Radio Flyer - Centennial Video

The Ask:

The client asked for a video that celebrated their 100 year history but, they didn't do any video advertising until the early 2000s. We were challenged with coming up with a creative that not only highlighted what their brand was but also showed all 100 years of their product with very limited access to assets.

The Challenge:

Because all we had access to was old advertisements and scanned in still photos, we decided to test a graphic based opening montage that married the old and new.

We had to film in Radio Flyer's headquarters, Chicago, IL where we had rain and other weather challenges, not to mention working with 20+ children. During the live action shoot, we had to re-create the vintage content and make it look like the original decade, i.e. 1940s, 1960's etc. We also had a pending deadline where this content had to be screened before a live audience and broadcast on several, local news stations. Our final challenge was marrying all the provided assets with the new material. I came up with the idea of taking the vintage Radio Flyer photos and incorporating them into a shared/social media sphere. What started as a straight-forward premium looking commercial, quickly evolved into a mixed media approach. Post-production, research, clearances ate up the bulk of our time and budget. We had a team of 3 designers working full time to create the opening sequence and vortex that you see in the final spot.

The Result:
It took many iterations, but eventually we got it to the final version you see today. This content was populated on all of Radio Flyer's social channels and screened at their outdoor 100 year celebration and press event in Chicago. In addition, it garnered press from major publications and won numerous Telly and Davey awards (including Gold).