Media: Strategy Analysis - B-movies for the younger generation.

 
Brand: Cartoon Network Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends 
Client: Nibs Dearsley, marketing and PR director, Cartoon Network, 
Cartoon Network Too, Boomerang and Toonami 
Brief: Innovative way to reach children 
Target audience: Children (four- to nine-year-olds core) 
Budget: Undisclosed 
 
AGENCIES 
Media: MediaCom 
Creative: Turner in-house 

The challenge was to create an innovative campaign that would strike a chord among the nation's children. Obviously, children have a low attention span and with competition in the children's TV market fierce - there are more than 30 channels in the UK alone - the campaign needed to grab their attention.

The cartoon short before the main cinema feature used to be an integral part of the cinema- going experience. Generations of adults remember them fondly, but the children of today don't get to enjoy this entertainment bonus.

MediaCom decided to take the animated short back into the cinema through the creation of a unique six-minute sample of Cartoon Network's programming content.

With 94 per cent of children going to the cinema each year, and the recent explosion of family films, it was decided that cinema offered the perfect vehicle.

EXECUTION

- Cinema: Two bespoke cartoons were created to be screened throughout 2006. Each cartoon starts and ends with the same scenario from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, one of the Cartoon Network's most popular shows.