Category: Emerging Trends

Augmented toys and games from Toy Fair 2013

A Barbie vanity frame turns an iPad into a make-up mirror, then “virtual lipstick” stays aligned to a moving face in real time. That single mechanic explains why Toy Fair in New York suddenly feels like a preview of hybrid play, where the screen becomes a window and the physical object remains the star.

Most of the standout demos share the same blueprint. A physical toy, book, or playset provides the anchor. The iPad app provides the content layer. The camera feed stitches the two together so kids can touch, move, build, and explore while the digital layer reacts.

In consumer product innovation, the most scalable mixed reality experiences treat the device as a lens onto the room, not the destination.

Augmented reality (AR) toys are physical products that use a phone or tablet camera to overlay digital characters, effects, or instructions onto the real-world toy. The toy stays central. The app adds feedback, rules, and story without replacing hands-on play.

The real question is whether the digital layer makes the toy better on its own terms, or just adds novelty that fades.

Why these “phygital” toys land

Parents get a familiar promise. Less passive viewing and more active play. Kids get something that feels like magic because it responds to the real world, not just taps on glass. Here, “phygital” means physical-first play where the app adds feedback and story without replacing hands-on interaction.

Extractable takeaway: Design for low-friction onboarding and immediate payoff. Put the device in the frame, scan the page, point at the ball, then something delightful happens fast.

The Toy Fair shortlist

Barbie Digital Makeover Mirror

Lets kids try out make up while avoiding all the mess. The iPad camera tracks a face in real time so the “makeover” sticks as the head moves.

Mattel Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle

Billed as a first mass-market doll house to support augmented reality, with app-triggered activities layered onto the physical rooms.

Popar 3D Books

A line of children’s books that use AR to make pages “come alive” with virtual 3D objects and animations that appear to pop off the paper.

Sphero Ball and Sharky the Beaver

Billed as the first app ever to let you take a virtual 3D character for a walk around your house. The physical ball becomes the anchor for an on-screen creature you “walk” around the room.

Imaginext Apptivity Fortress

Combines playset and app play in one, with the iPad physically inserted into the fortress so the device becomes part of the toy and the adventures unfold around it.

NeuroSky

Brain waves control furry ears.

Lego Mindstorms EV3

User-created robots that can be controlled by various sensors and smartphones.

Cubelets

Magnetic blocks that snap together to make an endless variety of robots with no programming and no wires. The “logic” is in how you combine the cubes.

Sifteo Cubes

A magical interactive game system built on the timeless play patterns of LEGO, building blocks, and domino tiles, but with screens and sensors inside each cube.

Design rules for hybrid play products

  • Make the physical object the controller. When hands are busy, attention stays in the room.
  • Design for instant delight. The first 10 seconds should prove the concept without instructions.
  • Use the camera as a sensor. Anchors, markers, and recognizable shapes are a simple bridge between atoms and pixels.
  • Plan for replay. New levels, new stories, and collectible content keep the “magic” from wearing off after day one.

A few fast answers before you act

What is an AR toy in simple terms?

An AR toy is a physical toy, book, or playset that becomes more interactive when viewed through a phone or tablet. The camera feed shows the real object, and the app overlays digital characters, effects, or instructions on top.

Do these experiences replace “screen time”?

Not really. They redirect it. The screen becomes a lens onto physical play, so the child is moving, building, and exploring while the digital layer reacts.

What is the most repeatable pattern across the examples?

A physical anchor plus an app-based content layer. The physical piece gives tactile play and structure. The app provides animation, rules, progression, and feedback.

What should a brand learn from this wave of toy innovation?

Interactivity scales when the physical product is useful on its own, and the digital layer adds meaning rather than acting as a required destination. The best experiences feel like an upgrade, not a dependency.

What is a common failure mode for “phygital” concepts?

Too much setup and too little payoff. If the experience needs long instructions, special lighting, or frequent recalibration, the magic breaks fast and replay drops.

Lacta: Love in the End

Lacta, a leading chocolate brand in Greece, has been creating innovative film content since 2009 around its strategy of being a symbol for the sweetness of love.

For this installment, Lacta invited fans to submit their stories of unfulfilled love, with the promise to give them the happy end they never had. On the cinema screen.

Finally three stories formed the basis of a film screenplay, entitled “Love in the end”, that was released on Valentine’s Day 2013. A transmedia campaign promoted the film and it became a big hit with audiences in Greece. Here, transmedia means connected teasers and social storytelling across channels that all build anticipation for the same release.

From real stories to a cinema-screen happy end

The mechanism is an audience-to-cinema pipeline. Collect true stories of unfulfilled love, select a small number that can carry a broader narrative, adapt them into a screenplay, then build anticipation through connected channels so the audience feels ownership before opening night. The real question is whether a brand can turn private emotion into a public release without draining it of authenticity. That structure works because early participation creates emotional investment before release, so the opening feels like a shared payoff rather than a pushed campaign.

In European FMCG branded entertainment, this kind of storytelling works best when participation is a source of meaning, not just a source of reach.

