Is A Digital Strategy in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood?
By Isabella Rubolino
What is Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood?
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is a children’s show broadcasted by PBS that is inspired by the hit television show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” which offers a huge nostalgic appeal to parents with young children who may have watched Mister Rogers as children themselves. It features four-year-old Daniel, who teaches a new generation of preschoolers problem-solving, emotional, and social skills.
Target Audience and Goals
The show’s main audience is families with children under six years old. Parents like Daniel Tiger for the lessons through song and the easy way their children can make sense of hard topics. The main goal for a new digital strategy is to increase viewers of the show on PBS through traditional TV or on the mobile app.
Brand Strategy
Today, about 90% of children 2 and over watch TV, which is a huge increase from previous years. This fact is a good sign for networks like PBS. But how does PBS capitalize on this?
Competitive Summary
According to the Digital Marketing Institute, a Competitive Analysis is one of the most important steps when creating a digital marketing strategy. When looking at Children’s programming, the first one that comes to mind in today’s popular culture is Bluey. Bluey is a show about a family of bleu heelers based in Australia. What Bluey does extremely well is tackling hard topics in a way that is easy for children to understand, while also being relatable to adults. Another popular children’s show that comes to mind is Sesame Street. Sesame Street has the appeal of having been playing since the 60s and gaining generations of audiences.
Know Your Audience
According to search trends from Google Trends, Daniel Tiger is not popular just here in Pennsylvania, but all over the United States. This type of data is important for marketers, especially when creating digital ads. When using digital ads as a promotional technique, marketers can choose geographical locations to have them display in. Also, with mobile phones and apps on the rise, its incredibly important to appeal to these platforms. According to a Pursue Persuade article, finding the right app to advertise on is vital. For Daniel Tiger, advertising the PBS app on commonly used children’s apps would be a smart move. YouTube is also on the rise for children, so having some display ads there would be important. Check out this blog to see how to use video ads.
Brand Identity
Brand identity is defined by HubSpot as “what your brand says, what your values are, how you communicate your product, and what you want people to feel when they interact with your company.” This is especially important for a show like Daniel Tiger, as it is the parents you are really marketing to. If parents see what they want to teach their children from a show, they will be more likey to put it on.
Social Media Engagement
Since the audience is so diverse, it is important to have a diverse way of social media advertising. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are often good places to start. Increading social media engagement is a good way to make a connection from a brand to a consumer. By haveing an active social media coordinator ready to engage with parents who may have questions or comments is a good practice to get into. These platforms also have in-depth analytical tools to help marketing teams know what is working and how to improve social media measures. Check out this section of Pursue Persude for some social media engagement ideas.
Influencers
Influencer marketing is a huge trend in marketing right now. For children, seeing someone they recognize from outside a show could bring them to it. Featuring a recognizable face on an episode or in an ad could cause children to want to watch Daniel Tiger. Someone big in children’s programming right now is Miss Rachel. Having Miss Rachel or someone like her as a character on an episode would be a huge feature for children to bring them further into the messaging of Daniel Tiger.
Conclusions
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood is an engaging and lesson teaching show that plays onto the nostalgic aspect of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Is has a huge opportunity to use more digital ads that appela to its audience, showcase its brand, engage more wiht parents on social media, and bring in a children’s influencer.