Just over a year after Kratts’ Creatures first aired on PBS, an ambitious advertising and licensing campaign surrounding the program is set to launch in the U.S. and Canada.

For six weeks starting July 28, at 4,800 Wendy’s restaurants across the U.S. and Canada, eight million Kids’ Meal bags with Kratts’ Creatures toys will be distributed.

‘It was a big deal for us that Kratts’ Creatures was able to get a promotion like Wendy’s,’ says Trina Storfer, director of Momentum Partners, the New York-based full-service licensing and merchandising company that is handling the licensing program and promotions for the show. ‘At the time that we were trying to get the promotion, McDonald’s and Disney had made a partnership deal and, of course, everyone was running to Burger King or Wendy’s because they were really the only fast-food chains that were still available.’

The campaign is timed to coincide with the launch of the first Kratts’ Creatures licensed products which include videos (PolyGram Video), plush (Equity Toys), trading cards (Inkworks), books (Scholastic) and paper party goods (Unique Industries) with the added bonus of heading into the back-to-school season, says Storfer.

The program will be supported by a national television advertising campaign in the U.S. running from August 4 to 17 on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, ABC, CBS and Warner Bros. Networks.

As an added incentive, inserted in each Kids’ Meal bag will be a coupon for a limited-edition trading card, redeemable at any Blockbuster location.

PolyGram Video is supporting the launch of the video with a national television and direct-mail campaign in the U.S. through Time-Life Video and national radio promotions. A Kratts’ Creatures postcard will be inserted into every video to cross-promote the videos with all other merchandise categories.