Two celebrity dads – singer and musician, Harry Judd, and reality TV star, Greg Shepherd – have teamed up with their children for a new Thomas & Friends campaign.
Reading with Little Friends aims to celebrate the ‘storytelling magic’ of the children’s brand and showcase the new toys and characters from the books and TV show.
Two videos have been recorded at the family homes of Harry and Greg, which see their children snuggle on the sofa with their dads to read together.
Lola, the eldest of Harry’s children, reads aloud from the story book Thomas the Rocket to Kit (4) and her dad, while Nelly – the eldest of Greg’s two children) – reads Thomas and Percy’s Spooky Adventure to Arther (4) and Greg.
The videos are designed to highlight the tales featuring important life lessons for children that have remained at the heart of Thomas & Friends for over 75 years since the first Railway Series book written by Reverend W. Awdry was published in 1945. Thomas & Friends recently underwent a major revamp to appeal to contemporary audiences’ sensibilities while maintaining Thomas’ core message about the value of friendship.
The current Thomas & Friends TV series – All Engines Go – which airs around the world and in the UK on Channel 5 Milkshake!, reimagines the classic Thomas & Friends with a new storytelling approach and 2D animation. Integrated into the brand’s content are 26 different social-emotional, cognitive and physical life lessons. These life lessons include things like friendship, taking turns, teamwork, self-help and empathy.
To launch Reading with Little Friends, the Thomas & Friends brand commissioned a survey of 1,000 parents of young children to find out about the life lessons they most want to pass on to their kids and which key attributes they’d most like their youngsters to develop as they grow up – with honesty, good manners and self-confidence coming out on top.
“I’m so happy to be part of Reading with Littles Friends with my kids Lola and Kit,” commented Harry, who is best known for being in McFly. “I’ve always been a fan of Thomas & Friends and really love how the stories are fun as well as teaching morals about being kind, helpful and working as a team – all things I’m constantly trying to teach the kids.”
Greg, who appears with Nelly and Arthur and his wife Billie in ITV’s The Family Diaries, added: “The kids are massively into Thomas & Friends, and I was when I was a kid, now we can enjoy it together. I love that they are going through the same process as me – watching the TV show, reading the books, and enjoying the toys.”
