TV ad: Hooked on Phonics: When You're Hooked on Phonics...

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Top 6: March 9th 2022

Independent creative agency Little BIG Engine has created a marketing campaign for Hooked on Phonics, a spoof PSA that’s the first ever to educate, entertain, and acknowledge the brand’s role in pop culture. The 30-second ad and one 120-second spot are airing on Facebook, Youtube and connected TV. Hooked on Phonics has been deeply rooted in different forms of broadcast media placements over the last 35 years, but this is the first time the educational brand has experimented with humour and an entertainment angle to attract parents and teachers. They have mostly used direct-response advertising. In the long-form ad, a young couple arrange a sit-down discussion with their daughter, who appears to be five or six. Both visibly uncomfortable, the parents take turns working through a preplanned script for what feels very much like an intervention that begins with, “We love you. This isn’t easy to say…”