New global campaign will highlight the importance of friendship.

Mattel’s preschool brand “Thomas & Friends” has revealed its first-ever global brand campaign–a multi-faceted, year-long Set Friendship in Motion program.

Set Friendship in Motion will serve as a broad platform for the “Thomas & Friends” brand and will include content, digital activations and live events while helping preschoolers learn about friendship skills such as collaboration, communication, sharing, manners, kindness and the abilities to express and understand feelings and emotions.

“The ‘Thomas & Friends’ brand is inspiring the next generation of genuine friendships that help children forge deep connections–first connections–particularly valuable in our digital age,” says Kate Schlomann, vice president, global brand marketing, “Thomas & Friends,” Mattel. “All parents want their kids to have friends, and a best friend at that. And, they want their child to have the social and emotional skills in life that will help them grow to happy, healthy adults. Thomas is just the engine to set that dream in motion.”

The new campaign will be featured in myriad ways across all markets and lines of business from 2017 on, including TV, packaging and content bumpers. The campaign will launch with the first of three Hero videos created and produced in partnership with Driver Digital Studios, creators of the Thomas Creator Collective.

Finally, “Thomas & Friends” fans in the U.S. and U.K. will have the opportunity to set friendship in motion at their local Day Out With Thomas events, titled The Friendship Tour–which will aim to encourage and celebrate friendship with photo opportunities, crafts, activities, a social media component and more.

Additionally, the Set Friendship in Motion brand campaign will feature a robust social media plan that will include a parent-targeted social-feed-first global campaign with 10 countries participating on Facebook. Hero videos, do-it-yourself crafts and geo-targeted Snapchat activity will also be released throughout the year.