Campaigns
Letting Martha Do the Talking
01 / The Challenge
The Challenge
Martha Speaks came to PBS KIDS with a wonderfully strange premise. Martha eats alphabet soup, the letters go to her brain, and suddenly the family dog can talk. Behind the joke was a serious educational goal: the WGBH-produced series was designed to build vocabulary among children ages four to seven.
The print advertising needed to communicate both sides at once. It had to feel funny enough for a children’s show without burying the language idea that made the series different.
02 / The Shift
The Shift We Made
Martha’s talking became the whole creative device. Instead of explaining that the show was about vocabulary, the ads demonstrated it. Speech bubbles multiplied around her with comments, jokes, observations, and increasingly unnecessary things to say.
03 / The Work
How We Did It
- Developed print concepts around Martha’s personality and the central premise of the show
- Used speech bubbles as both written content and the dominant visual device
- Built the layouts to work quickly from a distance while rewarding a closer read with additional jokes
- Integrated character art, tune-in messaging, and PBS KIDS branding without diluting the central concept
- Adapted the idea across multiple executions while keeping the voice and visual joke consistent
04 / What Happened Next
What Happened Next
05 / Why It Mattered
Why It Mattered
You could understand the premise before reading the fine print. Martha had a lot to say, the page could barely contain her, and that was exactly what the show was about.