LooLoo Kids: Parents build a business and entertain hundreds of millions of children with YouTube
When mechanical engineer Alexandru Badan and his wife, Christina, a dental technician, couldn’t find any fun, educational songs and animations for their three young children online, they did what any dedicated parents would do – created some themselves.
From scraping together money to produce their first animations in 2012 to now having one of the world’s most successful YouTube channels for children’s songs and animations, LooLoo Kids has been a magical experience for all involved.
“We started it as a gift for our children, from a desire to teach them the songs we grew up with. We never dreamed we’d reach 250 million families worldwide 8 years later." says Alexandru.
As they published more content on YouTube, their channel grew and the positive feedback kept on coming. They even started hearing their songs wherever they went. Encouraged to grow further, they invested in 3D technology, recruited new visual and voice artists, and translated their content into multiple languages.
“We wanted to create positive, joyful content and share it with as many people as possible. YouTube was the perfect platform because it’s free, available to anyone and the most approachable technologically,” says Alexandru.
Along the way, advice and support from the YouTube team has given Alexandru and Christina the confidence to keep growing, and, today, LooLoo Kids has more than 36 million subscribers worldwide and a 100-strong team.
“We’re parents first, and content creators second,” says Alexandru. “With YouTube, we’ve no longer just got three children, but hundreds of millions of them around the world.”
This global reach has become even more vital since the arrival of COVID-19, as the closing of schools has encouraged parents to look for new ways to support their children’s education during lockdown.
“Our traffic has grown by 60% during the pandemic, especially for educational videos, where children learn about animals, the alphabet and how to count,” says Alexandru. “This means our songs are helping more parents educate their children, and we’re very proud of that.”
As a company, LooLoo Kids has also embraced remote working, becoming fully operational from home just hours into lockdown.
Integrating shared access solutions and moving all work to the cloud has helped to optimize workflows and processes. While tools like Google Meet have become the cornerstone for collaboration, making it easier to connect with global contributors, socialise as a team, celebrate milestones and even blow out virtual candles on a birthday cake.
“Thinking globally and embracing digital thinking has improved our workflow and productivity, and many of these optimizations will stay, even when we’re back in the office.”
And Alexandru believes that any company can adapt to the current climate by thinking innovatively and embracing digital tools.
“Any business can scale and adapt by implementing the right digital solutions. If you have an innovative product that’s built for a global market and supported by intelligent communications, it can thrive – especially with the support of YouTube!”