Date: 2019
Client: Walmart, Disney, Mattel
Agency: Buzzfeed
Role: Interactive Creative Director
Project: "KidHQ" — An Interactive Toy Universe for Walmart
Situation: For the crucial 2019 holiday season, Walmart needed to move beyond the traditional toy catalog and capture the attention of digitally-native kids who were spending hours watching "unboxing" videos on YouTube. The challenge was to evolve their previously successful "Walmart Toy Lab" concept into a richer, more scalable narrative world that blended entertainment with e-commerce, putting kids directly in the driver's seat.
Task: As the Interactive Creative Director at Buzzfeed Media Labs, I was tasked with leading the creative vision and execution for this ambitious project. My mission was to orchestrate the complex fusion of live-action filmmaking, video-game-like interactivity (UI/UX), and extensive post-production to create "KidHQ," a seamless and delightful interactive experience built on the Eko platform.
Action: I spearheaded the creative development and production pipeline from concept to launch, ensuring that every element served both the narrative and the user experience.
Creative & UX Leadership: I supervised the overall UX design for KidHQ, including the core "Funovator" concept that allowed the experience to be a scalable platform for different brand "floors." I directly oversaw the UX design for the main Walmart Toy Lab and Santa floors, focusing on creating an intuitive "Funtroller" that empowered kids to test, look at, and play with toys in a way that felt like a game, not an ad.
Live-Action Shoot Supervision: I was on set supervising the live-action shoots, ensuring that the performances and cinematography were captured in a way that would integrate seamlessly with our planned interactive elements. This required a unique directorial approach, planning for branching choices and dynamic user inputs from the very beginning.
Post-Production & VFX Workflow Management: I managed the entire post-production and VFX workflow. This involved overseeing a complex pipeline where live-action footage was integrated with UI animations, motion graphics, and visual effects to create the magical toy factory environment. My role was to ensure all the disparate parts came together to form a single, polished, and responsive experience for the end-user.
Result: "KidHQ" successfully launched for the 2019 holiday season as a groundbreaking piece of "shoppertainment." The experience effectively reimagined the "unboxing" video phenomenon by transforming it from a passive viewing experience into an active, kid-driven adventure. The platform I helped create was a hit with kids and parents alike, successfully blending entertainment with commerce and establishing a new, scalable model for interactive brand storytelling for Walmart.
AWARDS
2020 Best Interactive Content Series or Piece – Digiday
2020 Silver Telly, Branded Content Craft-Interactive Video
2020 Silver Telly, Branded Content General-Children
