Smashing Summer Sales Goals

ZORBZ® WATER BALLOONS

The making of a summer blockbuster: blow out your sales goals!

With a small window of time to launch into the consumer market before summer, Steel Advertising developed an aggressive PR and sales strategy that not only reached product sales goals, but sold out!

Our assignment

ZORBZ, the first self-sealing water balloon, needed help to deliver a national launch of their new type of premium water balloon (a product category that had no innovation over the last 50 years). They needed to drive consumer appetite and persuade retailers to stock the product. Our team also had a limited window of time, Memorial Day to July.

CLIENT:
RESULTS:

100

Inventory Sold

Here’s how we did it

Steel’s unique understanding of the family target led them to tap immediately into the Kiddo Consultant™ team, which reviewed ZORBZ prototypes and gave insights to inspire the creative elements of the campaign and resonate with moms and kids.  The Kiddos inspired how-to videos used in press efforts and sales presentations with major retailers for the year.  In fact, the Kiddo Consultant product observations and post-play feedback led to the creation of an entire line of ZORBZ water balloon accessories for shelves in Walmart.

The overall goal of the media/communications plan was to drive consumers to the nearest retail outlet or online to purchase ZORBZ. The ZORBZ campaign included a national TV spot on Disney XD and media outreach, including a 14-city satellite media tour and social media campaigns to drive purchase. ZORBZ received earned media coverage in more than 80 outlets, reaching more than 30 million consumers.

  • ZORBZ featured on ABC World News as one of the top 10 toys for summer.
  • ZORBZ chosen as toy of the year from Popular Science magazine.
  • Local television coverage in key distribution markets, including Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, and Houston.
  • Positive reviews from top industry and mommy bloggers, including The Toy Insider, The Toy Queen, Red Tricycle and Classy Mommy.

Results

  • Retailers including Toys R Us, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Five Below expanded their ZORBZ inventory, with many retailers committing to end-cap and in-store displays.
  • New ZORBZ line extension of accessories sold into Walmart based on the Kiddo Consultant insights.
  • 100% of ZORBZ inventory was sold out by the July 4th weekend.