Bluey is one of Australia’s most beloved cultural exports, and a commercial powerhouse generating billions in merchandising revenue.
It has also turned creator Joe Brumm into one of TV’s significant figures, with families worldwide fixated on stories drawn from his own experiences.
The funny and heartfelt world of Bluey might feel distant to the trials and tribulations of running a business.
But speaking at Xero’s annual conference on Wednesday in Bluey‘s hometown of Brisbane, Brumm shared insights applicable to businesses across the map.
Here are some key takeaways.
Smarter business news. Straight to your inbox.
For startup founders, small businesses and leaders. Build sharper instincts and better strategy by learning from Australia’s smartest business minds. Sign up for free.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Know when to copy what works…
Related Article Block Placeholder
Article ID: 228588
Bluey began with a single sketch, and pulling concepts from other successful animated shows helped Brumm and animator Mark Paterson adapt it for the small screen.
“Nothing much is original in art, when you dig into it,” said Brumm.
“[Bluey character] Bandit… the simplicity was based on Peppa Pig, because this was for four to six-year-olds, there’s only so much visual information they can take in.
“A lot of the proportions, the arms, the hands, were based on Homer [Simpson].”
Brumm even borrowed small details, speaking openly of lifting fur designs used in The Regular Show.
Those design cues, already proven in the market, made Bluey feel familiar without diluting the concept of Brumm’s original sketch.
The Bluey team also copied what worked in business, not just in art.
Brumm insisted on using the same software for Bluey as he used in prior animation gigs, requiring junior staff to take a two-month crash course when joining.
Sometimes, creatively assembling existing ideas and assets is just as important as creating them anew.
… and discard what doesn’t
Discarding conventional wisdom, with good reason, can help businesses get ahead.
Once Brumm and his team secured funding to produce Bluey, he turned down co-production, which would have seen animation split between Brisbane and another jurisdiction, like Canada.
While such a set-up is frequently organised to maximise the tax benefits on offer, Brumm said the cameraderie and togetherness of animators in one space was more valuable to the show.
Crucially, the production also dismissed the idea of bringing in a writer’s room to develop scripts and story ideas.
“Children’s TV is kind of one of the only areas you can hand in the same homework from show to show,” he said.
“It’s a lot of the reason why you may feel like you’ve seen the same episode, even though you’re watching different shows on kids TV.
“A lot of that, unfortunately, is because the same ten or so writers move from show to show and then write the same scripts.
“I said, ‘I don’t want a bar of that, I’ll write it all myself.’”
Recognise over-optimism
When things go well, it is easy to think progress is linear.
But leaders ought to consider if recent success is over-influencing future plans, according to Brumm.
When mapping out the production of Bluey‘s first episodes, Brumm thought animators would generally produce 30 seconds of footage per week, based on his experience working on British series Charlie & Lola.
In reality, that was closer to 20 seconds per week, meaning Brumm and senior leadership had to contribute extra work on Bluey through late nights and weekends.
“One animator can literally be a third the speed of the animator next door,” he said.
“And even over three seasons they don’t necessarily improve.
“You don’t really find out once you’re in production. So [it’s] very hard to schedule.
“In saying that, I did completely cock up our schedule due to a very common psychological sort of effect of just being too overly optimistic.”
Know when to push on…
Brumm worked on the first Bluey pilot at night, after wrapping each day at StudioJoho, the animation studio he founded in 2011.
StudioJoho focused on client work for the likes of the ABC and CollegeHumor, but Brumm said he wanted to tell his own stories again.
“There was a night about halfway through, where anytime I’d make short films in the evening, after working all day, my arms would just be on fly with tendonitis, and this was no exception,” he said.
A frustrating technical issue paused his work for the night, he said.
“I just remember having this conversation in my head, and it was just saying, ‘Give up.’”
“You know, it was a fork in the road, right? It was this sliding doors moment, and I think about it quite a lot… You’re just tired. Everything hurts.
“I still remember the argument, you know, the little devil in your head. It makes a really good argument. It says, ‘You’re making a living with StudioJoho. Just go to bed.’”
Pushing a bit further that night — and for the six weeks it took to craft the short Bluey pilot — was ultimately essential to the project’s success.
Two other examples also showed the importance of charging forward.
As Bluey reached mass popularity, the ABC, which co-commissioned the show in 2017 with the BBC, took great interest in season two’s production process, according to Brumm.
“To keep the show weird, I had a lot of battles,” he said.
“It definitely took its toll.”
And once Disney set its sights on Bluey, the team pushed back its suggestions to rework the show with American accents.
Audience testing showed the original voices “were actually seen as a bit of a positive, and kids must think the dogs talk in Australian accents,” said Brumm.
… and when to try something new
Not every idea adopted by Brumm and the Bluey team stuck around, no matter how convincing it seemed at the outset.
The original sketch, and concept for the show, focused on a dog named Rusty — Brumm’s own childhood kelpie.
“So I drew him, coloured him in nice and brown and and then started drawing his friends: a pink poodle called Coco, and a blue heeler called Bluey, and a border collie called Mackenzie,” said Brumm.
“And I just remember thinking, ‘Man, this is a kid’s cartoon. This colour, this brown dog, is so dull.’
“And my eye just kept getting drawn up to the top of my Photoshop file there, this little blue dog, so bright and colorful.”
Using Photoshop, “I dragged Rusty to here, and dragged Bluey to the middle, and I think that was quite a good decision.”
Pivoting from original ideas can be difficult, but necessary for a project’s ultimate success.
Perhaps no example shows that better than Brumm’s decision to depart the TV show after season three, to focus his work on the forthcoming Bluey feature film.
The show is drawn from his personal experiences as the father of a young family, he said, and with his children ageing, the scripts became harder to write.
Related Article Block Placeholder
Article ID: 293108
The decision allowed Brumm to experiment with Bluey‘s format, leading to the creation of The Sign, a 28-minute special episode billed as the season finale.
The Sign broke streaming records, becoming Disney Junior’s most viewed premiere ever, and contributed to the 55.6 billion minutes of Bluey streamed in the US over 2024.
It all comes back to the fundamentals
Bluey had the chance to succeed “because of the way I set it up,” said Brumm, reflecting on his hiring decisions through to his confidence in saying no to the wrong opportunities.
But “sometimes I can’t figure out how it’s done so well,” he continued.
The show is about parents trying to do what is best for their children, and Brumm said the lessons imparted by his own parents could be a contributing factor in its success.
“The things I heard growing up were: grin and bear it. The world doesn’t revolve around you. Bit of hard work never hurt anyone. Finish what you start.”
Those mantras might differ between founders, but the importance of strong guiding principles is clear.
Note: The author attended the event as a guest of Xero.
