For children, playtime is a way to expand their imagination. But with so many toys and products tied to existing cartoons and intellectual property – where their characteristics are already well-defined and their stories already created – it can be challenging for parents to find toys that provide a blank canvas for their children’s creativity.
This week, Skip Hop, a brand within Carters Inc. that makes all types of children’s products (including clothing, backpacks water bottles, and many other products), is launching a line of figure sets based on its popular Zoo Crew characters. To introduce the product, the company has developed a campaign featuring stop-motion animation and fanciful colors and scenes, to demonstrate how the toys can spark a child’s imagination and creativity.
“As we launch the Zoo Crew figure sets, we want to tell immersive stories that show these aren’t typical licensed characters,” said Jessica Podoshen, Skip Hop’s creative director. “They are not connected to an [existing intellectual property], so children can come up with their own stories through their own creative role play.”
The video campaign uses stop-motion animation to build a whole world in which the Zoo Crew characters exist and to show off their individual personalities. In one vignette, for instance, Eureka Unicorn, who owns an ice cream stand in this world, accidentally trips and lands a scoop of ice cream on the head of Dakota Dinosaur. Eureka falls to the ground laughing at the mistake. In another scene, several of the characters meet for a lakeside picnic.
“All of our Zoo Crew characters have unique bios. For instance, the unicorn likes ice cream, so that played into our creative execution,” Podoshen said. “We wanted to have that personality come through in these videos and that Skip Hop is set apart from other promotional characters.”
The spots will run on YouTube and other streaming channels, paid social advertising, and on the brand’s owned internet properties, Podoshen said.
