Chicago Children's Museum: MISTER IMAGINE'S TOY SYORE

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: CHICAGO CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
Agency: ENERGY BBDO, XI CHICAGO
Category: Travel, Entertainment & Leisure
Advertising campaign: MISTER IMAGINE'S TOY SYORE
Creative Technologist: Brian Busche (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Creative Technologist: Danny Lee (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Senior Print Producer: Jackie Lapides (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Art Producer: Karen Tisel (Energy BBDO)
Experiential Producer: Jeff Davis (Energy BBDO)
Strategic Planner: Shannon Smiley (Energy BBDO)
Executive Creative Director: Kevin Lynch (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Junior Copywriter: Allie Gehan (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Senior Art Director: Austin Scott (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Assistant Account Executive: Brittany Peskind (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Assitant Creative Director/Art Director: Francis Almeda (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Account Supervisor: Jessie Levy (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Vice President Creative Director: Jonathan Linder (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Junior Art Director: Katie Putnam (Energy BBDO/Xi)
Associate Creative Director Copywriter: Natalie Taylor (Energy BBDO/Xi)

Strategy
Last Year, Chicago Children’s Museum tasked us with helping them drive traffic to 'Unboxed' - a new exhibit featuring nothing but cardboard. The museum is located in the heart of Chicago’s tourist district, and they were having trouble convincing locals to make the trip - especially to play with something that could be dug out of a recycling bin. They asked us to reach the Chicago moms they couldn't reach through traditional media.We wanted to give Chicago moms a taste of the extraordinary exhibit in their own neighborhood, and do it in a way that gave them something to talk about. So, we put the old insight 'children prefer the box to the toy' to the test in Chicago’s hippest family-friendly neighborhood: Wicker Park. There, we promoted and opened Mister Imagine’s Toy Store, a little toy store with a big twist. Instead of toys, the store was stocked with boxes.

Execution
Once retail space was confirmed, we got to work building and promoting the store. Prior to the grand opening, we used grassroots media channels - including blogger kits, a website, yelp page, 'coming soon' window displays, posters, flyers, and stickers - to build anticipation for the hip new toy store without giving away the twist.The store interior was built almost entirely out of cardboard, and featured distinct areas for shopping, creating (a workshop staffed with museum art facilitators), and sharing your toys (a cardboard photo booth that captured, printed, and automatically uploaded your pictures to the museum’s Facebook page).We then turned everything in the store into a media vehicle - box purchases came with a voucher good for a free visit or 15% off membership. Photos from the photo booth contained reminders to visit the Unboxed exhibit, and packaging delivered exhibit information.

Effectiveness
On a total budget of less than $4,000, we built and promoted Mister Imagine’s Toy Store, and introduced thousands of visitors to the museum. However, the story of the store spread far beyond the actual space. Mister Imagine’s was featured on FOX News, ABC, TimeOut magazine and hundreds of blogs, from Chicago to Japan. But best of all, Mister Imagine’s Toy Store led to a 13% increase in Chicago Children’s Museum’s general attendance and a 50% increase in attendance among members, making the launch of Unboxed one of the most successful exhibit launches in the museum’s history.