An iconic toy goes from being ‘out of touch’ to ‘in touch’ with new customers

Challenge:

• Help a longstanding toy brand to connect with a new generation of moms who are not buying their products for their kids

• Help reverse a consecutive 3-year decline of global sales and a tarnished brand reputation

Approach:

• Build a global customer journey (consisting of 4 markets) & competitive audit (US only) to understand the values, interests, expectations, and behaviors of these new customers and identify opportunities to meet them where they are

• Work closely with Strategy Lead to develop the brand & digital strategy

Moment of Clarity (Solution):

• Address the cultural misperception of the brand values not aligning with values of new moms around female empowerment, independence, & diversity

• Reposition the brand’s message to focus on the benefits of child’s play with the toy fostering imagination, self- expression, & empowerment to be whatever they want to be

• Consider opportunities to further align with customer values via product development & expansions

Impact:

• Double digit increase of sales

• Extensive press coverage for new brand & product message

  • Examples of top media sources: AdAge, CNN Money, Wall Street Journal, ABC News, The Drum

• 12.5MM views of YouTube ad [creative credit: BBDO] in the first 3 weeks

• Informed the value proposition & content development of the rebranded website [developed in-house by client]

• Inspired recent product innovations that include more diverse toys to represent different identities, styles, & cultures

Role: Research Lead

• Led development, analysis & reporting of all global research

• Oversaw & managed work of 3 junior team members (across time zones)

• Collaborated with VP of Strategy, Research Director, Account Director, & Strategy Lead on overall storyline & how this work would feed into the strategy development of this project

Timing: 4 months