About a year ago, we had a tricky brief. Make a website for kids without a brand, any content or characters… but make it promote a show coming up soon… which you can’t mention. Hmmm… easy peasy.

Turns out the show in question was the new Famous 5 On the Case, a new take on the Enid Blyton series of books. Our solution was to ‘live the values’ of the Famous 5 but creating a site for kids to share their survival skills, whether country or city based. It was also aimed at grown ups with the intention of them passing down their hard-earned knowledge to the next generation. How to shine a coin with a lemon? How do you chain your bike up properly? How do you make a boomerang from lolly sticks? The answer to these questions would be be answered. Everyone knew it was a tough brief and were actually rather amazed that there was a solution at all. All go so far.

We set about scoping, considered a big tech build but found a number of off-the-peg content sharing and UGC (user generated content) products. We hired a company, created “Secret Skillz.com”, got all the people we know to make some initial videos, upload them, sat back… and waited.

And waited. The avalanche of video entries never really materialised. A year on, the site has eventually made way for the official Famous 5 microsite and the lessons have been filed under “Great idea, just didn’t work”.

Essentially,

• The lack of a cool brand meant there was no kudos in being seen on this site
• There was no real reward for uploading, therefore no incentive to upload
• Kids don’t really have access to all the kit and equipment to make the videos
• Kids don’t really upload videos. It’s just not really allowed. And parents can’t be bothered
• The ‘off-the-shelf’ product was actually fairly expensive once monthly charges were added
• We should have tested the broad concept WAY earlier on real kids
• If there’s a glaring ‘untapped niche’, there’s probably a reason. Kids UCG is one of them

What WAS important is that without taking a risk now and again, the web would be a very dull place. Ok, so this one may not have worked quite as everyone hoped, but the next solution will be much better for it. We were open and honest at all times and it’s just one of those things. Learn, move on. At least we tried and at least it wasn’t a dull, safe banner campaign. And some of the videos made it onto the new Famous 5 site, so it wasn’t all wasted. Here’s me cutting an apple without an knife and making a Monkey Fist rope ball. I clearly have no shame…