1stAveMachine Brings Mechanical Magic with ‘The Wonderbly Machine of Wonder’

Children’s book publisher, Wonderbly, has launched its first brand TV campaign which was created in-house and bought to life by directing duo Ubik through 1stAveMachine. 

The Number One start-up on The Sunday Times Tech Track list in 2017, Wonderbly make a range of personalised children’s books and have created a variety of tales such as ‘The Little Boy/Girl Who Lost Their Name’, a story magically based on the name of the child the book is intended for. ‘My Golden Ticket’ takes a child on a once-in-a-lifetime trip around Willy Wonka’s famous chocolate factory, and ‘Kingdom of You’ is a personalised adventure book, telling the story of the child’s favourite things.

The 30 second spot airs in the UK today and will be rolled out internationally across the US, Canada and Australia on November 6th.

The spot shows how the simple and seemingly innocuous act of pressing a button online, or on a device, triggers off a series of wondrous mechanisms, creative problem solving and playful gadgetry behind the scenes, to create a bespoke and uniquely individual artbook. An intimate and personal keepsake delivered to your door based on the simple information supplied. 

The machine - the machine of a child’s imagination - was designed by The Made Collective. Rather than create it in CGI, Wonderbly decided that the creative idea deserves a tactile, physical presence that felt real in an analogue and mechanised style. In order to research a machine that a child would have imagined, the 1stAveMachine producers and directors asked their children to draw a book-making machine. Made of Items that children can access – tennis ball, fridge magnet and slinkys.

Anne Thouas, Head of Product Marketing said: “We are very excited about our growing portfolio of books and our partners, 1stAvenueMachine and Ubik helped us create an exciting and memorable TV ad, which we are confident will help us grow our business from Lost My name to Wonderbly.”

Directing duo Ubik commented: "We're basically big kids at heart and are big fans of what Wonderbly are doing. We loved their references and what they wanted from the film, so it was pretty much the dream project - a magical machine to create the impossible, with a generous helping of whimsy and wonder - pulled straight from the minds of our inner children”.