We worked with our friends at BBDO on this fun virtual toy concept for AT&T’s U-verse. You can find it online here. Play around and create your own sports character and message, and then upload your custom bobblehead creation to social media.
The world of sports is diverse and wide, with a game for every player. Passion drives competition everywhere and each different contest inspires fans from all walks of life. Whether it’s the coasts’ obsession with golf, the south’s love of NASCAR, or basketball arresting the focus of the whole nation, sport engenders a shared zeal, something that both AT&T and Bigshot Toyworks understand. To build excitement around AT&T U-verse, a service that allows viewers access to all sorts of games, Bigshot Toyworks teamed up with AT&T to create a microsite that allows fans to interact with their own passions.
The U-verse Bobblehead Shop lets users create and share their own virtual bobbleheads, centered on their favorite sports. “They wanted to have a customizable way for people to pick a sport and customize a player to their liking,” says Klim Kozinevich of Bigshot Toyworks. “We wanted it to be something that was fun, that had some personality, and a unique flavor to it.” By going through the process you can customize gender, sport, skin, hair, and uniform colors, as well as picking one of a handful of inspirational lines for the setting. Then, once all is chosen, the final design can be used across social media; you are your own bobbehead online.
Klim and Bigshot Toyworks have made bobbleheads before, sometimes even creating tactile versions of them. But when it comes to designing an illustrated version, Klim approaches it exactly the same way as he does for a physical object. “There really isn’t much of a difference between doing a real toy and doing a digital,” he explains. The challenge came in the customizability of the toys. Each shift of the toy, from skin color to uniform options, is a whole new variable that has to be dealt with. “It’s a simple action for the user but it’s a pretty complicated process on both our end and the programming end where they have to make every single possible combination, isolated and rendered,” says Klim about the customizability.
Bigshot has become known for using characters to tell these immersive stories, translating emotional stories using figures (both tactile and CGI). But from one project to the next, Bigshot disappears into the work. Klim is very careful to bring attention to that fact. There is no Bigshot Toyworks “house style,” instead they create what the project needs. “Our whole thing is we don’t do a specific thing that people come to us for,” explains Klim. “We solve creative problems within a character-based project. We let the project define the style.”
Bigshot Toyworks specializes in the creation, realization and manufacturing of unique characters and visual assets for advertising, entertainment, and commercial products. If you need carefully crafted visual development for your brand or entertainment property, or you need to make some toys or collectibles, contact us. We have over 20 years of experience and would love to talk to you about working together.
