Planet Fun needed to move away from traditional advertising + engage a younger, tech-savvy audience as linear kids programming shifted online. The result was an award-winning approach to YouTube + digital ad management.
Planet Fun is New Zealand’s largest distributor of toys, games and other fun products, representing some of the most well-known brands in the world including Pokemon, Paw Patrol, Squishmallows, LOL Surprise, Bluey, Monster Jam and many more.
Planet Fun engaged Calibrate to assist with scaling up their already successful advertising approach and taking things to the next level. Having previously invested significantly in linear television, Planet Fun sought to shift focus to the digital space and connect with a tech-savvy younger audience.
Calibrate's brief was to develop the digital media strategy and implement best practice processes for campaign briefing, management and optimisation of high volumes of campaigns.
1250
+
YouTube Campaigns
+43
%
Online Engagement Rate
+126
%
Increase in Website Visitors
Navigating Challenges in Digital Advertising
Targeting young adults and children in the digital space presented unique challenges. Adapting to the absence of specific demographic targeting options for the younger age groups. Planet Fun and Calibrate adhere to COPPA (USA) and CYPAC (New Zealand) guidelines, ensuring socially responsible advertising approaches.
Finding the Right Media Mix
To leverage the visual appeal of Planet Fun's products and brands, YouTube advertising took centre stage, complemented by programmatic display, search, social and digital out of home placements as required.
This comprehensive approach, covering all stages of the purchase journey, provided tangible results, with YouTube advertising engaging this hard to reach audience through engaging video content.
Matching Brand + Audience
Collaborating closely with Planet Fun, Calibrate crafted a manually curated whitelist and blacklist of YouTube channels - each channel categorised by age, gender, theme and regularly updated.
For each campaign, a customised whitelist, blacklist, and keyword list is tailored to the brand's target audience profile. Rigorous testing of numerous targeting approaches enabled the identification of the high-performing strategies we use now, contributing to exceptionally high engagement rates.
A Fun, Engaging Website with Rich Content
We completely redesigned Planet Fun's website to create an engaging and user-friendly experience for all ages. With clear, intuitive navigation and high-quality product images, the site showcases a large volume of content without overwhelming users. The website, powered by Akeneo (PIM), automatically syncs with Planet Fun's product data to reduce administrative overhead.
The design features interactive elements to keep browsing fun and engaging, while visual cues and simple icons guide younger users effortlessly through the site. Other features include curated product wishlists, allowing kids to easily create, save and share lists with friends and family.
Wholesale Portal with Complex Data Integrations
We developed a sophisticated B2B portal that integrates seamlessly with multiple data sources - including realtime stock, shipment schedules, pricing tables and product availability. This complex integration allows individual retailers to access up-to-date information, browse new toys and place orders seamlessly.
By syncing with various internal systems, we streamlined Planet Fun sales process, reducing manual work and enhancing order management efficiency. This unified portal has significantly improved the retailer experience, making it easier for them to stay informed and place orders quickly and without friction.
Technology Stack
The Results
Planet Fun’s shift to a comprehensive digital media strategy paid off significantly
More than 1,250 YouTube campaigns have been launched resulting in millions of impressions and a very high view-through rate, leading to a marked increase in brand awareness and sales for retailers.
The new website, launched by Calibrate in 2023, became a key traffic driver – providing thousands of referrals to retail partners via the “Find a Stockist” function, “Favourites” system for kids to build their own shareable wish-list and “Kidstagram” which gives young ones the ability to see Instagram content without being in-app.
Mobile engagement surged, with an increasing number of users discovering and interacting with Planet Fun’s products via mobile-first content.
The social media presence grew dramatically, with higher interaction rates on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, where the target audience is most active.
Google Premier Partner Awards
Award-Winning Strategy + Recognition
Calibrate was honoured with the Breakthrough Excellence award in the Brand Awareness category at the 2023 Google Premier Partner Awards.
Our innovative strategies not only transformed Planet Fun's digital presence but also garnered industry recognition.
“Calibrate have been an impressive digital media partner, successfully guiding us in the challenge to target kids as well as engage parents. In addition they successfully rebuilt our website, as well as the incredibly complex B2B site, both executed on-time and to a very high standard!”
