Sonic The Hedgehog was one of the biggest (and fastest!) films of 2020, but when COVID-19 caused schools to shut down and necessitated at-home learning, the film sprinted in a different direction: toward those in need. Paramount and UNICEF Kid Power’s Super Speed Session with Sonic was created and designed with two purposes in mind:
…And that’s exactly what we did!
By combining the life-saving resources of UNICEF with the energy and enthusiasm of Sonic from Paramount’s hit film, we created a workout that kept kids in shape while also helping those in need.
As the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools, we realized that a hero like Sonic had to jump into action and do his part to help those in need. So with Sonic’s energy and heroism as our guiding stars, we set out to create an activation that would take the negative of being stuck at home and turn it into a positive.
How better to do that than having Paramount’s film Sonic The Hedgehog team up with UNICEF Kid Power? We partnered to create a workout that would be featured as a main UNICEF Kid Power Up video. These videos are interactive exercises meant to help kids stay active and healthy. Each time one gets watched, the child earns points to unlock resources like nutritional packets that go to kids in need all over the world. In short, the mantra “Get active. Save lives” is the driving principle behind each Kid Power Up.
Our collective team scripted the workout based on Sonic's own super-speed and energetic personality displayed in the film. We then partnered with a 4th-grade classroom that was more than willing to help us bring the workout to life. Together with Sonic, their teacher acted as the leader, directing the students (both on video and behind the scenes) through each of the exercises.
With COVID-19 requiring us to work from home, our team had to overcome the hurdles of writing, filming, and editing a classroom-sized workout completely remotely. That meant creating cohesion amongst more than 100 videos from 20 students, each shot on different devices from their living rooms.
Once we had all the pieces in place, we had to put it all together, making sure to integrate the film Sonic in a way that made his interactions with the students and teachers feel natural. From there, all that was left was to get our video out in the world. We did this across both Paramount's and UNICEF's social media channels, as well as via email blasts featuring our video as the headline. Our workout was even used as part of the Boys & Girls Club of America's summer camp, extending our reach to all 50 States and further boosting our ability to impact the world for the better.
Over the past six months, hundreds of thousands of students have taken part in our Paramount Sonic workout. It continues to be the #1 video on UNICEF Kid Power's platform, outperforming the next-highest video by over 40%. Across social, email blasts, and native platform views, Sonic’s Super Speed workout video has received over 2 million impressions.
On top of that, the video views helped provide UNICEF the resources to plant trees in local communities, bring masks to healthcare workers on the front lines, and even save the lives of several malnourished children who otherwise would not have survived.
All of this was done while helping classrooms stay active and healthy during quarantine, and our video continues to help bring good to the world today.