Why this lands

This works because it makes the brand the enabler, not the author. The stronger strategic move is to let audience truth carry the emotion and keep the brand in the enabling role. Lacta does not just “tell a love story”. It invites vulnerability, then pays it back with a public resolution in a culturally heavyweight format. The cinema.

Extractable takeaway: If you want a branded film to feel earned, start with real human input, curate hard, and give the audience a clear public moment to rally around, so anticipation becomes part of the product.

The results the campaign reported

Campaign reporting stated that 17% of the Greek internet population saw the online teasers, generating 700,000 views and hundreds of rave comments.

Reported social momentum was also strong. Lacta’s Facebook fans increased by 100,000, making its Facebook page the biggest for any brand in Greece at the time, with 650,000 fans.

On release, the film was described as having the biggest opening night for any Greek movie in the last five years, with more than 75% of all movie tickets being sold for it.

Here are the past film based campaigns

What to borrow from Lacta’s film playbook

  • Use a human intake. Real stories create emotional permission that scripted copy rarely earns.
  • Curate into a single release. Selection and adaptation turn raw submissions into a coherent film people can anticipate.
  • Build anticipation with episodic crumbs. Teasers and social updates make a film feel like a season.
  • Anchor to a calendar moment. Valentine’s Day creates a natural reason to care now.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Love in the end”?

It’s a Lacta branded-entertainment film built from fan-submitted stories of unfulfilled love, adapted into a screenplay and released on Valentine’s Day 2013.

What does “transmedia campaign” mean in this case?

It means the film was promoted through multiple connected channels using teasers and social storytelling to build anticipation before the main release.

What results were reported for the online teasers?

Reported results said 17% of the Greek internet population saw the teasers, producing 700,000 views and hundreds of positive comments.

What results were reported for Facebook growth?

Reported results said Lacta gained 100,000 new fans, reaching 650,000 fans and becoming the biggest brand page in Greece at the time.

What was reported about opening night?

The film was described as the biggest opening night for a Greek movie in the last five years, with more than 75% of all movie tickets sold for it.

VW Polo Principle: Crowdsourced 3D Prints

Volkswagen last year launched “The Polo Principle” ad campaign to convey the message that high-end innovations were now available to Polo drivers.

Then, to democratize the innovation process, they allowed people to actually design their very own 3D Volkswagen mock ups. The top 40 designs were chosen by a panel of judges and then put on display in Copenhagen, with the entrants receiving their (mini) 3D printed Volkswagens in the mail.

From innovation message to innovation participation

The mechanism is a neat escalation. The campaign starts with a claim: premium innovation is no longer reserved for premium models. Then it turns that claim into an action: if innovation is being “democratised,” people should be able to shape it. A 3D design tool becomes the interface for participation.

Instead of asking audiences to agree with the brand message, Volkswagen invites them to contribute to it, visually and playfully.

In co-creation campaigns, participation becomes persuasion when people can make something that physically proves the brand promise.

In enterprise marketing teams, co-creation only scales when the participation interface is simple and the payoff is concrete.

Why it lands: ownership beats persuasion

This works because creating something triggers a different level of engagement than watching something. Designing a mock up requires time, intent, and taste. Once you invest that effort, you become emotionally tied to the campaign. And when your design is selected, the brand is no longer a distant manufacturer. It is a platform that amplified you. Co-creation is most persuasive when the act of making produces an object people can keep or show.

Extractable takeaway: When you claim “innovation for everyone,” turn the claim into something people can make, so the audience owns a proof of the promise.

The Copenhagen display adds a public payoff. It moves the work out of the browser and into a real space, which signals seriousness and status.

The intent: make “accessible innovation” feel real

The business intent is to attach innovation to the Polo brand without sounding like advertising. Here, “accessible innovation” means making premium innovation cues feel reachable for everyday Polo drivers, not only for flagship models. The real question is whether your “innovation” story can be experienced, not just believed. User-generated designs create social proof. The 3D printed mini cars make the campaign tangible. “Innovation is available to you” becomes “here is something you made, and here is a physical object that proves it.”

Make co-creation tangible

  • Turn a message into a mechanism. If you claim democracy, build a democratic action people can take.
  • Reward with something physical. A mailed 3D print is a memorable artefact, not a forgettable badge.
  • Curate publicly. Exhibiting the top designs creates status and raises the perceived value of participation.
  • Use judges plus community. A panel can signal craft and quality, not just popularity.
  • Design for shareability. People naturally share what they created, especially when it looks good.

For more examples on brands using 3D printing click here.

A few fast answers before you act

What was the core idea behind the Polo Principle extension?

To move from talking about “innovation for everyone” to letting people participate by designing their own 3D Volkswagen mock ups.

Why add 3D printing to a campaign?

It creates a physical proof point. A printed mini model makes the experience feel real, personal, and worth keeping.

What role did the Copenhagen display play?

It gave public status to the best designs and signalled that the brand took the contributions seriously, beyond a digital stunt.

Is co-creation mainly an awareness play?

It can drive awareness, but its deeper value is emotional ownership. People remember what they helped create.

What is the main takeaway for brands claiming “democratisation”?

If you want the message to stick, build a mechanism that lets people experience the claim directly, and reward participation in a tangible way.