Bringing the magic of Real FX Disney Stitch to life

Global content creative for one of Disney's most beloved characters.

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Wow! Stuff is a renowned toy retailer with a trophy cabinet packed full of awards, including Toy of the Year a few times over. The brands they've worked with are a pretty strong 'who's who' of household giants: Marvel. Harry Potter. Jurassic World. Disney Princess. And now, Lilo & Stitch.

Innovation is Wow! Stuff's thing. Bringing creative ideas to the table and delivering excellence is something they do well, consistently. So when they approached us to help them launch their hero product for 2024, we very nearly bit their hand off.

The product? RealFX Disney Stitch, developed and designed over several years to be loved by children worldwide. And it just so happens to be our new favourite toy!

The main brief was the creation of a video advert to drive sales. RealFX Disney Stitch was set to be the biggest toy Wow! Stuff has ever made, so the sizzle reel needed to be good. The key message to get across was that this wasn't 'just a toy' but a meticulously developed Puppetronix made with advanced technologies.

Wow! Stuff had perfectly captured Stitch's playful personality and brought his adorable character to life. HUB's job was to highlight this on film, demonstrating Real FX Disney Stitch's endless hours of fun, the 100+ action and sound combinations, interactive touch sensors, lifelike movements and the 'alien capsule' packaging... all in just 30 seconds.

As well as gripping video content, Wow! Stuff needed still photography to support social media campaigns, press releases, printed materials such as the Smyths Toys catalogue, and retailer websites like Amazon.

All in all, this brief was right up our street.

One thing about the HUB team, we work fast. In just a matter of weeks, storyboarding was approved, sets were designed and built, props were sourced, models were scouted and filming could begin.

The set we created transported viewers straight to Hawaii, the home of Lilo & Stitch. Beach-style colours were used. Playful props brought it to life. Surfboards, garlands, tropical plants, a ukulele - you name it, and our team got their hands on it. And the excitable child models made the magic of RealFX Disney Stitch feel almost, well, real.

The 30-second sizzle reel would be shared on social media in the UK, Europe, US & Australia, so multiple edits were created to resonate with global audiences. Our expert editors made the plot clear, alongside a VO script crafted by our copywriters to provide concise messaging that intrigues and excites from the very first second.

The most important part of the brief was to bring RealFX Disney Stitch to life. The sensors and animatronics had been crafted by Wow! Stuff experts for years. Our job was to capture the fun. HUB's video showed moments of wonder and joy of the children playing with the cuddly toy, enabling the lifelike movements that make him oh-so captivating: blinking eyes, a moving mouth, touch sensors, and the sound of Stitch's original voice actor Chris Sanders.

For photography, we delivered two shoots. Stitch is a beloved character for children of all ages, and our client needed content that would excite both younger children and teenagers alike. A second set was propped and styled, and teenage models were captured playing with toy, experimenting with his hand-controlled actions and discovering the magic that is RealFX Disney Stitch.

With the product only just launched, we won't have any numerical data to report until early 2025 - but with a project of this scale and success, the future's looking bright!

The toy has already won several ’Toy of the Year’ awards in various territories - Sweden, UK and US - so here's hoping there's more to come.