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The Family FUNdamentals with Stuff and Pascall

Family fundamentals
Goals and objectives

Pascall is the largest everyday candy brand in New Zealand, and manufactures iconic local favourites like Jet Planes, Minties, Milk Bottles, and Pineapple Lumps.

These treats are a feature of growing up in New Zealand, and have been for generations.

Now that millennials are parents, Pascall wanted to reconnect with this group and drive penetration and consumption.

To do this, they challenged Stuff to align the brand with moments of authentic ”Kiwiness” where: 

  • Parents could let go of adulting and access their “inner child”
  • Families could share unexpected and spontaneous fun

Utilising Stuff’s most engaging formats across video, digital and print, we used tech and creativity to draw the audience (Millennial Parents) in, in a series of short bursts of fun spontaneous 'moments' to engage their kids.
We created an impactful presenter-led five-week quiz, game, article and video series designed to get parents and kids (re)connected, and it performed well beyond expectations.

KPI's

We had five weeks to deliver a campaign which engaged millennial parents/kids to place Pascall at the heart of nostalgic Kiwi family moments.

Fronted by well-known New Zealand millennial parent and comedian Cori Gonzales-Maceur (actor from What We Do In The Shadows), we tasked him with being a 'good sport' and being a goofball to show the fun side of parenting - away from all our daily stresses.

The campaign combined interconnected: high-impact digital advertising | native sponsored content (print, digi and video) |TikTok videos | and an interactive native digital hub of videos, games, quizzes, colouring-in and other activities.

Reach & awareness

One interactive colouring in page achieved x4 the average time on page.

Supporting this activity, double page spreads of sponsored content in weekend magazines reached more than 160,000 New Zealanders, while two TikTok videos received 147K and 163K views respectively.

Inspiration & consideration

Sponsored content delivered outstanding engagement with average time on articles more than two minutes above the benchmark.

The first quiz doubled the normal number of page views and had an average time on page 285% above the benchmark.

Conversion

Sales results remain confidential, but Pascall report a positive market impact post-campaign and are extremely happy with the commercial results.

Target audience

Millennial parents of young children, to reignite their nostalgia for Pascall - a long-time iconic confectionery brand forever in the hearts of generations of New Zealanders. We needed to help parents embrace the 'fun' in parenting and create cherished moments with their kids, without needing to spend anything.

Strategic approach

There’s one proven technique guaranteed to help any young family: Fun.

Stuff's solution was “The Family FUNdamentals”, an omni-channel campaign tapping into millennial nostalgia with games, laughs and goofball moments. It aimed to engage parents and kids in having fun “Viewing and Doing” together.

Fronted by millennial parent and comedian Cori Gonzales-Maceurs, the campaign combined: digital advertising and sponsored content | print advertising and sponsored content | videos across Stuff and Tik Tok |A digital hub of videos, games, quizzes, colouring-in and other activities.

Utilising Stuff’s most engaging formats across video, digital and print, we used tech and creativity to draw the audience (Millennial Parents) in, in a series of short bursts of fun spontaneous 'moments' to engage their kids.
We created an impactful presenter-led five-week quiz, game, article and video series designed to get parents and kids (re)connected.

Through 10 minutes of total fun with each content experience, we placed Pascall at the heart of iconic and memorable parent/child moments that families can both do and view together.

We had five weeks to deliver a campaign which engaged millennial parents and kids together to place Pascall once again at the heart of nostalgic Kiwi family moments. Fronted by well-known New Zealand millennial parent and comedian Cori Gonzales-Maceur (actor from What We Do In The Shadows), the campaign combined interconnected: high-impact digital advertising | native sponsored content (print, digi and video) |TikTok videos | and an interactive native digital hub of videos, games, quizzes, colouring-in and other activities.

Stuff utilised a mixture of display and sponsored advertising in relevant environments, such as ROS MREC and leaderboard units, plus multiple articles, with a mix of interactive tactics (doing or viewing). An online interactive article was also transformed into the FUN-damentals ‘hub’.

The best-performing unit for this platform was the ROS MREC, delivering over 1 million impressions and a click through rate of 0.11%.

The interactive hub has generated 28,391 page views (a huge 262.5% above guarantee) and 3 mins 18 seconds average time spent on the page.*

The campaign’s reach was amplified with the use of video content promoted on stuff.co.nz and TikTok (here and here).

