Make the Logo Weirder! Nickelodeon's Iconic 'Splat' Sparks Wild Rides

When you discover a pool of shiny slime on the street, in the woods, or dripping from your ceiling, just one course of action will do.

Poke your head right into the stuff! 

You’ll discover worlds of wonder, with miniature barbershop quartets, dinosaurs, rollercoasters and a town made of clay where the houses wink and smile.

Of course, you’ll probably wind up with glop streaming down your face.

What else did you expect?

That puddle is the classic Nickelodeon ‘Splat’ logo, after all, cast as a portal to fantasy and adventure by agency Callen in fresh (and goopy) promos for the platform:

Though it ranks as the most popular kids’ network, Viacom-owned Nick has struggled of late. The spots, breaking this week, evolve the brand’s famous aesthetic in a bid to jumpstart momentum and regain some mojo.

“We were already fans of Nickelodeon from our youth, so working with them was the fulfillment of a childhood dream, reinvented for our own kids,” Callen strategy lead Julianna Simon tells Muse. “The insight that we were working with was that today’s kids are running out of spaces where it’s okay to enjoy childhood. We want the ‘Splat!’ to become a symbol for finding fun. It’s a portal to outrageous fun waiting for any kid (or kid-at-heart) willing to explore it!”

“We tried to collaborate with each artist heavily upfront and take our hands off the wheel a bit in production so that we didn’t lose all the magical stuff that we went to them for in the first place,” says agency founder and CCO Craig Callen.

“In ‘Quartet,’ [a nod to Nick ads of yore] we dumped a ton of real slime on the kid. It was freezing cold, but he loved it. Each fish was puppeteered by hand which took our partners, Kevin VFX, a good amount of time to piece it together.”

“The whole process felt like going back to art school in college,” he says. “Messy, unpredictable and insane—in all the very best ways!”

The work recalls Hulu’s bid last year with various talent reimagining its logo, and fits Callen’s absurdist, oft-retro approach, previously deployed for Ibotta and Pabst, among others.

CREDITS

Agency: Callen
Chief Creative Officer: Craig Allen
Creative Director: Matt Sorrell
Art Director: Casey Phillips
Copywriter: Dave Canning
Copywriter: Russ Rizzo
Copywriter: Weston Bliobenes
Copywriter: Ethan Sims
Head of Production: Amy Kommatas
Head of Strategy: Julianna Simon 
Managing Director: David Hughes 
Account Supervisor: Payton Brown 
Account Coordinator: Anna Campbell

Client: Nickelodeon
EVP, Global Kids & Family Marketing, Nickelodeon and Paramount+: Sabrina Caluori
SVP, Executive Creative Director: Vincent Aricco
SVP, Creative Director, Brand Design: Michael Waldron
VP, Kids & Family Programming Marketing, Nickelodeon and Paramount+: Brian Chiger
VP, Creative Director: Erica Ottenberg
VP, Creative Strategy, Editorial: Liza Steinberg
Senior Director of Production: Josh Powers
Producer/PMO, Nickelodeon Rebrand: Danielle Jotham & Justin Mushnick
VP, Brand Strategy & Digital Platforms: Jordan Cardinale
Director, Brand Marketing & Experiential: Anna Blake
Manager, Brand Marketing & Strategic Planning: Asdrid Vasquez
VP, Media: Alissa Tofias

Production Studio: Riff Raff Films
Executive Producer: Tracey Cooper
Director: Max Siedentopf
Producer: Matt Posner
Production Manager: Georgia Wall
Production Coordinator: Miranda Bucknell-Whalley
Production Assistant: Benjy Alfreds
Claymation Animator: Alistair Nicholls

CG Animators: Yonk

Music Company: duotone audio group
Creative Director/Founder: Peter Nashel
Executive Producer: Ross Hopman
Producer: Gio Lobato
Sound Designer/Mixer: Andy Green
Executive Producer, Audio Post: Greg Tiefenbrun

VFX/ Post:Kevin
Executive Creative Director/ Partner: Tim Davies
Senior Executive Producer/ Partner: Sue Troyan
Lead VFX Artist: Robert Murdock
VFX Producer: Andrew Cowderoy
On Set VFX Supervisor: Pete Smith
Colorist: Adam Scott
Compositors: Chris Sonia, Luke Yalva, Marisa Chin, Ryan Raith

Arcade Edit 
Editor: Paul Martinez
Assistant Editor: Paulo Miramontes 
Senior Producer: Kristen Thon-Webb
Executive Producer: Crissy DeSimone