Bringing Christmas magic to life with Smyths Toys

Product photography for the UK and Ireland's biggest toy retailer

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Smyths Toys have hundreds of stores up and down the UK and an enviable online presence, but their seasonal printed catalogues are still a vital element of their customer experience. Remember the days of circling your favourite toys in the catalogues at Christmas? We do - which is why we were super giddy when Smyths Toys asked us to inject a little Christmas magic into their 2024 winter catalogue.

Challenge

Smyths’ Toys’ hero products needed to intrigue and excite both children and their parents, ensuring they ended up at the top of Christmas lists across the UK.

The brief? Six hero products needed to be styled, art-directed and captured on film. Standing out from the competition was a non-negotiable, as these products were up against some pretty big brands: Hello Kitty. Vtech. Carerra.

Not only that, but the promotional videos would be used in France, Germany and central Europe too, giving us a pretty diverse audience to delight.

With only a three-month window between Smyths Toys choosing their hero products and the catalogue going to print, our timeframes were pretty tight. We needed to plan, shoot and edit the assets in record time to make the deadline. HUB got the memo and we went straight to work.

Solution

First things first – putting ourselves in the shoes of a primary school-aged child. Remembering what it is that gets curiosity stirring and excitement building. What makes toys jump off the page and into the hearts and minds of children everywhere.

We started by scamping the concepts, ensuring the products were big, shiny, and centre focus – all the time keeping in mind that these images needed to be as alluring as the brand photography they would sit beside in the Smyths Toys catalogue.

Next step, photography and video production. Casting, wardrobe, set build, hair and makeup – everything was arranged by HUB, allowing our client to focus on their busy day-to-day. We made sure to keep models entertained despite the long days on set, ensuring every smile and laugh caught on camera was genuine.

These images were further elevated in post-production, with every ‘WHOOSH!’ and ‘CRASH!’ emphasised to maximum effect. HUB’s in-house art direction and our experience in catalogue design ensured the final images were anything but flat and uninspired, and could hold their own among the likes of Barbie and Lego in the Smyths Toys winter catalogue.

Results

Smyths Toys chose HUB because of our unique combination of creative design, retail marketing expertise and extensive print advertising know-how.

We’re confident that we’ve delivered on this, and the quality of the deliverables speaks for itself. It’s still a little soon for any numerical results, though – watch this space!