• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 12, 2015

For decades, the biscuits that became iconic under the name Fig Newtons have relied heavily on television and print advertising. 

Now, in an effort to achieve broad awareness that the brand actually dropped "Fig" and expanded into other fruit varieties three whole years ago, Newtons is diving into video series and looking to leverage the YouTube clout of parent Mondelez International.

The more-than-century-old brand (which, ironically, was originally named plain old Newton, after the city of Newton, Mass., near its Cambridge birthplace) is also throwing in another twist: a cause-marketing tie-in.

In a premise that riffs off reality, the comedy series, "Now We're Newtons," spoofs office infighting to dramatize the transformative arrival of non-fig Newtons varieties at a nearly 120-year-old company that's "always been run by figs." 

In the first of three episodes just released on YouTube, the old guard — office workers with figs for heads, dressed in ties and business suits — are devastated as they watch the "Fig" being removed from the company logo in the reception area. Worse, they must endure the taunts, raucous office games and ironic attitudes of the newcomers: young workers with raspberry, strawberry and apple heads, wearing hip-casual garb like black jeans and plaid shirts.

The hostilities escalate in Episode 2, as the warring contingents are made to work together on a new Newtons program with Feeding America, "A Lot of Fruit to Give." 

This turns out to be a clever way to work in a real new cause-marketing initiative, in which Newtons is donating 30 cents to help Feeding America provide fresh fruit to those in need each time a consumer registers on NewtonsGivesFruit.com with a code from a specially marked Newtons package. The donation program is promoted at the end of each episode, with a plea from "James," the fig-head employee who narrates the series (e.g., if you don't go to the site and register, he'll have to endure more of those ugly meetings). 

Episode 3 of the series, created by the Weber Shandwick agency and produced and directed by Pet Gorilla, finds James being caught as he's photocopying a protest handout headlined "Never Figet." 

"To be top of mind in today’s very cluttered marketplace, we have to do more than expand our product portfolio," Gary Osifchin, portfolio lead, biscuits at Mondelez told Co.Create. "We need to act boldly, be imaginative and cleverly offer value beyond product information. 'Now We’re Newtons' is a lighthearted, witty vehicle to tell our product and social giving story, and hopefully give people a good laugh along the way."

Mondelez made news last October when it struck a global agreement with YouTube. Since then, it's created original video content including the "Breaking Out" scripted series (featuring YouTube stars) for Sour Patch Kids and a snack-hacks series for Oreo.

"Now We're Newtons" is being supported by a content syndication plan through BrightRoll; there are no current plans to embed or link to  the series episodes on Facebook, which is Newtons' only social media channel at present, Weber Shandwick tells Marketing Daily.

The series was created with more episodes in mind, but there is no set plan for more at this time, the agency reports.