HARIBO Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary of Iconic Kids’ Voices Advertisements

Since 2014, HARIBO's iconic advertising campaigns have spread smiles and a sprinkling of mischief by depicting adults going about their daily routines while playfully speaking with kids’ voices and mannerisms. Today, we are pulling back the curtain on how the magic is made with the release of a new behind-the-scenes video, showing the origins and how the advertisement's success has spread around the world.

Marking the 10-year anniversary of the iconic advertisement, the video features interviews with HARIBO Chief Commercial Officer, Herwig Vennekens, and Quiet Storm Founder Trevor Robinson OBE, who were both involved in the origins of the campaign. The video showcases the fun creative process of the adverts, often with hilarious results.

"The core idea of Kids' Voices is that when you open a bag of HARIBO and try one of the sweets, the inner child in you comes out,” said Vennekens. “It's a moment of childlike happiness. No matter how hectic our day is or how stressful it may be. The Kids' Voices campaign, which has been running for ten years now, is not just a national campaign but a global one. It is broadcast in the UK, where it originated, but also across Europe, in the USA and in Japan and Korea, for example."

"It took real kids’ voices and real children's imagination to understand what carefree childlike happiness is all about. When this is then brought out in an adult setting, it's the playful moment that makes everyone smile,” Robinson explained. "How we bring these commercials to life is quite interesting because we start with the dialog. We create environments where there are HARIBO bags and props for children to be inspired by. With the police theme, for example, we also had police objects in the room, so the children could get going and start talking about the topic without us saying: 'What do you think about police officers?' It's great when you see a sparkle in their eyes and the children realize, 'oh, that's an interesting story'."

The globally renowned ads have now been executed over 40 times in 19 countries, capturing scenes such as farmers in Germany, chess players in Poland, sumo wrestlers in Japan, and policemen in the UK. HARIBO has a decentralized structure, so each advert is designed and approved by marketing teams in different countries who truly understand their consumers and can therefore be playful with the different traits and interests of their unique market.

The video release coincides with the launch of HARIBO's latest German advertisement continuing the iconic kids' voices creative concept. The new commercial, which sees hikers enjoying HARIBO treats in the mountains, continues the celebration that no matter what age, there are opportunities all around to embrace one's inner child through life's little pleasures - like enjoying and sharing a bag of HARIBO's delightful gummi treats.

Our advertising philosophy of inspiring moments of simple, youthful delight aligns with the company's overall mission to bring more childhood happiness to the world through sweet treats, no matter one's age.

The behind-the-scenes video can now be viewed here.