Kenan Thompson has a long history with the fruit-flavored ball candy known as Mike & Ike.

“It’s one of those candies that I remember buying at the movies or on a road trip, so I was already familiar with it,” he recalls during a recent email exchange. Now you have the opportunity to attract new audiences to this venerable confection. Just Born, the candy company that first introduced Mike & Ike in 1940, has tapped the “SNL” veteran to lead a new advertising campaign that executives hope will transform familiar candy into something even more appealing to young diners.

The “SNL” mainstay oversaw a new advertising campaign (his commercial debut as a director) in which Mike and Ike are portrayed as characters for the first time. For decades, the names have simply referred to two types of sweet, fruit-flavored beans, one short and one longer.

“We treat them like any comedy duo. One character sees the world one way; the other sees it completely differently,” Thompson says. “Once you have that dynamic, you can put them in almost any situation and the jokes start to find you.”

Mike & Ike’s owner, Just Born Quality Confections, faces a challenge similar to that of other long-established candy makers like Hershey or Ferrara Candy Co.: How to take products that have been around for years and make them interesting to a generation of young consumers who have very different food consumption tastes than their elders? Ferrara has transformed its Nerds, once a box of fruity pebbles, into a crunchy, chewy curiosity that offers a unique “mouthfeel” to curious taste buds. Hershey’s, perhaps the country’s best-known purveyor of chocolate candy, has mixed caramel and “chocolate lava” into its famous Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Millennial and GenZ consumers want more from their commercials, says Meenakshi Trehan, chief growth officer at Mike & Ike, also via email. These buyers are “constantly browsing culture, content, and conversations in real time. They appreciate humor, relatability, and brands that don’t feel too polished or self-important,” he says.

In a series of ads, two sweets help people solve everyday problems like being ghosted, losing Wi-Fi, or receiving too many Slack messages at once. The new motto? “We have to chew.”

“We looked at those everyday moments we’ve all experienced, whether it’s an awkward text message, forgetting someone’s name, or one of those conversations no one wants to have, and we imagined how Mike and Ike would react,” Thompson says. “Instead of turning candy into a joke, we created two characters who could bring humor to situations that people immediately recognize.”

Thompson helped create four traditional banner ads, as well as behind-the-scenes content and social media extensions.

Throughout his career, the actor has developed a strong sense of what can work creatively in a short period of time. Thompson has worked on dozens of sketches for Nickelodeon’s “All That,” as well as “Saturday Night Live.” “One thing comedy has taught me over the years is that the funniest moments usually come from characters you believe in,” Thompson says. “Whether it’s sketch comedy, television or a commercial, it’s always about creating personalities that people enjoy watching.”

Giving more personality to candied characters can only help establish a better connection with consumers, Trehan says. “Mike and Ike have been iconic names, but fans have never had the opportunity to meet them. Now they have personalities, opinions and a unique way of seeing the world. They are funny, a little absurd and always ready to help people overcome life’s little dramas,” he says. “We see them becoming an extension of the brand’s playful spirit and a way to engage with consumers well beyond the candy aisle.”

Just Born has a broader portfolio of long-standing sweets to sell, including Peeps, Hot Tamales and Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews. If Mike and Ike can make new connections, maybe others can too.