Mealtime can be a tricky time of day for families, particularly during the never-ending #stayathome COVID-era. The days all seem to mesh together and everyone, including the kids, start to go a little stir-crazy. Seeing this, Nickelodeon and Kraft Mac and Cheese Shapes joined forces to spark mealtime fun for families at home, with the overarching goal of building brand love and awareness for the Kraft Mac & Cheese PAW Patrol product, while entertaining PAW Patrol fans everywhere.
The cross-platform program, Mission: Kraft Mac and Cheese Shapes, looked to inspire parents to make mealtime an opportunity for learning and play during this challenging time, while appealing to kids with Nick Jr. storytelling and PAW Patrol Pups they love.
The robust campaign launched engaging, wacky content throughout and beyond the Nick Jr. ecosystem, creating storylines that authentically embrace the brand message of igniting mealtime family fun.
In a first-to-market opportunity, Kraft Mac & Cheese and Nick Jr. leveraged the power of kid influencers, Dani and Dannah, and the PAW Patrol to develop a 3-part, fully custom YouTube series. Each episode featured an array of PAW Patrol themed challenges, with talent racing against the clock in order to make their Kraft Mac and Cheese dinner before Mayor Humdinger could get his hands on it.
Complementary social creative was developed to engage parents, providing creative inspiration to continue kids’ learning & development during the stay-at-home era. The dynamic creative was distributed both natively and via paid media across Nick Jr.’s Facebook and Instagram handles, PAW Patrol’s Facebook handle, and talent’s social handles, engaging parents with kids under 6. To amplify the fun, a custom Snap lens featured an exciting spinner selector that turned users into their favorite PAW Patrol pups or emitted a cheesy Kraft Mac & Cheese surprise!
The program successfully implemented narratives that embraced Kraft Mac & Cheese’s equities, bringing to life the brand’s beliefs and proving out its purpose of igniting mealtime family fun.
Overall, Mission Kraft Mac & Cheese Shapes was successful in driving awareness of the PAW Patrol Mac & Cheese product. In a custom Nielsen study, nearly 9 in 10 respondents confirmed they were likely to purchase the product after exposure to the campaign. Additionally, 3 in 4 respondents confirmed they are likely to make Kraft Blue Box their first choice when shopping for Mac & Cheese, up +24 points over pre-exposure to the campaign. The program also garnered positive sentiment amongst consumers, with 90% of respondents agreeing Kraft Mac & Cheese was a great fit within the Nick Jr. branded programming episodes.
The branded programming series engaged PAW Patrol fans and parents at home with a 62% over delivery on impression guarantees. Video views showcased an over delivery of 60% as well.
The top performing Social Content across Facebook and Instagram was Nick Jr.’s Episode 2 Instagram Post, with a paid views + clicks engagement rate of 28.9% (exceeding the 15.92-24.38% benchmark range) and paid video view rate of 28.47% (exceeding the 15.43-22.81% benchmark range). Promotion on Snapchat garnered an over delivery of 18%.
