Kinder's 'Time for children' campaign, created by M&C Saatchi Berlin in June 2016, marked Ferrero's first umbrella brand film for the Kinder range in Germany.
ARCHIVEHow Kinder and M&C Saatchi Made Time for Children in Germany
Kinder's 'Time for children' is a 2016 film campaign created by M&C Saatchi Berlin for Ferrero's Kinder range, launched in Germany in June 2016, positioning the brand around meaningful parent–child moments rather than product attributes alone.
Ferrero launched 'Time for children' as the brand's first umbrella campaign for the entire Kinder range in Germany, as characterised by HORIZONT in its June 7, 2016 coverage by journalist Marco Saal. That distinction matters. Where most confectionery advertising anchors itself to product — flavour, texture, occasion — this film stepped back from the chocolate bar entirely and placed the parent–child relationship at the centre of the creative idea. In doing so, Kinder moved from product communication toward something closer to brand philosophy.
The campaign consists of a single film asset, supported by out-of-home and online executions, produced through Embassy of Dreams in Berlin. The film medium was deliberately chosen to carry emotional weight at scale, allowing the campaign to function as a brand statement across Germany rather than a tactical promotional push. M&C Saatchi Berlin, operating under the creative leadership of Chief Creative Officer and partner Björn Bremer, developed the work with art director Christin Betge and copywriters Katja Seydel and Hannah Scherber. Directors Nathan Fackrell and Matt Fackrell of MEN handled the film production. The Clapboard Score for 'Time for children' stands at 61 out of 100, reflecting competent execution of an emotionally grounded concept within a competitive confectionery category.
ARCHIVEFerrero built the 'Time for children' strategy around a consumer insight that childhood passes quickly and that quality time between parents and children is increasingly scarce.
That insight gave Kinder a credible platform to elevate beyond snack-category advertising in Germany. Rather than competing on product claims alongside rivals such as Mars and Nestlé — both identified as leading confectionery competitors in the German and broader European market — M&C Saatchi Berlin repositioned Kinder as a brand that understands family life at an emotional level. Mars and Nestlé have long deployed product-centric communications for their confectionery portfolios; Kinder's decision to invest in an umbrella brand film represented a structurally different strategic bet.
The strategic context in Germany in 2016 was shaped by a confectionery category in growth. The global chocolate segment grew at a rate that outpaced broader confectionery in 2016, according to Snack and Bakery, with chocolate accounting for approximately 61% of new product launches that year, according to Prepared Foods. That environment rewarded brands capable of building emotional distinctiveness rather than simply competing on new product activity. Ferrero's choice to run a campaign uniting the full Kinder range under a single idea — rather than advertising individual products separately — reflected a maturing brand strategy for the German market. Kinder is a Ferrero brand originally created in Italy and launched internationally in the late 1960s, according to Clapboard's archive, giving the brand decades of equity in Germany on which an umbrella campaign could credibly build.
Directors Nathan Fackrell and Matt Fackrell of MEN directed the 'Time for children' film, bringing a production sensibility suited to emotionally led family storytelling.
The Fackrells worked from a creative brief developed by M&C Saatchi Berlin under Chief Creative Officer and partner Björn Bremer, with art director Christin Betge and copywriters Katja Seydel and Hannah Scherber shaping the campaign's voice and visual language. Embassy of Dreams, the Berlin-based production company, served as the production partner, keeping the project anchored in the German market both creatively and logistically.
The title itself — 'Time for children', rendered in the original German trade coverage by HORIZONT as 'M&C Saatchi lässt Kinder für Kinder blödeln', which translates roughly to M&C Saatchi letting children clown around for Kinder — signals a tonal choice built on warmth and playfulness rather than sentimentality. The copywriting team's decision to frame the campaign around uninhibited childhood behaviour rather than idealised family imagery gave the film an authenticity that more polished confectionery advertising often sacrifices. Art director Christin Betge's visual approach appears to have prioritised naturalistic framing to reinforce that sense of genuine, unscripted childhood energy. The integration of out-of-home and online executions alongside the primary film asset extended the campaign's reach across Germany while preserving the core emotional message across formats. The result is a campaign that communicates brand values through behaviour and feeling rather than through product display — an approach consistent with M&C Saatchi Berlin's broader strategic positioning of Kinder as a family brand first and a confectionery brand second.
No verified performance data for 'Time for children' is publicly available, and no major advertising awards from Cannes Lions, the Effies, The One Show, D&AD, the Clios, or the Webby Awards are documented for this campaign, according to Clapboard's archive.
Structural analysis of the campaign's effectiveness nonetheless reveals a coherent strategic and creative foundation. The decision to produce Germany's first umbrella brand film for the full Kinder range, as reported by HORIZONT, represents a meaningful step in brand architecture — one that consolidates diverse product lines under a single emotional territory and reduces the fragmentation that multi-product confectionery portfolios often suffer from in advertising. The film medium, chosen over static formats for the campaign's lead asset, provides the narrative duration necessary to establish emotional resonance rather than simply drive product recall. The supporting out-of-home and online executions functioned to extend reach without diluting the central idea. The Clapboard Score of 61 out of 100 reflects a campaign that executes its emotional premise competently and makes a structurally sound strategic choice, while leaving room for sharper creative differentiation. In a German confectionery market shaped by established global competitors, the campaign's most durable contribution may be the precedent it set: that Kinder's most powerful brand story is not about chocolate, but about the time children and parents spend together.
Kinder's 'Time for children' is a 2016 film campaign created by M&C Saatchi Berlin for Ferrero in Germany. It marked Ferrero's first umbrella brand campaign for the entire Kinder range, positioning the brand around meaningful parent–child time rather than individual product attributes, and was published in June 2016.
M&C Saatchi Berlin created the 'Time for children' campaign for Kinder in Germany. The agency's creative leadership included Chief Creative Officer and partner Björn Bremer, art director Christin Betge, and copywriters Katja Seydel and Hannah Scherber, working with production company Embassy of Dreams in Berlin.
Nathan Fackrell and Matt Fackrell of MEN directed the 'Time for children' film for Kinder. The Fackrells worked with M&C Saatchi Berlin and production company Embassy of Dreams, based in Berlin, to produce the campaign's primary film asset for the German market in 2016.
M&C Saatchi Berlin built the campaign around the insight that quality parent–child time is increasingly scarce. Rather than advertising individual Kinder products, the strategy positioned the entire Kinder range under a single emotional idea centred on childhood behaviour and family connection, differentiating Kinder from product-led rivals in Germany.
The Clapboard Score for Kinder's 'Time for children' campaign is 61 out of 100. This score reflects competent emotional execution and a sound strategic decision to unify the Kinder range under one brand idea in Germany, while indicating room for sharper creative differentiation within the confectionery category.
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