The National Trust partnered with The Beano comic to help attract families with children to their venues. The Beano integrated National Trust properties and facilities into comic strips featuring popular characters. This included a comic takeover, activities, and videos. The partnership generated over £250k in PR value from over 200 online articles and national newspaper coverage. It drove increased Beano sales and National Trust website traffic. The National Trust saw increased venue attendance and positive staff and visitor feedback on the creative partnership with The Beano.

1. Partnership Marketing: A case study

2. Gnashional Trust!

3. Where do we start?
• National Trust wanted to energise families with
children to visit across England, Wales & N. Ireland
• NT have invested significantly in amenities and
facilities at their venues & wanted newsworthy
activity that would tie into their “Kids go Free”
summer promotional offer
• Looking for a partner to help cast off their (unfair)
“keep off the grass” perception by families
• They turned to Britain’s best and most famous comic
for help!

4. How was this partnership executed?
• Recognition through DCT Youth Insight research & NT
research that was a good crossover between respective
audiences & good classic brand fit
• National Trust wanted to “take over” an issue of The Beano
but instead we agreed;
• Let Beanotown characters “take over” the National Trust!
• NT suggested the properties for feature and our Beano
creatives did the rest!
• Uniquely, we integrated the respective NT properties,
attractions and facilities into 5 of the Beano’s most popular
comic strips, covering 9 different venues

5. Dennis & Gnasher

6. Minnie the Minx

7. The Bash Street Kids

8. Billy Whizz

9. The Numbskulls

10. Not just comic strips…
• A character-branded promotion/competition within
the pages of The Beano
• National Trust advertising – but with a Beano twist!
• A take-over of the Beano.com site, with integrated
content, advertising and jointly branded downloads
• A joint approach to generating PR coverage of the
unique tie-up targeting national media
• A jointly-produced short film detailing the process of
creating – promoted through NT site + Beano.com
– Now also being used in educational channels

11. Advertising

12. Online engagement

13. Venue engagement
• We also worked with NT to develop materials for
each of the featured venues
– Giant poster artwork (from line art through to completed
comic artwork) for viewing
– Activity sheets for comic drawing & colouring competitions
created for hand-outs & downloads
– Appearance by Dennis costume character
– Engagement with NT staff & volunteers
• This joint approach ensured design/message
consistency and an integrated promotional &
marketing feel to activity

14. Activities for visitors to NT venues

15. [NT/BEANO VIDEO HERE]

16. Staff communication

17. Staff engagement & excitement
Dennis at NT Headquarters at
Heelis, Swindon

18. The Beano drives PR coverage!
• Worked with National Trust’s PR agency, Mischief, to
drive national coverage of the tie-up
• Promoted as “2 National Treasures” working together
• If Dennis & Beanotown pals can take over National
Trust, then they can deal with any & all children!
• Targeted sell-in to national newspapers, local press
and radio to drive footfall to specific NT locations
• Promote the “kids go free” promotion

19. What we achieved in 3-4 days…
• UK National newspaper articles: 6
• UK Regional newspaper articles: 18
• UK Broadcast items: 15
• Online items/articles: 239
• PR value in excess of £250k!

21. Great results all round…
98% Prompted brand recall of “National Trust”
92% Agreed that they “really enjoyed this issue as it was a bit different”
98% Thought the issue was “good” or “excellent” (79% “excellent”)
87% Agreed “I loved Dennis & Gnasher’s adventure at the castle.
I didn’t know castles were so fun”
91% Agreed “I want to go one of these places & explore myself”
83% Would like to visit one of the locations after reading it in The Beano
74% Kept the issue to read it again
29% Passed the issue on to a friend
68% Have or plan to ask family to go to one of the venues
Based on 477 respondents through www.beano.com

22. Great results all round…
• Spike in Beano sales: 25.9% uplift vs previous wk
(there was a 1.2% increase w-o-w in 2010)
• Beano.com received 2059 referrals from
nationaltrust.org.uk
• Beano.com’s various pieces of NT content received
23,570 visits
• c. 1,500 separate downloads of NT branded
wallpapers & content

23. Results from National Trust…
• Over 1,000 downloads of Kids Go Free voucher on
the Beano pages at nationaltrust.org.uk – c. 40,000
overall
• Superb on-the-ground reaction from properties
“The staff are all so excited about being on the cover, there’s a real buzz.
Just what we needed at the peak of the season.”
- Anna Orton, Property Manager, Powis
“…thank you for organising the Beano partnership. It has been fantastic at
Lyme Park and we had over 600 children do the Billy Whizz Quiz around the
house, It was so popular, we put it on for 3 extra days! Loved by children &
adults alike. A fabulous idea!”
- Georgina Ferguson, Property Manager, Lyme

24. And NT HQ say nice things about us too…
“Working with the DC Thomson guys has been absolutely
fantastic from start to finish. Their enthusiasm, flexibility &
ability to think much wider than the initial ideas proposed
allowed us to work together to deliver a hugely exciting &
successful campaign. Not only did the campaign widely exceed
its targets in terms of PR exposure but at our properties, our
teams were able to up-weight it in their own relevant
way….The great results achieved are testament to their hard
work & creativity. Big thanks from all at National Trust!”
- Laura Appleby, Visitor PR & Marketing Manager, National Trust

25. This makes Dennis & Gnasher very happy…

26. Summary
• Real integration of product into our content – a genuinely
unique & creative proposition
• From original discussion to delivery: 4 months
• PR power of The Beano & our characters generates headlines
& drives footfall
• Opportunity to communicate to a motivated & engaged
audience of Beano readers – they seek things out
• Promoted through various media channels – comic, online &
through our licensed partner on radio, FunKids
• Halo effect of association with one of the most famous
children’s publishing brands
• Working with The Beano generates results!