Raindrop, the full-service creative agency, is launching a dynamic, visually inventive advertising campaign for Meiji Hello Panda, the Japanese snack popular across the globe. Hello Panda consists of crunchy, hollow cookies with a variety of creamy fillings, with each cookie and all the packaging featuring adorable pandas playing a variety of sports.
The strategy behind the omnichannel campaign, “Panda-Monium 2.0,” is to broaden the global love for the brand and build out relevance for parents who make the buying decisions, especially Millennial and Gen Z parents, and drive brand awareness, engagement, trial and repeat purchase. Hello Panda is owned by Meiji America, the US subsidiary of Japanese company Meiji which offers a variety of popular Japanese chocolates, cookies and gummies.
Two versions of the hero TV spot, a :30, feature a brother and sister who square off during soccer practice in playful competition. The spot mixes live action, animation and art direction to tell the story in stylized, diorama-like worlds, from soccer fields to skate parks to gymnastics studios. Motion design and animation emphasize moments of action and delight that bring to life Hello Panda’s emotional connection with the creativity and passion of children at play. The TV work is amplified with video and static graphics adapted from the TV spots to be used in paid and earned social media as well as in various OOH executions
The campaign is imaginative and grounded in family life and reinforces Hello Panda as a snack that brings joy to everyday moments but balances the considerations of parents, mindful of ingredients and nutrition. Panda cookies are free of peanuts and high fructose corn syrup. The work avoids traditional snack advertising tropes in favor of a stylized, cinematic visual language that slows down moments of motion–a bite of a cookie, a goal scored, a jump landed—elevating them into a playful visual language authentic to Hello Panda’s spirited personality.
“Adorable. Cute. Yummylicious…whatever you want to call it, we are loving the Panda-filled world we are building with Hello Panda,” said Jacques Spitzer, CCO & CEO Raindrop. “It has been so incredibly entertaining to unlock the universal appeal of this unique snack that is crunchy, creamy and unlike anything else on the market.”
The two versions of the hero :30, along with display creative, launch in February on OTT, YouTube and Meta and run through the end of March in San Diego, San Antonio, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Houston, key markets that saw outsized sales gains for the brand in 2025. A key element of the media strategy is to align with the Winter Olympics, allowing Hello Panda to tap into elevated viewership and sports-driven engagement.
“Our creative features a spirited and competitive dynamic between a brother and sister who share their love for soccer, which pairs naturally with the energy and emotion of tournament-season storytelling,” said Geoffrey Guilfoile, Director of Marketing, Meiji America. “This work rings so true to our brand. It blends friendly sibling rivalry, real sports excitement and signature Hello Panda charm into a story that feels both timely and timeless.”
A second phase of the campaign will break in April and leverage the social engagement, brand recall and lift in purchase intent of the launch across a spectrum of OOH venues, display and social ads and a dedicated campaign landing page. The work will tap into the spring, summer and fall sports seasons and run through the back-to-school season.
