AdMiration feature: Haribo Kids' Voices “Fishing” ad

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we researched Haribo’s “Fishing” ad. 

It’s been a decade since Haribo first launched their “Kids’ voices” campaign in the UK with the first execution being the iconic “Boardroom” ad. Their new “Fishing” ad is the 11th iteration of the campaign to launch in the UK, with the previous being their “Police”  ad released in 2020. So it’s been a long time coming!

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data. 

The ad opens to two fishermen on a boat in the middle of a loch in Scotland, waiting patiently to catch some fish. When they start speaking to each other, it is immediately noticed that their voices are ‘unexpectedly’ kids’ voices. 

One of the men pulls out a bag of Haribo Starmix to offer the other. Taking a sweet out of the bag, the fisherman says they can use the Cola as bait because, “It’s shiny and…fishes like shiny.” His friend points out that a pair of green Goldbears looks like ‘Nessy’ (or the Loch Ness monster) to which the friend replies “Nessy’s not real!” He teases him and asks if he’s scared of it, to which he reacts with a long “Nooo” and both laugh. 

The ad closes with the jingle “Kids and adults love it so the happy world of Haribo” and a shot of three different Haribo share bags.

3 facts

• The ad scores in the top 10% of all UK ads in potential to drive immediate sales and the top 20% in potential to build brand equity and drive long-term sales. 

• It is truly distinctive and unique to the brand, using clear brand assets that the audience instantly recognizes as part of the Haribo identity.

• People react to the ad with both laughter and love, making it highly emotional with multiple spikes in the reactions throughout, engaging the viewer from start to finish.

2 learnings

• Having dissonance between audio and visual cues has the potential to truly grab the attention of the audience and drive engagement when done purposefully.

• Unearthing a truly big idea that resonates and brings your brand's proposition to life can offer years of successful creative work that doesn't lose its charm.

1 reflection

Is there an emotional benefit relevant to your brand that you could surface to bring a real human feel to it? Often behind a functional reason to use your brand, there is a yet more powerful emotional need being fulfilled.

A decade since launch, Haribo’s “Kids’ Voices” campaign continues to be an absolute hit with consumers and a staple for the brand.

Haribo’s ad scores in the top 10% of all UK ads in potential to drive immediate sales (Sales Impact: 93) and in the top 20% in potential to drive brand equity and long-term sales (Brand Impact: 83).

Using children’s voices in adult and seemingly mundane conversations is completely unique to Haribo and this translates to the latest ad’s distinctiveness score (4.0 vs 3.6 norm). The ad’s uniqueness of brand impressions was also significantly above the norm (4.1 vs 3.7) with 42% of the audience saying it could have only been an ad for Haribo.

In addition, Haribo’s packaging and product shapes are instantly recognizable, with 44% of people saying the product helped them identify the brand in the ad. In the last few years, the Haribo kids’ voices have become a distinctive brand asset — almost just as powerful as the product itself! With 40% of respondents saying it was this factor that helped them determine it was an ad for Haribo. 

​​Some respondents said:

• “The use of child voices for grown characters was a very signature Haribo move”

• “The audio of the voices straight away told me it was a Haribo advert”

• “The kids voices coming from an adult mouth are unique to Haribo”

The ad was also very successful in eliciting an emotional reaction from viewers, with an overall emotion score significantly above the norm (52% vs 41%). It over-indexed significantly in scores for laughter when compared to the average UK ad, and the love reaction was directionally above the norm. We also found that women and older people (45+) in particular loved the ad significantly more than the norm for their gender and age group.

It's also worth noting that the ad delivers multiple peaks of emotion throughout, engaging the audience from start to finish (Emotional Intensity: 15.5 vs 12.1 norm). 

The Love score grows as soon as the audience recognizes the brand (which is within the first 3 seconds, as soon as the fishermen start speaking). The conversation between the fishermen drives Laughter scores to the highest peak when one of them insists he’s not scared of “Nessy”, with Love rising again when the Haribo jingle sounds and the audience sees the final shot of the different snack bags.

Over 75% of the audience thought the message that “Haribo inspires moments of childlike happiness” was both clearly conveyed and believable. 

Here’s some of our favorite responses about the ad: 

• "It's fun, seeing grown ups acting silly. We grown ups forget what it's like to be a child or to see the world from a child's perspective."

• "I really like the advert. I can recognise the Haribo adverts straight away as they have the adults using child-like voices, clearly showing how both adults and children can enjoy Haribo’s."

• "I just love Haribo adverts. I think it's so funny when you hear adults talking about their sweets in childlike voices."

• "The fact they had childish voices made me engaged from the very beginning as it was a surprise. I then enjoyed how funny and heartwarming it was."

Overall, people loved what the ad conveyed and how it made them feel. It's a reminder for all that adults can be childlike and silly too (and that a packet of sweets can truly brighten someone’s day). It’s a campaign that's based on a true consumer insight that delivers for the brand year after year, and no doubt will continue to do so. 

What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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