Kids’ Voices: the original UK Boardroom film

Read the campaign story

HARIBO’s Kids’ Voices began in the UK in 2014. The original Boardroom execution placed adult colleagues in a formal meeting while they spoke with children’s voices about Starmix sweets. Fast Company’s February 2014 coverage identifies Quiet Storm as the agency and describes the adults lip-synching the children’s dialogue. The contrast between professional appearance and playful conversation supplies the immediate joke.

HARIBO’s own anniversary account confirms the UK origin and explains the wider production principle: dialogue comes first, with real children responding imaginatively to sweets and props. A later industry report distinguishes the original British work from the subsequent US launch. Those later extensions show that the device travelled, but their reach or performance should not be assigned to the first Boardroom film. No isolated sales effect is claimed here.

Editorial reading: The campaign makes an internal feeling audible. Adults can enjoy a familiar sweet with childlike enthusiasm while still looking like adults. Instead of explaining that idea in a slogan alone, the execution splits sight from sound. The setting must remain convincingly ordinary for the voice mismatch to register. Overplaying every visual detail would compete with the central device and weaken its clarity.

The product also gives the conversation something concrete to do. Different shapes invite different associations, so the humour comes from attention to what is actually in the bag. This matters for brand linkage. A generic joke about office life could be remembered without the confectionery; dialogue organised around the sweets keeps the entertainment close to the purchase occasion.

For a small team, the broader lesson is to find a fresh point of view on a familiar product. Start by listening to how people naturally describe it, with appropriate consent, rather than writing polished slogans immediately. Then choose a simple visual setting that creates a meaningful contrast. Avoid imitating this recognisable campaign device wholesale. A new perspective might come from a first-time user, a maker or someone using the product in an unexpected but credible setting. Test product recall, emotional interpretation and irritation, because an amusing voice treatment can also divide audiences.

Start with natural language

Listen for unexpected descriptions before replacing them with polished copy.

Protect the main contrast

Keep the visual setting simple enough that the central sound-and-image mismatch is immediately understood.

Give the joke a product anchor

Build the conversation around recognisable product details rather than generic humour.

A small test for another brief

Record consenting adult first-time users describing a product, then build a simple original film around one unexpected observation.

Measure product-detail recall, intended feeling and irritation against a scripted description.

Stop if the treatment embarrasses participants or the joke overwhelms the product.

• Choose a product detail likely to prompt a concrete response.
• Record natural descriptions with explicit recording and usage consent.
• Build a restrained visual contrast that supports the observation without copying HARIBO’s voice device.