150%

100%

50%

0%

Dubit -

Star Wars

Barbie

Harry Potter

Wimpy Kid

Lego Ninjago Lego Friends

LoTR

Club Penguin Peter Rabbit


Kids are crossing platforms all the time, searching for content on their favourite IPs
They expect to access parts of the story immediately. One 10 year old boy in America who was reading
Oliver Twist, didn’t want to read Oliver Twist the Sequel - he wanted to know if British kids were treat that
badly. His narrative progression wasn’t linear, and where did he go for that content...online. And that’t the
important moment, how do you help a kid who’s imagination has been sparked, continue that journey without interrupting the book or film experience
Therefore when we talk about adapting a heritage IP we need to consider both traditional formats, but also
that kids and parents place a value on extending the story online.
Over the past two years, with the expansion of mobile and tablets, we are seeing younger and younger kids
have more control over their digital entertainment they find and engage with. Its easy to find and its
instant. The reason why heritage brands sit so well here is that they are trusted. Parents know what to
expect and it means that they don’t have to look over the shoulder if they recognise theme tunes, noises or
character art.
But lets be serious here, you wouldn’t just go online because your audience expected you to, there needs to
be a business model, a way to monetise it.
So we wanted to ask how kids and parents would adapt some of their favourite heritage brands onto a
digital platform, into a form that they would consider paying for.

Lenses
Brand

Source,
Adaptations,
Feasibility

Audience
Expectations,
Culture,
Consumption

Dubit -

Technology
Gaming,
UGC, Social


Whether we are researching, advising on or actually building the digital product we look at adaptations through three
different lenses - brand, audience and technology.
Firstly the brand, its tried and tested, but what is it about the original brand, any subsequent adaptations that made it
work and how feasible is to re-tell - for example do you own the rights to artwork and theme tunes
We then pass it through the audience lense, who are they, what do they enjoy and most importantly what are their
expectations of the brand
Once we have done this we need to understand what technology can do to enhance the brand - does this IP need
digital?

Brand wheel
Components
Personality

Essence

Dubit -


In order to look through these lenses we use a brand model to understand exactly how the brand should be treated for
this new audience on this new platform.
And to understand that we look at three elements
Firstly the components or DNA - this is all the detail that makes up that property. It is of course an almost inﬁnite list,
but at this stage we want to ﬁlter what kids think are the strands that are important to that brand.
We then distill these, by focussing on those that are most important in the telling of the brand - the personality is the
brain, the parts of the IP that communicate most clearly what it is about.

Brand wheel
Components
Personality

Essence

Dubit -


Its essence we need to get to, this is the part of any story that needs to consistent in how its delivered. Its the
uniqueness that helps that brand retain an audience, even when the delivery changes
But what does essence mean.

The Essence of a Brand

The relationship between characters
Baloo - father figure, warmth
Shere Khan - enemy, fear

Dubit -


The type of essence is different for each type of property, but it is also different for segments of the audience, for
example some parts of the essence could be cultural or demographic
We find that there is nearly always an essence which universally binds, whether it be a character, a moment, a tone,
style or artwork.
Here is Baloo and Mowgli, stalked by Shere Khan. Now for kids the essence of the Jungle Book, isn’t the characters in
isolation, it is the relationships between those characters. The fatherly figure of Baloo, and the sinister Shere Khan
who evokes a feeling of on edge. Difficult characteristics to capture in a game maybe.
We spoke to some 9 year old girls suggested a solution. Rather than spend money developing a whole new game,
they invented a shovel wear solution, they wanted to place Jungle Book content into existing titles.
They enjoyed the ‘eeek’ feeling, the thought of being chased and potentially caught, This was the feeling they felt when
watching the Jungle Book and also when playing Temple Run - an obvious extension for them.
For the Baloo and Mowgli relationship, they thought of the singing and dancing and likened it to their own poor father
who was incessantly nagged to get involved with Just Dance, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Why not have a Mowgli, Baloo dance off,
with Mowgli’s bendy arms.

Today we will look at

Dubit -


So as part of our in-house research we looked at some of those loved brands that kids told us they wanted
to play as a game and we asked some superfans to help us think about what these would look like as
digital adaptations.

Components
Components
Personality

Essence

Dubit -


Firstly we wanted children to dissect the brand. They had time to watch, read and play with existing brand material and
we observed this.
We then brought them in to talk through what they had learnt by creating collages and mood boards. We want to
observe how they piece the brand together and then we ask prompted questions on parts of the story we think is
important.
At the end we have a mood board which shows all the important components, the visuals and any associated
descriptive words, categorised in a way that makes sense to the kids. Together we created their own paper prototypes.

Components
ar
Ch

ac

rs
te

To

ne

Culture

Setting

So
un
d
Dubit -

ot
Pl


We then plot all the components of that brand, here are some of the values that came out, you may agree with some
and may add others. But for the purpose of today lets work with these.

Culture

Components

Dubit -


All of these are self explanatory except for maybe culture.
By culture we mean, what cultural elements need adapting from previous versions to make them relevant to today’s
audience.
Let us take a look at Swiss Family Robinson

Swiss Family Robinson
1812

2012
“Poor animals”

“The wife has no name, she’s called wife!”

“The pirates in the movie.... hardly Jack Sparrow”

Dubit -


The animals in both the movie and book were not treat in a way that younger kids ﬁnd acceptable, in fact it was a
reason for why they would not recommend the story.
I’m also fairly sure Johann Wyss did not campaign for equality. The ‘wife’, actually called Elizabeth was rarely seen
from ‘wifely’ or ‘motherly’ duties. Not an acceptable representation for todays young people. The Disney movie went
some way into bringing in a fairly boisterous young girl, but even she was primarily used as a love interest.
Talking of the movie, the pirates were a welcome page to screen adaptation, but Jonny Depp has somewhat changed
todays expectations of a pirate.
And ﬁnally modern technology has made it kind of tough to get lost from society. In fact I would expect quite a few
people in this room would love the idea of being stuck on an island with no outside world contact.
We need to understand that from a cultural perspective if the story can be told and is relevant to the audience. All of
these cultural differences in fact offered enhancement opportunities.

Components
ar
Ch
Fem

ac

rs
te

a


Then we begin to ﬁll in the whole wheel.

Setting

s-J
te

o
arr
p
ck S

So
un
d
Dubit -

ne

ales

Animal treatment

Pira

To

w

ot
Pl

Hu

mo
ur

st
k

Isolat

Pirates
William
beth
Eliza
z

Frit

e
Ern

Jac

z
an

Fr

Em
Ni ily
p
Fan s
gs

ion

Components

c

Le

Fema
le

A
n/

e
iev
h

ar

Island

s

Animal treatment

ck
- Ja
s

Ship

w
rro
Spa

Hom

e
irat
P

Laught

er

so
un
ds
Ne
w

Dubit -

rv

ned
roo
Ma

W

Su
nships
Relatio

life
ild

e


Here are the core characters and other components the children identiﬁed.

iva
l

Filter

Dubit -


Once we have all of the components we begin to look at how strong the inﬂuence each of these components have on
the overall telling of the story. For example how often does each component correlate with another component.

Personality

m
illia
W
t
nes
Er

Le

ar

n/

Ac
hie
lat
ve
ion

Iso

Home
d
ne
o
aro al
M
iv
urv ships
S
on
ati
l
Re

Dubit -


We are then able to ﬁlter the components that have the strongest inﬂuence on the story.

Personality

n/

Ac
hie
lat
ve
ion

Pirates

Iso

so
un
ds

d
ne
o
aro al
M
iv
urv ships
S
on
ati
l
Re


But there maybe something we miss, that kids don’t talk about...

Home

Ne
w

Dubit -

ar

Island

Females

m
illia
W
t
nes
Er

Le

Things kids miss

Dubit -


For example one thing we missed when we were working with the BBC on developing Muddle Earth, a popular
animation series and book.
Was Dr Cuddles, he’s the little guy in the brown cloak, his cackle. His cackle made kids laugh every time and it would
have improved the gaming experience.
Which is why we work throughout with the creative team to ensure that not only do we have the audiences
imagination, but also the folk who actually know how to tell the story.

