The Golden Kobe Family wins Best Use of YouTube at the UK Social Media Awards 2026

We’re thrilled to share that The Golden Kobe Family has won Best Use of YouTube at the UK Social Media Awards 2026 for our entry, Purpose Led Rescue Storytelling on YouTube. We were shortlisted alongside brands like Autotrader, Transport for London, Specsavers, Virgin Media O2 and P&O Cruises. We’re a small team telling the stories of real rescue dogs, so this one means a lot to us.

Who we are

The Golden Kobe Family is a dog rescue and rehabilitation channel run by Jeremy “JJ” Holland. JJ’s wife Ella Coghill works alongside him as his personal assistant, and he couldn’t do what he does without her. Our YouTube strategist Leroy ter Braak shapes the strategy behind every video. At the heart of it are our two dogs, Golden Retriever Kobe and Doberman Moki, who have a real gift for helping scared and shut down dogs feel safe. Between them they have helped us rehabilitate more than 50 dogs on camera.

Every video follows a real rescue dog from the moment we meet them all the way to their forever home. Nothing is staged and the outcomes aren’t scripted. Our audience can tell, and that trust is what everything else on the channel is built on.

The challenge

Rescue content is emotional, and some of our videos were doing really well, but growth on the channel was inconsistent. One upload would take off and the next would disappear. We needed a way of telling rescue stories that people would come back for week after week, and that would turn all that attention into real help for dogs, without losing the honesty that makes the content work in the first place.

The strategy

JJ had spent years learning what makes a rescue story land: filming every rescue alongside Ella, reading each dog’s behaviour, and voicing and shaping the edits himself to explain what the dog is going through and keep viewers hooked. When Leroy joined the team, he helped turn that instinct into a system using his IDEAL framework: Idea, Data, Execution, Analysis and Longevity. Every video starts with a strong idea backed by data, is executed better than what’s already out there, gets analysed once it’s live, and is made to keep finding viewers for years, not days.

Instead of treating each video as a one off, every rescue became part of a bigger story. Each episode follows the same emotional journey: what’s at stake for the dog, the bond that starts to form, the progress through training and rehabilitation, the payoff, and then a clear way for viewers to help. Story arcs run across several uploads, so viewers come back to find out what happens next.

Leroy brought structure to the parts of YouTube that most creators overlook. Packaging got as much attention as the edit, and JJ and Leroy worked through titles and thumbnails together, building them around the dog’s emotional state and the outcome viewers are hoping for, and testing concepts against each other to learn what our audience really responds to. Leroy’s retention notes and a review after every upload meant each video taught us something for the next one, and JJ took those lessons straight back into the filming and the edit.

A lot of what you see on the channel today comes out of JJ and Leroy’s weekly strategy calls, where formats, stories and uploads get pulled apart and improved.

Calls to action were woven into the stories rather than bolted on at the end, so sharing, donating and adopting felt like part of following the dog’s journey.

Close up of the faces of a golden retriever and a doberman

Putting the dogs first

Everyone talks about creators being in the attention economy, but attention on its own is shallow. What builds a channel like ours is people genuinely caring about the dogs. We never wanted growth at the expense of the dogs. We work alongside rescue partners, including Happy Shelter in North Macedonia, and we’re open with our audience when things don’t go to plan. That honesty is a big part of why our community trusts us and why they get behind the dogs we feature.

The results

Nearly 900,000 subscribers on YouTube
66 million organic views over the campaign on a lean budget, and over 120 million views on YouTube to date
Over $100,000 raised by our community for dogs in need around the world
Every dog we’ve rescued on the channel has gone to their forever home

The judges said:

“Powerful storytelling and a deep understanding of YouTube made this campaign stand out. Every element, from audience strategy to creative execution, was carefully considered, resulting in remarkable audience growth and meaningful real world impact.”

UK Social Media Awards 2026 judges

What winning means to us

“We’re still buzzing! When I first started filming rescues with Kobe and Moki I never imagined we’d be winning awards, I just wanted to help as many dogs as I could. A massive thank you to Leroy ter Braak, honestly we couldn’t have done it without him. The man works on the channel as if it were his own and always goes above and beyond. He’s on every big decision we make, formats, titles, thumbnails, all of it, and he even did our speech at the Shortys because I hate public speaking haha. And of course my wife Ella, who’s in this with me every single day and puts up with all the madness I bring into the house (she invites plenty of it in too btw). Lastly a huge thank you to all of you guys who watch, comment, donate and adopt, we couldn’t do any of this without you. This one’s for all the rescue dogs. Adopt don’t shop!”

JJ Holland, The Golden Kobe Family

“Proud to call JJ a friend and client. JJ already had the stories. What we built together was the system around them. Every upload feeds the next one, every rescue is part of a bigger arc, and packaging gets as much attention as the edit. Keep in mind, none of that works if the stories aren’t real. JJ never fakes an outcome, and the audience rewards that. You don’t need to go viral. You need a system, and a reason for people to care. This award is for the dogs.”

Leroy ter Braak, YouTube Strategist

What’s next

Rescuing dogs will always be at the heart of what we do, and there are plenty more out there who need a chance. We’re also looking forward to collaborating with more brands that share our values, and to launching Chewapy, our own company making products designed to help dogs, starting with a slow feeder. We can’t wait to share what’s coming next with you.