Nerf
An iconic brand, Nerf is synonymous for Millennials with neighborhood play dates that bled into the night, playful battles in the pool with friends and fun memories with just the right amount of mischievousness. But while so many of Nerf’s Millennial parent audience had wonderful memories of the brand as children, when they look at it today as parents, they simply saw a toy gun company and one that wasn’t relevant to their children. So how do you get an entire generation of consumers to look beyond your product and see the emotional value of your brand and purpose?
Nerf: Unleash the Play in You
Based on insights from a global study by Nerf, we saw that, more than anything, Millennial parents around the world wanted to create moments of active play with their children, like the ones that they had as children. Fueled by an increased presence of screens, a decreased cultural importance on outdoor, active play and an increasingly regimented and scheduled routine for children, these parents craved something that would allow them and their children to break free from the screens, the routines and the organized monotony of their day to day life, even if it was just for a moment.
And that’s where Murph came in.
A physical manifestation of the unbridled, slightly mischievous, kinetic playful spirit that’s inside all of us, just begging to be unleashed, Murph is designed to inspire and spark that spirit in children and parents alike. Made entirely of Nerf’s iconic foam darts, Murph (and they’re many forms, I.e. pup Murph) leveraged the brands distinctive assets in a way that literally connected the product to the emotional benefit we so desperately wanted our audience to see.
In just 72 hours, Murph generated more than 11,000 tweets, amassed nearly 14K followers and was the talk of late night show hosts John Oliver and Jimmy Fallon.
