Breaking the internet
Fortune said it first, then Time: “April the Giraffe is helping Toys“R”Us break the internet.” This was the result of our idea to migrate more Babies”R”Us customers to Toys“R”Us through the launch of a social editorial team and content studio serving both brands. So when New York’s Animal Adventure Park announced that April the Giraffe was expecting a baby, we were ready. The partnership delivered one of YouTube’s top 5 most-watched live moments with 1.2M views, and 7.6B minutes of accumulated live watch time worldwide, and those awesome headlines.
Babies“R”Us started the conversation by commenting on a Today Show post with a tip: “Hi, April! May we suggest adding the Chicco Urban Stroller to your baby registry? Two words. Telescoping handles."
That quickly developed into sponsorship of the park’s live cam and months of posting to entertain a growing global audience. Fans went wild when we joined April’s checkup with veterinarian Dr. Tim, captured at the park in this explicit 2:20 video.
In a pretty savvy move, we switched the sponsorship logo from Babies“R”Us to Toys“R”Us the day the baby giraffe was born—and threw out a few suggestions for early learning toys.
“April the Giraffe is the biggest YouTube star of the moment, but Toys”R”Us is pretty savvy too.”
— Fast Company
“April the Giraffe’s viral live-stream was the internet version of the Super Bowl for Toys”R”Us.”
— YPulse
Contribution
Executive creative direction. Launched the social editorial creative team and inhouse content studio.