CASE STUDY: HASBRO’S FURBY

When it launched in 1998, Furby was hot. The furry, Furbish-speaking electronic toy was on every kid’s wish list, and Hasbro sold several million of the animatronic pets in three years. ‘It kind of hung around for a while then disappeared,’ says ZenithOptimedia account manger Sue Poland. So with a global relaunch scheduled for last December, could a once successful toy stage a comeback?

Goal/strategy

The Furby relaunch needed to reach a target of kids four to 11 as well as their moms who would be familiar with the toy from when it first launched, says Poland.

The Zenith team chose TV and online as the main platforms in addition to Furby sightings at some key Canadian summer events, all leading up to the broadcast of Furby Island, a 44-minute

made-for-TV movie commissioned by Hasbro.

Execution

After inking a deal with Toronto-based Corus Entertainment, Zenith created dozens of 10-second billboard teasers that ran on W and CMT to target moms, and on YTV and Teletoon to reach kids.

Starting in July, the teasers were integrated into the programming so Furbies would comment on the shows in Furbish with English subtitles. ‘On W, for example, we would have billboards on a decorating show. Furby would pop up and say in Furbish: ‘Gee, I like the colour of that room.’ On CMT, it would say: ‘I would play a guitar if I had hands.’ Just cute little things,’ says Poland. To further reach moms, the agency had host Marilyn Dennis give the toy away to the mainly female audience of her popular CHUM show, Cityline.

To target kids, Furby also joined YTV’s Weird on Wheels, an event vehicle that travels across the country to the summer’s big amusement parks and events such as the PNE, CNE and the Calgary Stampede. Pictures of the toy with its fans were snapped on location then posted online. Also online, links to the Furby Island website were included on the YTV and Teletoon sites. All these efforts led up to the broadcast of the movie on YTV in October and on Teletoon the following month.

Results

Canadian sales surpassed all expectations ranking number

one globally and made Furby one of the hot toys (again!) for Christmas 2005. NW