KidHQ & ToyLab
Clients: Walmart, Mattel, eko, Technology Humans & Taste (THAT)
In 2018, THAT what Forbes called, “The best thing Walmart’s done all year.” For 2019, the ambition was bigger: a full interactive building with five “floors” or games and even more toys—all in time for Christmas so parents could see what to buy their kids.
The Challenge: How might we build five synced digital products that are COPPA compliant in a platform which had never handled anything so complex? And that kids and parents would love?
What I Did
The vision was that KidHQ would be a virtual building that brands like Walmart and Mattel could “rent.” Through a “funovator,” kids accessed each branded gaming experience while parents had a gated experience to see what toys their kids loved. There were five product systems in all:
- ToyLab—the newer, better, and toy-iest version with 40 toys and 5 hours of video content
- Barbie Dream Floor—33 possible narrative paths for an elaborate, storytelling adventure
- Meet Santa: A bilingual choose-your-own adventure film set in Santa’s workshop
- GrownUps Only Floor: This COPPA-compliant floor is where play for kids turned into marketing at parents with wishlists of toys their kids loved.
- KidHQ: The connective tissue and frame that held the building and story together—featuring Mrs. Bartlesby the President and dog.
Because of our previous partnership, THAT invited me to product manage the experience strategy and product design of the entire ecosystem. I managed leadership and team expectations across five bicoastal agencies and over 40 stakeholders—working with directors, production staff, interactive designers, writers, film crews, and executives. I architected the experience blueprint used by everyone to communicate strategy, flows, interactive and creative decisions in real-time. I pitched solutions for THAT in meetings with key decisionmakers from Walmart, eko, Buzzfeed, and more. The timeline was ambitious—6 months to launch! We finished early. 😎
Success Stats
- 3.1M+ engaged views with ~10 minutes average per session
- 2.1M toys added to Toy Report and 90% or 139,000 toy reports received by parents
- 179M impressions and 8M total interactions
- Best Interactive Content Series or Piece issued by Digiday
- Silver Telly Branded Content Craft-Interactive Video issued by The Telly Awards
- Silver Telly Branded Content General - Children issued by The Telly Awards
- Exceeded all KPI goals by Thanksgiving weekend (Oct 15 launch).
Expertise
- Product & Experience Strategy
- UX Research & Design
- Creative Strategy & UX Writing
- Product Management
- COPPA Compliance & Legal Coordination
Concept → Launch
In expanding the experience, I made sure everyone understood how each system connected to the other AND when we could advertise vs. when we could not.
We knew from the previous year that kids would love KidHQ. But we didn’t know if parents would care about a floor where they could look at wishlists. I did the most guerrilla user research I’ve ever attempted AND with the fastest turnaround. Every year, Walmart hosts a “Toy Day” at their HQ in Arkansas. While thousands of families played and tested toys, I approached parents and asked one question: If you weren’t here at Toy Day, how would you know what your kids want? That data validated the concept and final designs.
Take a look at all the sizzle reel! It’s short, but it will give you a taste of what we built!
Press
“Sarah turns problem-solving into play, finding ways to simplify the most complex things.”
Julia Gorbach · Director of Originals · TECHNOLOGY HUMANS & TASTE