AUNTY PLANTY AND THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT TOY
- A POP-UP BOOK CREATED TO PROMOTE THE PRIMA TOYS WEBSITE
Prima is a little-known company with a huge presence. It supplies almost every single toyshop in South Africa with thousands of the biggest brands in toys. We were asked to update their consumer-facing website which included a full list of products and a supplier’s listing so that ‘finding the perfect toy’ – the company’s main offering – became a reality through their website. We created a search-engine, giving consumers the chance to search the website for a toy. The variables of age, stage, activity, type of toy and girl / boy were included.
To promote the website’s launch, we wanted to bring the experience of ‘not knowing what present to get for your eight year old nephew’ to come to life, with the Prima website being the solution and hero of the tale.
The story is written as a loose rhyme, with emphasis placed on tone, beat and pace. The nuances, the double-meanings and the quirky jokes are all intended to give the book a feeling of authenticity. Written with Roald Dahl, Doctor Seuss and C.S. Lewis in mind, iconic childhood story-tellers that wrote about similarly odd-ball characters with good intentions. Although most rules were broken, the story reads as a loose rhyme, with emphasis placed on tone, beat and pace. The nuances, the details and the quirky jokes are all intended to give the book a feeling of authenticity, and to create humor and entertainment. The books were used as promotional items, sent to bloggers, promoted on Facebook and given away as a prize, promoting traffic to the website and new newsletter sign-ups.
The illustration style of the book speaks directly to the playful, quirky tone of the story. Aunty Planty’s personality traits are included in the illustration and she is brought to life with wild hair, bizarre dress sense and details that aren’t prescribed in the story. Toys on the website have been pulled through into the illustrations. The book is digitally illustrated, which speaks directly to the fact that the book is promoting a website.
The pop-up elements of the book were intended to create interactivity and fun, mirroring the new website’s exciting new features. The books were used as promotional items, sent to bloggers, promoted on Facebook and given away as a prize, promoting traffic to the website and new newsletter sign-ups.
Agency: Machine Agency
Executive Creative Director: Jake Bester
Creative Director: Gareth McPherson
Copywriter: Gisele Human
Illustrator: Dani Loureiro
Illustrator: Cassandra Leigh Johnson
Designer: Nicole Dalton
