TOYS “R” US
REBRAND

This was the outcome for, brand agency, Turner Duckworth’s Golden Duck Awards 2023. The challenge was to reimagine one of three brands that have fallen in relevance in recent years, being Toys “R” Us, Little Chef and Umbro. I chose to rebrand Toys “R” Us.

The concept for my reimagining of Toys “R” Us was to focus on the magic of play. I came to this idea by researching into the company’s past and finding out what they stood for, which was that “play has the power to change lives and build magical memories that will last a lifetime”. From this, I looked into the importance of play for child development and into why other toy retailers, such as Smyths, The Entertainer and Hamleys, have managed to succeed and stay relevant.

For the new identity, I wanted to retain their previous audience of kids and families, and convey a sense of magic and wonder. I came up with a set of assets that heavily utilise the star present from the original identity to convey the magic as well as other visuals that are derived from magic. The primary use of my brand assets were to make the in-store experience magical and easy to navigate for a child without being alienating to an adult. The advertising gets the audience to play outside of the store and plays into the things that children would find fun, possibly being nostalgic for adults.