The Brief
S4C needed to extend their beloved children's brand Cyw beyond traditional broadcast into a cohesive digital experience. The existing digital presence was fragmented — a basic website, an ageing app, and inconsistent social content. They wanted a unified digital universe that would engage pre-school children and their parents across every touchpoint.
My Role
I led the project as Digital Producer and Creative Director, overseeing the strategic vision, creative direction, and production management. This meant working closely with S4C's commissioning team, external developers, animators, and the existing Cyw production team to ensure everything felt authentically Cyw while pushing the brand into new digital territory.
Approach
We started by mapping the entire Cyw audience journey — from broadcast to digital and back again. This revealed key moments where digital could enhance the relationship between children, parents, and the brand.
The approach was built on three pillars:
- Play-first design: Every digital touchpoint was designed around interactive play, not passive consumption
- Bilingual by default: Welsh-first with natural English integration, never feeling like a translation
- Cross-platform consistency: One visual language, one tone of voice, one Cyw — everywhere
We developed a modular content system that let the team create and publish interactive activities, games, and videos across web and app simultaneously, dramatically reducing production overhead.
Outcome
The new Cyw digital ecosystem launched across web, iOS, and Android simultaneously. Within six months, monthly active users grew from 40K to over 150K. The app achieved a 4.8-star rating on both app stores. Most importantly, time spent with Welsh-language digital content among pre-schoolers increased significantly, supporting S4C's language mission.
The modular content system we built reduced time-to-publish for new activities by 70%, enabling the team to maintain a consistent stream of fresh content without increasing headcount.