How a reboot took the BBC’s marketers from ‘servants’ to strategic partners
The BBC’s three-year marketing reboot spanned everything from creative risk-taking to wholesale cultural change, helping the team regain their mojo.
Three years ago, the BBC marketing team were undervalued and lacking a strategic direction, relegated to the position of reactive service function battling in a highly competitive market.
The marketers wanted to renew their ambitions, as well as reboot the team culture to position themselves as strategic partners. The objective was to significantly improve marketing effectiveness and business impact, transforming the team into a high performing unit ready to take on the global streaming giants.
The marketers focused on driving audiences to BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds in a bid to shift from a 100-year-old institution to modern media brand, embracing the need to make brave choices. The team saw the importance of prioritising the BBC’s biggest brands, instigating a refresh to ensure all campaigns followed a consistent design.
This new approach expressed itself in various ways, from projecting a holographic Dalek over Cardiff Bay to setting a poster promoting documentary series Perfect Planet on fire to raise awareness of the climate crisis.
The BBC marketers also invested in cultural change. They began a three-year programme with Amazing If, offering staff careers guidance and access to inspirational speakers. This initiative was complemented by digital upskilling sessions and new weekly team ritual ‘Win of the Week’, celebrating individual successes over the past seven days.
The energy put in over the past three years helped the BBC marketers transition from “servants” to strategic partners. Winners of the 2024 Marketing Week Award for Marketing Team of the Year, the BBC delivered double-digit growth in marketing impact by 2024, significant uplifts in campaign KPIs and a re-energised corporate culture.
