Goldfish Crackers Surprises Families by Bringing Kids’ Imaginations to Life, Literally  

Goldfish Crackers, a beloved snack in many Canadian households, has launched a new brand platform that encourages and fosters imagination in the minds of Canadian children. 

“We’ve seen, through research, that our playful cracker shape naturally lends itself to imaginative play with kids,” says Paloma Bentes, marketing director at Campbell Canada. “Parents have shared how important imagination is to their children’s development and especially now, given how much time is being spent at home.” 

Developed with new agency partner Zulu Alpha Kilo, the ‘Feed Imagination’ platform launches with a campaign that allows kids’ imaginations to rule the day. Three children, Makayla, Teniayo, and Aiden, were approached and a documentary film crew captured their stories. What they didn’t know is that their imaginative, made-up-on-the-spot stories would be brought to real life with the help of their friends at Goldfish.

Makayla loves reading, so her story was developed into a printed book designed by illustrators at Polyester Studio. For Aiden, who loves to play video games, his imagination was brought to life in the form of a video game developed in partnership with TreSensa Technologies. And for the artist, Teniayo, her drawing was showcased as her first art exhibit on a massive mural in downtown Toronto for all to see. 

Within days of telling their imaginative stories using Goldfish crackers as the catalyst, the book, video game and mural were revealed to each child and their parent - to their surprise and amazement. Consumers can enjoy Makayla’s story and Aiden’s game firsthand on social platforms throughout the campaign duration.

This is the first integrated campaign created by Toronto’s Zulu Alpha Kilo after being awarded the business earlier this year. “Their young imaginations drove the campaign and demonstrated to us all that there’s no limit to creativity. Even in the midst of a pandemic,” said Zak Mroueh, founder and chief creative officer of Zulu Alpha Kilo.   

‘Feed Imagination’ is a digitally-led campaign with all video assets filmed through Zulubot, Zulu’s content production studio.  Aspects of the campaign include both long and short-form videos, that can be found on social and digital platforms, interactive playable units, and calls-to-action that encourages parents to enter their own child’s artwork and/or stories in the #FeedImagination contest. Parents can submit via Instagram or through the brand’s landing page www.feedimagination.ca. Like Teniayo’s drawing, the winning submissions will have the chance for their own stories to be brought to life in billboards or digital storybooks nationwide. 

A Quebec-specific campaign has also been developed in partnership with The French Shop, which brings to life a digital book based on an imaginative story of a young girl, Nélia.

The campaign will be supported with exciting PR elements, led by Proof Strategies Inc.,  with The Mars Agency bringing the platform to life in-store with integrated retail components, and media planning and execution done by Spark Foundry.