Wonderful Halos bites into animated YouTube series for kids

Dive Brief:

Mandarin orange brand Wonderful Halos and Six Point Harness Animation announced a new, family-oriented YouTube series called "Camp Halohead" that features characters based on the fruit, according to materials provided to Marketing Dive.
The brand released a trailer for the five-episode series, which premieres Nov. 18. In the show, mandarin orange characters Clemmie, Tango and Bud "learn what it takes to achieve Pure Goodness through the good and bad choices they face in everyday situations," per the announcement.
Wonderful Halos said this animated series is the first original entertainment property from a produce brand. Accompanying the series is a "Good Choice, Kid" national ad campaign that similarly celebrates kids and adults who make choices to be healthy, active and kind.

Dive Insight:

For the last several years, YouTube has come to partially replace TV as the main source of children's entertainment. Eighty-one percent of all parents with kids 11 and younger say they let their child watch videos on YouTube, and 34% say their kids use the platform regularly, according to Pew Research Center. Although YouTube is ending ads on videos that are geared toward kids, Wonderful Halos is continuing the trend among some brands to create content based around their products for the popular online venue.

YouTube has become such a powerful platform for children's videos that Nickelodeon, the powerhouse of children's TV programming, picked up a YouTube star for a live-action series on its cable channel a few months ago. In February, Nickelodeon announced "Ryan's Mystery Playdate," a 20-episode series that follows 7-year-old Ryan, his parents and his animated friends through challenges and mysteries. This builds on Ryan's 22 million subscribers for his YouTube channel Ryan ToysReview. Wonderful Halos previously teamed with Ryan as well to reach his large audience of kids and parents who tune into his content.

A year ago, Kraft Heinz brand Jell-O Play debuted "The Jello-O Wobz" animated series for YouTube and Amazon Prime Video. Created with DreamWorks TV, it offered six mini-episodes that followed the adventures of Jell-O characters made from different kitchen objects, such as Meg the measuring cup. In 2017, toy company Hasbro introduced its new Hanazuki toy line on YouTube with a video series called "Hanazuki: Full of Treasures." The series built on the brand's previous experience with toy-focused entertainment series, such as "G.I. Joe," "Transformers" and "My Little Pony."

In addition to its YouTube push, Wonderful Halos earlier this year launched a new multimillion dollar integrated marketing campaign, "The Checks-All-The-Boxes Box." For an extended influencer marketing effort, the brand teamed up with the Holderness Family, known for their annual "Christmas Jammies" viral music videos, on a new original song and humorous music video that was posted across the family's social channels.