Essence

Pirates

n/

Ac
hie
lat
ve
ion

Iso

so
un
ds

Home

Ne
w

Dubit -

ar

Island

Females

m
illia
W
t
nes
Er

Le

d
ne
o
aro al
M
iv
s
urv
hip
S
s
ion
t
ela
R


We then test these with the kids, how important are they to the story and why
What we now have are the values that need to be incorporated into any adaptations - the essense.

Swiss Family Robinson - Adaptation
1812

Dubit -

2012


So what did that mean for the Swiss Family Robinson. These girls saw it more as a Zelda style game, with Earnest as
the main character, completing missions that you could level up through skill based tasks you completed and the
assets you collected. You had to understand something to complete it, then that would allow you to further understand
and progress at something else. So if you wanted to eat you would go through a process of problems - you collect
wood, to start a ﬁre, kindle and a magnifying glass to light it and then you could hunt, cook and eat.
Yes it would have to be modernised to the more swashbukling Disney adaptation, with Jack Sparrow, but the ﬂow of
the original IP would for the most part remain the same. The mission, to be learning and become self sustained to
survive
So at the end of that process what did that mean for Thundercats and the Lion the Witch and Wardrobe...

Thundercats - Adaptation

Fun
Original artwork
Original theme tune
Good Vs. evil

Dubit -


Thundercats provides us of an example of an adaptation that at least in one kids mind was not quite right.
He had been given the original 36 episodes by his parents, who were big fans from their childhood. He took pride in
explaining that he watched all 6 series, 6 episodes per series, 30 minutes per episode, 1080 minutes of Thundercats....
all in one day - that doesn’t leave a lot of time for sleeping
A great indicator of his dedication to Thundercats. So he loved this, he connected with his parents he was part of a
‘club’. A club that his friends were not yet part of, but that didn’t matter.
What did matter is that once he’d ﬁnished the series, in record timing, he was hungry for more and not wanting to give
up his prized DVD collection, he told his friends to check out the new series and they reported back with disdain.
So he checked it out himself and boy was he disappointed when he found the new series. The artwork for a start was a
big step backwards for him, it had lost that feel. But most importantly for him it had made some faux pars, inaccuracies
and it was in the detail. The characters had guns, but to him that made no sense and his friends agreed. These were
cats, living in a forest, they didn’t need guns, the only characters in a forest that should have guns, were poachers and
these cats were no poachers.

Thundercats - Adaptation

Viral
Episodic

Dubit -


But there was one other fundamental point, there was now no-one to talk to it about, to share it with. So what does this
mean for how the show should be designed and most importantly how it could be shared.
For him the most important element was retaining the original content that had captured his imagination - that was the
the story arc and the artwork. He was passionate that that game follow the original series structure. In fact he designed
an episodic game, with each ‘episode’ following the same structure and characters as the animation series. He
suggested watching the episode, in conjunction with the game level. This episode would be the content he could share
with friends, probably through youtube.
Only once you had been taken through those 1080 minutes of gaming, would you be allowed to free-play in the
Thundercats world. This was a step from their other gaming inﬂuences such as Skyrim and Minecraft, which were very
much about free play and mastery. But for him what is critical is that the game tied in to the story, so his friends could
understand what was so great about the original Thundercats.
And once they’d mastered that, they would then be able to freeplay and create their own stories within the game world.
One more thing, it needed the original theme tune and opening scene. That created the buzz, perhaps the moment
they would share in the playground or on YouTube and for the parents the acknowledgement that their child was ﬁnally
playing something they understand.

Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe - Adaptation

Scale
Creepy creations
Exploration

Dubit -


But the richness of a cross platform extension isn’t always in replicating original content in another form, or re-living the
content. You can go beyond and add to the story or universe. Think about that kid who through Charles Dickens
became interested in how different it was to grow up in the UK.
The Lion the Witch and Wardrobe has been told recently through long ﬁlms and for many children and parents in long
books also. Everyone knows the characters and narrative., but the essence was the vastness of the world and the
sheer variety of the characters within it. They suggested not playing as the core characters and re-creating the story
that has been made, but making their own story with the world.
Their solution was to play as the bad guys. Not only was the Witch and all her creations fun, their story had never
really been explored in the same way. They were looking for new parts of the story, a spin off, in which they could roam
the world and create their own adventures - in this case stop the good guys.
They begin to explore which parts of the story would be a great entrance point and much like Tom Stoppard’s Hamlet
extension Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, began to turn minor characters and plotlines into the main focus of
their game.
A true trans media experience.
I am now going to pass over to Brad, who will recount his own experiences when working on another of the great
stories - the Legends of Oz

Brad Jashinsky
Director of Digital Media
Dubit -


The story continues…

Legends of Oz Transmedia Franchise

•
•
•
•
Dubit -

Continues the story of the Wizard of Oz with
Dorothy, Toto, Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow
Film: $70 million dollar animated feature ﬁlm (May 9th, 2014)
Digital: Legends of Oz World Virtual World and mobile apps
Retail: Extensive international licensing and merchandise partners
Based on the books by Roger Baum, great grandson of L. Frank Baum


The Big Question
Why are we using a heritage brand?

•
•
•
•

Dubit -


Built-in audience?
Great characters?
Unique story?
Interesting setting?

The Characters

Dubit -


The Setting

Dubit -


The Story
Character Growth
Point A

Point B

Surprising reveal at the end

Dubit -


Dubit -


Questions
•
•
•
•

Dubit -

Who is our target audience? Is there an audience outside that target?
What can we assume our audience knows about the brand?
Is there a new story to tell that can directly involve our audience?
Can we connect directly into the heritage of the brand?


Don’t Assume
10%

Open Beta
Players

40%

Adult Women
Children
Other

50%

•

Our target audience for the franchise is 6-11 year olds, but 40% of players in our open beta were women
over 40

•
Dubit -

Our target audience didn’t know the story, but they did know the characters


To be remembered, tell a story
•
•
•
•

Dubit -

Come up with a new story that preserves the essence of the brand
Create a story bible and have a writer turn that into an extensive script
Bring the characters to life using professional voice actors
Use music and sound eﬀects to enhance the setting


Capture Nostalgia

Can you quickly introduce the essence of the brand while
creating nostalgia for those familiar with it?

Dubit -


Our Takeaway
•
•
•

Dubit -

Research and understand the heritage brand
Don’t assume the audience remembers everything or anything about the brand
Depending on the brand, focus on the characters, story, and/or settings


Thank You
@peterrobinson81
@Dubit & @DubitGames
@bradjashinsky

Peter Robinson, Head of Research, Dubit Limited
Brad Jashinsky, Director of Digital Media, Summertime Entertainment

Dubit -


So my key takeouts are
Find the smart kids, and less of them, who really have a vested interest in what happens to your brand
Let them know what you are doing and why you need their support - its not about money, its about passion and
collaboration
Make sure that the research ﬁts into the creative process and the audiences lives
Do develop heritage IPs online, kids and parents are crying out for it
Make sure it is authentic.

Dubit: Research, Build & Launch digital
experiences for kids brands
Kids Research

Kids Game Development

• Market analysis
• Prototype and concept testing
• Competitor analysis and market scoping
• IP / trend spotting
• Design & ideation
• Monetization strategies
• Ethical marketing
• Transmedia modeling

• Game design and ideation
• Character and brand design
• Game development
• Virtual Worlds and Casual MMOs
Kids Apps

• iOS and Android games
• Interactive storybooks
Launch

• Game promotion and player acquisition

Dubit -

43

Dubit: Just a few of our customers

Dubit -

44

Dubit: Get in touch!
If you’d like to know more about what we do checkout our website dubitlimited.com or send Matthew an email:
matthew@dubitlimited.com. We love to talk!

Address
The Half Roundhouse
Wellington Road
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS12 1DR

Phone
(+44) 113 3947 920

Email
matthew@dubitlimited.com

Dubit -

45

Taking Heritage Brands Online

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (10)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Taking Heritage Brands Online

Similar to Taking Heritage Brands Online (20)

More from Dubit

More from Dubit (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Taking Heritage Brands Online