• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, August 2, 2018

Kraft Heinz is backing its product-development investment for its new line of edible toys, Jell-O Play, with significant marketing juice.

The unusual brand extension — which includes kits to make Jello-O building blocks, cut-out shapes and stickers — was launched in late June with a digital and social campaign featuring a 60-second animated and CGI video imagining kitchen objects brought to life. That video was also screened in U.S. cinemas during June.

Now, the campaign is continuing with a series of six four-minute, animated videos created in partnership with DreamWorksTV, called “The Jell-O Wobz.”

The series — featuring the adventures of animated kitchen-object characters made from Jell-O — is on the DreamWorksTV YouTube channel and Amazon Prime Video, which requires Prime membership. The kits are also being sold on Amazon, for under $5 each.

A new episode will be released each Monday for the next five weeks.

The first episode (below) introduces the Wobz, focusing on lead character Bucket, who’s brought to life when Jell-O powder accidentally gets knocked into a bucket and mixes with various kitchen items.

Other characters include Meg, a measuring cup who tends to be perfectionistic; and Walter, a surgical glove with a thumb missing, who fears making mistakes.

According to the brand, the creative aims to teach children about embracing imperfection. The characters are shown in realistic situations that call for learning lessons such as the importance of admitting mistakes and accepting one’s physical appearance.

That theme was chosen in part because of Millennials’ angst about feeling pressured to be “perfect” parents — a well-researched insight that’s inspired numerous campaigns in recent times, including the “Family Greatly” umbrella campaign for Kraft-branded products.

Kids are also feeling more pressured than ever to be perfect, and the Jell-O Play team wanted to help foster more family dialogue about these issues, explained Katy Marshall, marketing and sales lead of Springboard, Kraft Heinz’s new-product development unit, in announcing the series.

Jell-O is encouraging consumers to follow @JELLOplay on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and use #JELLOPLAY and #JELLOWWOBZ in posts.