Post Consumer Brands is once again talking to creative kids (and their parents) with its latest campaign for its recently relaunched Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles cereals.

The brands, which returned to Canadian shelves earlier this year alongside a campaign addressing Canadian “idea machines” – in other words, kids – have returned with a one-time activation and an ongoing promotion. Both of the efforts continue to build upon the established themes of creativity and imagination that underpinned that initial campaign.

Called “#CreateWithPebbles,” the effort launched with a pop-up at Toronto’s Sherway Gardens. The experiential attraction invited kids to play and create at different stations in order to earn tokens that could be swapped for Pebbles-branded merchandise. More than 1,700 kids and parents engaged with the pop-up, and the feedback was “overwhelmingly positive,” according to Jasmine Shek, associate brand manager at Post.

“The Pebbles playground was an opportunity for our target audience to get up close and personal with their favourite cereal in a truly immersive setting,” says Shek. “Parents in particular loved the idea of their kids being able to express themselves creatively in different ways through our build, create and play stations and use those creations to earn themselves fun and unique Pebbles giveaways.”

The campaign aims to establish Pebbles as a part of kids’ creative routines.

“Our ambition is to go beyond cereal to become a catalyst for kids to create and express themselves,” explains Shek. “The response to the pop-up showed there is genuine interest from parents and kids to have an outlet for creativity.”

The pop-up is laddering up into a larger campaign that includes a national contest, the “#CreateWithPebbles Creative Challenge,” which will run over Instagram and encourages kids to use their imagination and get creative with the cereal, then share their creations on the platform with the campaign hashtag to win a branded prize pack. That contest will run from Sept. 4 to 30, with 25 packs being given away each week in that period.

The campaign is supported by pre-event digital ads to promote the pop-up – in six- and 15-second lengths – on both Instagram and Facebook, as well as post-event spots for Instagram, Youtube and Facebook that promote the contest, alongside paid influencer promotion across Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and TikTok.

Publicis Groupe developed the creative and experiential elements of the campaign, while Craft handled PR. Spark Foundry managed the TV and OOH media buys and Media.Monks handled digital media.