Telegraph Spark joins forces with Wavemaker Content and English Heritage to create children’s stories to promote MINI UK

In a partnership brokered and developed by Wavemaker Content, this autumn Spark – The Telegraph’s commercial content division – has joined forces with MINI UK, English Heritage and five bestselling children’s authors – including former CBeebies presenter Cerrie Burnell – to create a unique series of animated children’s stories that bring to life key moments in the history of four famous British landmarks.

Alongside Burnell, Spark has commissioned  The Shark In The Dark writer Peter Bently, TV presenter and Oxford historian Janina Ramirez and Tim Knapman, author of best-seller Mungo and the Picture Book Pirates, to create new, original stories inspired by the histories of English Heritage sites, Kenilworth Castle, Battle Abbey, Dover Castle and Bolsover Castle.

Each tale features illustrations by Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize winner Rob Biddulph and have been turned into short-form videos, fronted by Cerrie and animated by East London studio WeCanMake. As well as capturing children’s imaginations, each story reveals the historical backstory of each English Heritage site.

The stories will be reproduced in Telegraph Magazine over four editions from the 19th October and are designed to be downloaded and watched by children during a car journey – a key part of the brief created by MINI’s agency Wavemaker Content.

Telegraph Spark has also created in-depth overviews of the histories, activities and sights at the four locations, as well as other nearby locations to visit. Making it easy for families to spend more quality time together and make the most of every weekend.

To kickstart the campaign and encourage families to embark on these Great Journeys Through History, MINI are staging interactive events at each of the four sites over half-term between Saturday 20th and Sunday 4th November. Featuring characters from the stories, and a spook-tacular treasure hunt, it’s the perfect way to learn about the past in a way kids will love.

Gina Davoile, Senior Content Strategy Partner, Telegraph Spark said:

‘What could be a more exciting project than a collaboration between three iconic British brands and an idea that helps families explore some of the best historical sites in the UK – it’s been a true pleasure to work on this project.’

Leon van Schie, Head of Marketing, MINI UK said:

“The MINI Countryman is the ideal family car, and working with the English Heritage and The Telegraph allowed us to facilitate unique family experiences by placing the car at English Heritage sites across the UK our audience can interact with and celebrate great storytelling whilst exploring the MINI Countryman. The aim of the partnership is to encourage families to spend more quality time together.”

Sophie Neville, Content Lead, Wavemaker Content said:

“We uncovered that families are spending less than 34 minutes together a day, and MINI wanted to facilitate quality family time to create lifelong memories out and about in the UK. The English Heritage allowed us access to rich, compelling stories and experiences and with the help of the Telegraph we were able to bring these stories to life with our families’ favourite authors, and most importantly give them content to consume in the car, on the way to their day out.”