THE FURBY REBRAND
MY ROLE:
Lead Brand Designer / Art Direction
THE CHALLENGE:
Furby was returning after a period away from the market. The challenge was to modernize the brand while preserving the nostalgia and emotional recognition of the original. To attract new and old fans alike. Historically, Furby was an extremely popular toy. However, with this new relaunch, I set the mission for the relaunch to build out Furby to not just be a singular toy anymore…but to become a full, lifestyle brand.
THE STRATEGY:
I wanted to identify what makes Furby. I thought it would be impactful to lean into a design aesthetic that would be easily recognizable and strongly appeal to multiple target consumers, primarily girls 4-6 but also to millennial moms. I started with several moodboards that leaned into elements like: light, fur, textures, patterns, color palettes, typography, and photo/video stylings.
Core Consumer: Girls 4–6
Brand Personality: Fun • Emotional • Playful • Pet-focused
Visual Objective: Create a consistent, scalable system that makes each product feel like part of the same world.
MY CONTRIBUTION:
Led the visual development and translated the strategic direction into a scalable visual system across all consumer touchpoints.
THE SCOPE:
Brand Identity • Packaging • Retail • Digital • Social • Experiential
THE VISUAL IDENTITY:
EYES ARE THE WINDOWS TO THE SOUL
Once I identified what Furby is all about. It was crucial to capture Furby’s personality through an engaging and playful facial expression.
FURBY = FUR
I also leaned into the fur texture to provide a recognizable brand element. I created magical light orbs to capture the mystical appeal. These two key art designs were the spring board for everything going forward.
THE PACKAGING:
A ‘ZOOMED IN’ APPROACH
The packaging art made a striking impact on-shelf. Furby’s big eyes created a strong emotional connection with consumers. The logo and face plates were embossed and have a Spot UV gloss finish. Both of those print treatments gave the package a premium look & feel. I also created a unique unboxing experience, with a perforated tear strip on the side of the box, which didn’t cost anything extra.
RETAIL:
MAKING AN IMPACT AT RETAIL
I created conceptual merchandising displays, showcasing prominent, cohesive retail statements, that would be used all across the globe.
DIGITAL:
THE FURBNOMENON
Furby’s viral takeover over of Tik-Tok and Instagram played a major role in the success of the brand. I partnered cross-functionally with my Social Media and Marketing team to create several campaigns that reintroduced Furby to old fans and new consumers alike.
EXPERIENTIAL:
BRINGING IT TO LIFE
Beyond retail displays, I also created concept artwork, as a visual reference, to build a franchise booth, at Nuremberg ToyFair, NY ToyFair and VidCon. Wherever Furby went…it was the hit of the show.
MARKETING CAMPAIGNS:
VIRAL TAKEOVERS
The marketing campaigns that I produced targeted fans online at Amazon, Click Here to see the page…and in-person in Manhattan, please see the video snippet below.
OH, BUT THAT’S NOT ALL…
Furby’s enormous success led to expanding the world of Furby to smaller, low cost, collectibles. Furblets were introduced to the universe with great fan-fare! I led the full development of the branding, packaging, retail, digital designs for this segment as well.
The relaunch of Furby was a major success for Hasbro. It was projected to be an $80M IP but in the first year, it earned > $120M in global revenue.
I won a 2024 WiT award for Branding Excellence.
I also won Hasbro’s 2023 (inaugural) internal Tater Award for best branding and packaging in the company.
I was also nominated for the best package of 2024, on thedieline.com.