Summary

When Hasbro asked us to launch the new Play-Doh, Busy Chef’s Kitchen, a kids Kitchen designed to help the creation of Play-Doh dishes, we knew EXACTLY what to do.

Insights told us that 80% of parents deal with pre-school picky eaters, leading to mealtime stress and lack of inspiration; but when kids were engaged with the creation of food, fussiness reduced. 

It’s just not practical to get kids involved in cooking every family meal (even for those parents that don’t mind THE MESS), but if we could playfully get kids interested in IRL food through their imaginary Play-Doh food, then the Busy Chef’s Kitchen could be seen by parents as so much more than just another toy to clutter the lounge.  

Introducing The Restaurant of Imagination.  An experiential & content led campaign to drive awareness and consideration of The Busy Chef’s kitchen, get kids interested in food, prevent picky eaters, and turn mundane mealtimes into magical adventures. 

Our multi-layered campaign included research into the stress of fussy eaters, a Pop-Up Restaurant that turned Play-Doh creations into IRL meals (Blue Spaghetti included) & targeted Influencer & media partnerships.  All touchpoints culminated to secure; 29 Influencer posts with 934k views, 212 press mentions (up 842% on KPI), 3.05 million coverage views (up 144% on KPI), and 1.05 million print circulations & a total reach of 549M (up 377% on KPI).

And we turned the Play-Doh pizza into ACTUAL pizza (amazing TBH, even for a 30-year-old).

Objectives

Drive awareness and engagement of the Busy Chef’s Restaurant amongst parents through earned media, influencer marketing and an experiential activation over the campaign period

Increase SOV of Play-Doh by 10% versus competitors throughout the campaign period

Drive purchase consideration of Busy Chef’s Restaurant by building brand affinity with parent audience

Strategy

Insights revealed that 80% of parents deal with picky eaters, leading to mealtime stress and lack of inspiration, but when kids were engaged with the creation of food, fussiness reduced.

Our strategy was to empathise and support. Be additive to the lives of parents and position Play-Doh and The Busy Chef’s Kitchen as the secret weapon against picky eaters by engaging kids with ‘food’.

Execution

Seeking to spark young imaginations and tastebuds, whilst providing parents and caregivers with at least one stress-free meal during the school break, the Restaurant of Imagination Experience invited families to be chef. Creating imaginary Play-Doh meals using its new Busy Chef’s Restaurant playset, which then magically transformed into real-life meals for the whole family.

To maximise the impact of this experiential campaign, we drove engagement through multiple touch points.

• Research: Backed by data on picky eaters and mealtime struggles, ensuring the campaign resonated with its target audience via consumer news placement
• The Experience: The pop-up brought Play-Doh's Busy Chef's Kitchen to life, with interactive stations, live chef demonstrations, and the magical transformation of Play-Doh meals into real ones (blue spaghetti and heart shaped pizzas were culinary highlights)
• Influencers: We partnered with popular parenting influencers such as Fun Dad Dean, Gabriel Sey and My Kinda Mum to amplify the experience of using The Busy Chef’s kitchen at home to help combat fussy eating and reach millions of engaged parents
• Media Partnerships: We collaborated with key media outlets such as Time Out, The Londonist, Metro and The Daily Express to secure extensive coverage and build brand awareness.

Our multi-layered approach, which included earned and paid influencer content as well as earned media, ensured a sold-out experiential event and hit each of the objectives effectively:

1.      Drive awareness of Busy Chef’s Restaurant through earned, influencer and experiential touchpoints

• We achieved 3.05M estimated coverage views, 934K content views via influencer marketing and a sold-out event.
• 212 press mentions (up 842% on KPI), 3.05 million coverage views (up 144% on KPI), and 1.05 million print circulations ensure a wide and broad reach of awareness for the launch. This culminated in a total reach of 549M (up 377% on KPI).
• Social Savvy: 29 influencer posts with 934K views, and 511K Instagram Story impressions though our use of influencers

2.     Increase SOV of Play-Doh by 10% versus competitors throughout the campaign period

o   Play-Doh’s SOV increased by up to 21% to 83% during the campaign period versus  category competitors (PlayMobil, LOL Surprise, Kinetic Sand, Aqua Beads).

3.     Drive purchase consideration of Busy Chef’s Restaurant by building brand affinity with parenting audience

The results not only focused on quantitative metrics, but also highlighted the positive sentiment and brand affinity generated. With over 90% positive or neutral sentiment across earned and influencer content and 70% agreeing that Play-Doh is relatable and understands parents. This long-lasting impact on brand recall and affinity adds another layer of success to the campaign.

Why should this win?

Because we served Blue Spaghetti?

And we successfully blended creativity, insight, and strategic execution across multiple touchpoints, to not only meet objectives, but exceed expectations.

The Restaurant of Imagination wasn't just about Play-Doh launching a new product; it was about reimagining mealtimes and connecting with parents and kids on a deeper level, to ensure Play-Doh maintained positive sentiment in their minds a long time after the event.

By tapping into fussy eater realities and offering a playful solution, we created a campaign that resonated, delivered results, and most importantly, made mealtimes just that bit easier. Transforming the launch into a theatrical and interactive event, we ensured that parents and children alike experienced the magic of Play-Doh's Busy Chef’s Kitchen first-hand.

The campaign not only met but exceeded KPIs. The impressive statistics, such as 3.05M estimated coverage views, 934K content views via influencer marketing, and a sold-out experiential event, show the campaign's effectiveness. This substantial increase in press mentions and social media metrics ensured Play-Doh reached and resonated with their target audience.

And did we mention the blue spaghetti?