Storytelling with heart
When your top two competitors are the world’s largest retailers, you find a more meaningful way to add value for customers beyond a purchase. Today We Play was the rally cry for the new Toys“R”Us brand purpose built on expert opinion that boredom, free time, and unstructured play can unlock a child’s greatest potential. Blending cause and commerce, we set out to become the champion of children’s right to free play through a campaign that touched every part of the brand experience, and every parent’s heart. In social media and customer intercepts they cheered Toys“R”Us for its advocacy, and for the new excitement in stores.
The omnichannel campaign launched with The Great Speech directed by Shawn Levy, carrying the message across television, OLV, social media and the website.
New Play Labs lit up stores with bold, colorful signage inviting kids to a hands-on experience that the parents enjoyed, too—seeing their kids explore, create, build, and invent. And everyone got a turn in trying out the hottest toys.
Today We Play went on tour—in key markets across the U.S., a giant Etch A Sketch and digital screen takeover invited kids of all ages to pause a minute to play.
The “Today We Play Fan Van” made tailgating more fun at college campuses, too. Because of course, there’s always someone in the crowd who doesn’t wanna grow up.
And for rainy days, we inspired free play with the very popular Play Recipes in our social channels. Go ahead, try this at home!
Our Shorty Award-winning sponsorship of “Toy Box Season 2” with influencer Ava Ryan was a standout, driving incremental sales, over 25M impressions and a 607% ROI.
Despite the company’s fate the message lives on: following the launch of Today We Play, the American Academy of Pediatrics published two reports encouraging doctors to “write a prescription for play at well visits.” Imagine that. Play is powerful medicine.
Contribution
Creative direction for agency and internal studio development and execution. Co-led brand strategy.