How inclusive marketing drove the creators of Baby Shark to over 42 billion YouTube views

I listen to Baby Shark a lot these days. Whether at home or on the road, my one-year-old daughter has not had enough of it. And because it’s built into our routine, I couldn’t help but notice all the ways the brand is inclusive.

When I researched PinkFong, the makers of Baby Shark, I realized the size of their reach: more than 42 billion YouTube views, almost 350 million app downloads, almost 87 million YouTube subscribers. Their content is outstanding and designed for repeated consumption.

But the brand-inclusive approach also supports their success. The good news is that their approach to reaching a wider audience can be tailored to suit your brand. Here is how.

Languages. We speak Spanish at home so when my daughter watches her shows with us they are in Spanish. And when she’s with my parents, she sees the same thing in English. I did a quick search on YouTube and found that PinkFong has channels in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Chinese.

With each iteration of the channel, they used their original video and changed the audio and subtitles for the different languages.

Children enjoying this type of content and entertainment are not limited to just one region. PinkFong took the opportunity to help children and families in markets around the world by delivering content in a way that is convenient for them.

Other brands take similar approaches. Gary Vaynerchuk has Instagram accounts in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Polish, Chinese, and more. It is very common for publishers to publish popular books in different languages ​​to expand their reach. International airports create signage in multiple languages ​​to suit travelers from different countries. And for years electronics companies have realized they have customers all over the world and have designed their products with a global consumer in mind by supporting different languages.

Don’t feel pressured to support multiple languages ​​at the same time. Start with a language beyond English and develop a system that works for you and the customers you want to serve. Then branch out over time as needed.

Stereotypes. One thing that struck me from listening to Baby Shark over and over again was how care was taken to ensure that the content avoided common gender stereotypes. Whenever there’s a clue that someone is cleaning the house or cooking dinner, it’s Daddy Shark or Grandpa Shark. Meanwhile, Mommy Shark is doing her makeup or Grandma Shark is fishing.

Brands have a lot of power and influence when it comes to representation. Therefore, when considering an authentic representation, it is important that your brand takes into account the stereotypes you are trying to avoid or dispel with your imagery.

I worked with a marketing team earlier this year who put in place guidelines to ensure they were contributing to negative stereotypes about women or people of color in their advertising. I am now working with a client who thinks a lot about roles in power and how his photography should be presented so that marginalized groups don’t accidentally take a subordinate role in their imagery.

When thinking about your brand’s images, it’s a good idea to establish guidelines about what types of messages you want to make sure your brand sends and which ones to avoid.

Accessibility. As mentioned earlier, all Baby Shark videos have captions. Not only does this help children learn, but it also helps people who may be hearing impaired to enjoy the content.

It is fast becoming a best practice to add closed captions to video content – not just to include the hearing impaired, but also for the growing number of people who watch video without sound.

Adding subtitles to video content your brand creates becomes even more cost effective with a number of tools available that automate this process for you.

Inclusive marketing is the future of marketing. And increasingly, there are more tools, resources, practitioners, and examples of brands making practice easier than ever.