Deutsch NY's 3D 'Gift Maker' for PNC Bank

Every year, PNC Bank calculates the current costs of each of the gifts in the holiday carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and announces the total cost of Christmas in a playful economic report. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of this tradition, Deutsch NY has created a campaign called “Gift Maker,” using 3-D printing that launches December 2.

A French Hen dressed as a bag of French fries?

An innovative and consumer-friendly website experience, educators across the country use the Christmas Price Index (CPI) to teach economic trends and learn about price fluctuation to middle and high school students. With that in mind, this year's site includes a set of customizable toys — with close to 3,000 possible mix-and-match costume experiences — based on the twelve gifts in the song.

Skateboard, snowboard or skis for your Leaping Lord? Your pick!

People will be able to build their toys in the online workshop to find out their prices, and then submit toy designs for an opportunity to receive actual 3-D versions of their toy. A total of 24 3-D toys will be designed daily, over the course of 12 days, totaling 288 toys.

“The whole effort, in the end, is about making finances a whole lot of fun,” said Kerry Keenan, Chief Creative Officer at Deutsch NY. “For five years, we have utilized the latest technology to help make a serious subject interesting. Last year, we were the first to incorporate Google Street Maps into a campaign. This year, we venture into the 3-D space.”
Your Calling Bird can sport a 1980s style cellphone

Seattle-based graphic design Invisible Creature has designed all 12 toys and their customizable accessories. In conjunction with Media Monks, a digital production company, who is responsible for the back- end technology, bringing the toys to life. The 3-D Printer Experience is responsible for printing all of the toys, and each toy is being printed using a MakerBot printer. In addition, each toy is made from sustainable plastics and filament, harvested from a farm outside of Chicago.

“We thought about how we could make economics interesting for kids during the most distracting time of the school year—the holidays. While every kid is different, they all love toys and, in particular, toys they can customize,” said Jeremy Bernstein, EVP, Group Creative Director. “That got us thinking about the twelve gifts of Christmas and what they might look like as a modern toy collection—one that kids could build in our online workshop and, if they're lucky enough, arrive at their doorstep thanks to the power of 3-D printing.”

The microsite includes several pages of animated gifts, an interactive chart and an explanation of how the CPI was determined.

 

To check out and design a toy for yourself, please visit: www.PNCChristmasPriceIndex.com/preload