Brand Extension Via Co-Creation

A long-standing brand was looking to leverage its strong brand awareness and sterling reputation into a vastly different category- Toys.

The client had limited experience in this category.

Company leadership had 3 objectives for this initiative: 

• to gain more in-depth knowledge from toy industry experts
• to create a variety of product concepts
• to get an initial read from kids and parents about how receptive they would be to the brand playing in this space and to the specific product concepts.

The Solution: 3-Day Co-Creation Program with client team members, toy industry experts, children & their toy-buying parents/grandparents

The first day was focused on information sharing and brainstorming activities with the Toy Industry experts and an 8-member client team during which we created more than a hundred preliminary ideas.

The morning of the second day the PIE team turned 12 lead ideas from the Innovation Session into 12 illustrated concept nuggets that would be shown to the upcoming Consumer Co-Creation Sessions

That afternoon, and the following day we conducted Consumer (child and parent or grandparent) Co-Creation Sessions to gather feedback to the overarching brand, to the specific concepts and to brainstorm improvements and additional new product ideas that would fit the brand equity.

The program was a success in both content and process.

The qualitative research results were exciting and positive. Consumers gave the brand "permission" to offer a line of toys and virtually all of the concepts were well received.

After the qualitative research, the PIE team (concept writer and designer) turned the top 8 concepts into more refined illustrated concepts which were brought forward into quantitative research. Test results were highly encouraging.

From a process standpoint the client was delighted at the creative and productive output and the seamless, time and cost effective nature of the program.