This content generated more than 500,00 impressions on stuff.co.nz, while the two Tik-Tok videos received 147K and 163K views respectively.

Using the power of print, gamified, fun interactives were created and published across Stuff’s life & style newspaper inserted magazines, and included QR codes back to the main experience.

Creative idea

We named the campaign Family FUNdamentals to illustrate that just 10 minutes of fun spent every day with your kids was proven to have myriad benefits.

But rather than a scientific 'lecture' on parenting, we wanted to bring to life fun moments and opportunities to do things together in a vibrant, easily digestible, irreverent manner which fully reflected both the fun nature of Pascall, and the playful side of Stuff (not only well-known in New Zealand for its investigative journalism but also its popular daily quizzes).

We reached out and engaged with well-known New Zealand millennial parent and comedian Cori Gonzales-Maceur (actor from What We Do In The Shadows), and set to work creating a campaign which combined interconnected: high-impact digital advertising | native sponsored content (print, digi and video) |TikTok videos | and an interactive native digital hub of videos, games, quizzes, colouring-in and other activities.

We reached out through staff and friends to determine and 'cast' typical and relatable real families which reflected the chaotic but loving and fun nature of great family life.

We turned our typical Stuff quizzes on their head by using vibrant imagery, and text and for the first time added timers to add 'jeopardy' and a slight competitiveness for parents and kids.

We engaged with a developer to create a bespoke interactive online colour-in version of the print 'Great Kiwi Colour-in' which ran in our magazine inserts in weekend newspapers. Another first, was Tik Tok. Pascall was the first time we had created and run sponsored content on Tik Tok, so we set about to create something as engaging with that audience as possible.

Tone-wise we ensured at all times that everything we were doing and conveying had 'fun' - whether through the text, the video, the host, the quiz questions and formats, or the print ads. Never before had Stuff undertaken such a vibrant and visual sponsored-content campaign. One of our key aims was to provide a breath of fresh air to a nation, that had only just come out of extensive and stressful pandemic-enforced lockdowns. While New Zealand began to reconnect with the world, we also wanted to reconnect with the essence of family.

Channels used

Our omnichannel approach wove together the best of Stuff's platforms, including: 

  • Digital native Stuff articles and quizzes
  • Impactful and fun quizzes and gamified native digital content
  • Entertaining videos on Stuff and Tik Tok versions for our social channel
  • High-impact and fun family print activities in our weekend magazine inserts | and we also created a Stuff-hosted fun engaging hub to home all the content.
Content distribution and promotion efforts

Digital Impact

Stuff utilised a mixture of display and sponsored advertising in relevant environments, such ROS MREC and leaderboard units, plus multiple articles, with a mix of interactive tactics (doing or viewing). An online interactive article was also transformed into the FUN-damentals ‘hub’.

The best-performing unit for this platform was the ROS MREC, delivering over 1 million impressions and a click-through rate of 0.11%.

The interactive hub has generated 28,391 page views (a huge 262.5% above guarantee) and 3 mins 18 seconds average time spent on the page. (double the benchmark)

Video

The campaign’s reach was amplified with the use of video content promoted on stuff.co.nz and TikTok
This content generated more than 500,00 impressions on stuff.co.nz, while the two Tik-Tok videos received 147K and 163K views respectively.

Print

Using the power of print, Gamified, fun interactives were created and published across Stuff’s life & style newspaper inserted magazines, and included QR codes back to the main experience

Campaign results, ROI, and efficiency

Reach & awareness

One interactive colouring in page achieved x4 the average time on page.
Supporting this activity, double page spreads of sponsored content in weekend magazines reached more than 160,000 New Zealanders, while two TikTok videos received 147K and 163K views respectively.

Inspiration & consideration

Sponsored content delivered outstanding engagement with average time on articles more than two minutes above the benchmark.

The first quiz doubled the normal number of page views and had an average time on page 285% above the benchmark.

Conversion

Sales results remain confidential, but Pascall report a positive market impact post-campaign and are extremely happy with the commercial results.

Campaign Learnings

It was a joy to work with Pascall on this project, who clearly understood and supported our creative vision from day one. I don't think we ever had anything delayed in sign-off and any feedback was minimal. We had the pleasure of working with a client, agency, production partners, developers, designers, families and a brilliant host/ presenter, who fully supported and engaged with the entire content strategy and process, and bought into our approach immediately.