“Genius storytelling”: Bunnings’ Bluey stunt hailed as inspired PR success

Corporate communication experts aren’t exactly Bluey‘s core audience, but a new partnership between the Australian cartoon and hardware superstore Bunnings is earning rave reviews from senior copywriters and brand strategists.

Bunnings has re-named seven of its stores ‘Hammerbarn’ for the month of February, imitating the fictional hardware store featured in the mega-popular Bluey — which itself was modeled on a real-world Bunnings location.

In addition to massive signage, the partnership has seen life-size Bluey and Bingo mascots entertain families, and children are invited to participate in themed DIY workshops each weekend at participating venues.

The team-up has received significant praise on social media, not only from parents but from communications professionals.

Maddie Sinclair is the founder of Catch the Sun Communications, a copywriting and editing firm servicing clients like Suzuki and Smartraveller.

She described the campaign as “PR at its absolute finest”.

The decision to ditch the Bunnings brand — valued at $6.5 billion in 2024, according to Brand Finance — for the fictional ‘Hammerbarn’ is “brave”, Sinclair told SmartCompany.

“But Bluey is the best show on TV, bar none.

“It’s absolutely genius storytelling and I know the warm and fuzzy feelings people have for the show will rub off on the Bunnings brand – it shows they don’t take themselves too seriously.

“Creating in-store merchandise from the show’s ‘Hammerbarn’ episode is so clever as it creates a huge buzz and turns those stores into destinations.

“And who doesn’t want a Hecuba garden gnome for an imaginary husband!” she said, reflecting on one of the episode’s pivotal plot points.

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While young families are sharing their positive in-store experiences on social media, other experts say the partnership could be more about building goodwill than in-store revenue.

Melissa Packham is the brand and marketing expert at Brand-Led Business, an agency helping entrepreneurs with operational strategies.

She told SmartCompany the Bluey and Bunnings team-up is a “wonderful” activation that is sure to drive in-store traffic.

“They’re cleverly tapping into both an occasion and location, where parents won’t have to work so hard to convince their kiddos to go with them to Bunnings — at least for the duration of the activation,” she said.

Even so, Bunnings’ dominance in the big-box hardware sector suggests direct revenue growth is a secondary goal, Packham continued.

“However, given it is only one store per state, and Bunnings competes with … Nobody?… this is certainly more about the PR noise than driving foot traffic into store or even building positive brand associations (which arguably both brands have in spades).

“No hardware pun intended.”

The Bunnings activation is not the first time Bluey has partnered with a multi-billion dollar business seeking to capitalise on the world-famous Blue Heeler and her family.

In 2022, Airbnb revealed a rentable home in Brisbane based on the cartoon, tapping into the same overall goodwill for the animated series.

Images of the home became “internet gold dust” in a matter of days, said growth marketer Sebastian Neylan.

Of course, Bluey is not just a marketing add-on for established brands, as Brisbane’s Ludo Studios has created an economic powerhouse in its own right.

BBC Studios, which holds global broadcasting and commercial rights, posted record revenues in 2023 in part due to “thriving brands like Bluey“.