After its big hit in the US, Stikbot Toy made its debut on the French market last October with games and toy manufacturer Goliath-Modelco. To reinforce this launch and establish and stimulate a booming community, Havas Paris and its “shopper” service have designed and rolled out a creative device and social media strategy appealing directly to millenials - a film with educational aspirations (1 x 20”) to be released immediately followed up by a TV launch in 7 months time.
Stikbot, a social-creativity icon, has starred in about 70 funny, uniquely-styled video clips, posted at a rate of 2 per week for 7 months, shared and redefined (photos, gifs etc) across social media including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
The savvy, creative, absurdly witty clips portray characters in “typically French” situations or linked to the target audience’s main interests, and were written and created by the Havas Paris creative team comprising Max Trenton, artistic director, Kevin Nugeron, design editor and Alban Penicaut, creative director, with all three doing the voiceovers for the characters.
The storyline “les Tutos de Stikbot” (Stikbot’s Howto Classes) and “Vis Ma vie de Stikbot” (Stikbot’s Live my Life) and its spinoffs have already reached 9 million people, generating nearly 1.8 million views on YouTube, plus 17 million interactions on social media and united 12,000 French fans on its Facebook page.
“Rather than talking about the toy, we made a conscious decision to produce something fun to appeal directly to millenials,” explained the creative team. “The “Do It Yourself”-style production encourages young people to embrace the style and tone and try making their own video clips.”
“Stikbot is a new way of playing, which combines social networking with traditional toys. Its success is unprecedented in the US and we’re hoping for the same success in France,” added Patrick Semporé-Chittaro, Modelco France’s marketing director.
