THE WORK/

Where’s Polkaroo?

For their 40th anniversary, TVO, Ontario’s public educational media organization, wanted to make a splash online. They came to Oddly Studios for expertise in social media. Entrusting the branding of Polkaroo, the beloved kid’s show mascot and one of the most recognizable icons in Canadian Television to Oddly put them in good hands.

One of Canada’s Most Recognized Brands

For anyone who has watched Canadian television, the character of Polkaroo can be instantly recognized. Polkaroo symbolizes educational kids television for many. Working in conjunction with TVO, Oddly Studios would play upon this recognition and nostalgia to convince parents concerned with their kid’s viewing habits to introduce them to healthy children’s programming.

Sharing and Caring

To meet the goal, Oddly Studios created an application that allowed real fans of TVO to upload their own images, and introduce Polkaroo into them. “Polkaroo your photo” was the message. In addition, users would be able to save their “polkaroo’d” image to their drive for their own use, or send it to friends through Facebook.

The application would launch in conjunction with the massive 40 year celebration at the famed Word on the Street festival in Queen’s Park, spread out under the profile of some of Canada’s most venerable political offices.

By participating, entrants could win prizes, such as and exclusive behind the scenes tour of the TVO facilities.

Meeting the Challenges

Part of the challenge for Oddly was in creating a user interface that would be simple and intuitive for users of many ages, since Polkaroo has fans as young as four and older than forty.
An additional challenge comes along with creating activities for kids, namely responsible use of sharing functions. To ensure child safety, Oddly created several versions of the Polkaroo app with varying levels of share functionality, so that parents could feel safe about their children using it.

Happy Clients Big and Small

In the end, the crucial timing for the application launch was met through close coordination between Oddly Studios and TVO, who worked hand in hand to create something that both kids and adults would enjoy. The big launch celebration was a grand success, leading to many happy children and parents, and a big win in fan loyalty for TVO.