| Our Challenge
Why use branded entertainment? Channels are often saturated by commercials,
programme promos and sponsorships. Nick Jr has an ongoing policy of
creating short pieces of branded entertainment – usually 2 minute
films - which sit in the commercial break. These are informative and
fun for the pre-school audience, and communicate the brand values
of Nick Jr.
Our relationship with Nick Jr commenced in 2004, with a brief to
create branded entertainment for the channel.
Our Solution
We thought that branded entertainment was a great opportunity to be
creative and to think outside of the traditional structures of advertising
and programming.
The first project with Nick Jr was Yummy Yummy. These 2 minute shows
are a kid’s cookery series, where 4 and 5 year olds are the
stars, having fun cooking healthy food at home with Mum, Dad or even
Granny. At the end of every piece the family all sit down to eat their
creation together.
In 2005 Jam went on to produce further 2 minute programmes for Nick
Jr. In Family Trees, pre-school kids introduce us to their immediate
families, and for My Pet, children tell us about their pets and what
makes them special. Additionally we were twice re-commissioned to
make further episodes of Yummy Yummy.
All of our branded entertainment for Nick Jr treats the child as
the star – they talk to camera and tell us what they are cooking,
who their grandpa is or what their pet iguana likes to eat.
In 2006, Nick Jr’s Summer Ident campaign has been themed around
the concept of Join In. Jam was commissioned to make 65 idents for
the channel, where children tell us their favourite activity and ask
the viewer to Join In. We used similar techniques, where it is the
children, rather than adults, that communicate things that are fun
for their age group to participate in.
Result
Maria Timotheou, the Creative Manager responsible for commissioning
at Nick Jr commented:
“Jam understand Nick Jr's brand ethos of ‘Join In’:
television that encourages children to take part, not just passively
watch. With an open brief to come up with ideas for a healthy eating
series they created Yummy Yummy, a fun and original concept that goes
down equally well with parents and children. We have been inundated
with requests for recipes and families wanting to take part in the
series.
“Nick Jr puts children first – and Jam did exactly this
through their approach to My Pet and Family Trees which both give
children a platform to share their own experiences.
“We have found that Jam work equally well with an open brief
as they do with more structured guidelines to produce very creative,
original ideas which they execute beautifully.”
In October 2006, Jam received a nomination for a Children's BAFTA for the Yummy Yummy films.
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