Kids Tasty Lunchable Designs Take the Art World by Storm in New Social Campaign

Sitting on the pedestal in a contemporary, all-white art gallery setting is a sculpture of a small locomotive engine; the art isn’t stone or bronze but crackers, cheese and cold cuts. “It’s fresh, it’s timeless, it’s post-contemporary,” gushes an art critic, with his hipster eyeglasses, tweedy sport coat and black turtleneck, as the artist, Liam, who looks to be about 12, does a subtle eye roll.

The critic is Hugh N. Grey, played by Boman, the TikTok and Instagram star whose comic videos have amassed millions of views, and the sculpture is no museum piece but rather a tasty execution in the latest “Lunchabuilds This” campaign from LUNCHABLES, buildable real food that powers kids forward.

Part of a new three-spot campaign created by The Kitchen, the in-house agency at the Kraft Heinz Company, the work was directed by comedy specialist Kenneth Yoder and produced by Quriosity Productions, the Chicago and L.A.-based creative studio. The spots are running on both the brand and the star’s respective Instagram channels; which can be viewed here.

The project landed at Quriosity after the company put forth Kenneth as the director and cited his chops at just this kind of work. “Once a director like Kenneth starts diving into all the possibilities this campaign offered, we knew he could pull out those small comedic nuances that make a huge difference with consumers,” says Quriosity executive producer Qadree Holmes.

Adds Kenneth, “The scripts were brilliant, but the creative team always intended to rely somewhat on improvisation on the set to make them come alive. Having worked with improv artists and kids in the past, I think our approach was what made the work so special.”

As LUNCHABLES has established itself as a brand geared toward helping kids fuel their creativity and explore their imaginations through buildability, the dynamic of having them explain their Lunchabuilds to a slightly clueless adult worked like a charm. 

“No matter what a kid makes, to their parents, it’s a masterpiece. It’s such a fun and relatable human truth, and perfect to activate LUNCHABLES purpose to fuel kid’s creativity and inspire them to play and build with their food,” says Hassan Ali, creative director at The Kitchen. “Since social media is the modern-day fridge front, it’s the Quriosity’s Kenneth shoots Lunchables campaign perfect place to encourage parents to share and show-off their kid’s masterpieces with us.”

In each ad, Hugh goes wild for the kids’ creations, leaving them mildly perplexed. “You are the Michelangelo of snacks,” says Hugh to Liam in one spot, while in another, he chimes in, “What a remarkable commentary on human industrial achievement” as young Emma unveils her LUNCHABLES choo-choo. Boman’s tongue-in-cheek delivery, and his playful interaction with the child artists, helped keep the spots fun and entertaining throughout. Each ends with a call to action inviting parents to have their own kids’ Lunchabuilds creations “critiqued,” and provides info on how they can submit their own junior Picassos’ works of art.

Quriosity senior producer Margie Ayala supervised both production and post production; the former was handled on stage in Chicago, and the latter was done in-house at Quriosity. Says Quriosity staff editor Matt Tarr: “Working closely with the team at The Kitchen helped make the spots successful. We were able to dig in and streamline the edits to keep them funny and push through the brand’s message.”