The world’s leading manufacturer of gummies, HARIBO, has created sweet news by transforming its social feed into the “Chewy Channel,” the first-of-its-kind streaming gummi entertainment network made for the Instagram streaming platform, IGTV.
Developed by HARIBO’s social creative agency of record Barkley, the Chewy Channel transforms the iconic Goldbear gummi candies into a unique cast of characters. The series premiered with Bearly Corporate, a workplace comedy, followed by Goldbear Gulch, a watering hole Western, Sour Sorcerors, a magical castle fantasy, and Investigation Goldbears, a haunted museum thriller.
“We know that when our fans open a bag of HARIBO, they’re inspired to play with the gummies before enjoying a sweet treat. It’s part of the fun,” says Katie Waller, vice president of marketing at HARIBO. “We’ve been creating moments of childlike happiness for nearly 100 years, and this mission of inspiring joy through treats and listening to our consumers is what fueled the thinking behind the Chewy Channel.”
“We wanted to build on the creativity that is inherent to HARIBO to build must-see content worth following,” says Katy Hornaday, executive creative director at Barkley, “It seemed only right for the world’s first gummi bears to be the world’s first gummi IGTV stars.”
To create the miniature sets, Barkley handmade each diorama to Goldbear gummi scale and puppeteered the chewy cast through their scenes using small wires, magnets, and fishing lined—some of which were left in the shot to preserve the DIY feel that would appeal to a super-obsessed fan.
The brand is dropping a new original series every month, introducing the U.S. to the world of micro-binging where entire seasons are less than 5 minutes and there’s always time for another episode. On October 28th, just in time for Halloween, the Chewy Channel is premiering Beary Scary Stories Part 2 exclusively on IGTV by following @haribousa on Instagram.
You can check out the final series, 'INVESTIGATION GOLDBEARS', below: