turning ty beanies into icons
ty wasn’t sure how to connect their desire to regain relevance with the growth of their nascent dtc channel
Ty came to us wanting TikTok content and followers. Behind that ask, was a need to earn relevance among modern consumers. They had nostalgic, ravenous fans and an ability to sell well to parents of small children at brick-and-mortar retail, but limited success with their online store. Ty knew they needed to develop a more intentional brand presence on modern channels if they wanted consumers to shop Ty.com. Ty plush toys are so cute many consumers were only buying them for very young children. But with their competition performing so well with teens and tweens, we knew there was an opportunity to expand the age range consideration set. We knew we could expand DTC sales in what was a previously untapped market.
we encouraged
them to do 2 things:
We helped them commit to a creative brand strategy that would open up the aperture on their audience, inviting tweens and teens to embrace the brand (after all, that’s who’s on TikTok) allowing us to create against a strong brand idea to break the routine of forgettable content for content’s sake.
We developed an audio signature to tag every piece of paid content, leveraging their greatest brand equity, the word “Beanie,” and grounding it in their URL “ty.com.” This made their short, one-syllable name much more audible and truly memorable. Here was an idea to give voice to the passion fans have long held for the Ty brand and encourage more fans to get excited about these collectable toys.
every touchpoint
of the campaign:
leaned into Ty’s notoriety
conveyed a sweet, self aware sense of humor
made the product iconic by putting it in iconic spaces
introducing “ty gimme beanie studios”
We put our adorable toys in six ambitious films under the handle “Ty Gimme Beanie Studios,” with human hands “playing” with the toys, but really, making the toys the notorious, starring cast.
social impact
We built a world of iconic Beanies and the fictional lives they live beyond toydom.
The logical next step was to invite diverse maker-influencers to cast the toys in their content, too. We engaged 50 influencers to make content with Beanies, drawing over 2.6 million views and over 3,600 hours of view time throughout the duration of the campaign.
That’s equivalent to 423 seasons of The Office.
We boosted trendy Ty TikToks and turned them into ads, with a button inviting users to follow us on the platform, eventually meeting our goal of 500K followers.
500k followers
social ads
We drove sales on ty.com with a steady stream of Gimme Beanie ads on Instagram and Facebook, encouraging bundle shopping and announcing the latest Beanie releases, always delivering the allure of the celebrity Gimme Beanie world.
