Toys R Us has long been synonymous with childhood wonder and creativity. Recently the brand leaned into these strengths along with heavy nostalgia to convey a founder’s story boosted with a little Gen AI-driven visual ‘magic.’
While ad industry reactions were mixed—with backlash on the use of AI as well as the imagery itself—consumer response was overwhelmingly positive.
Here’s what iSpot’s Creative Assessment platform revealed on actual viewer response to the ad.
The Details:
- Consumers were not at all polarized in their response to the :65 “The Origin of Toys R Us,” with a polarity score of 35 ranking the ad in the 2nd percentile (of all ads) on viewer disagreement:
- The discontent/concern seen in parts of the advertising community (specific to the use of AI) was not at all present among American viewers. The relative size of the green vs red bars signals the proportion of positive vs negative consumer commentary received on the spot.
- In fact, AI-enabled clustering of the 549 individual verbatims received on the :65 creative showed a 66% positivity rate.
- The discontent/concern seen in parts of the advertising community (specific to the use of AI) was not at all present among American viewers. The relative size of the green vs red bars signals the proportion of positive vs negative consumer commentary received on the spot.
- The ad placed in the top percentile of specialty store ads over the past year in breakthrough (Attention and Likeability) and Change (something new):
- Furthermore, Watchability and Information scores placed the ad in the category’s 99th percentile, while the spot ranked in the 98th percentile on Relevance/relatability – pointing to a very winning ad to consumers.
- “The Origin of Toys R Us” sparked very nearly the highest level of Nostalgia possible while cementing the brand name amongst 92% of viewers.
- At a rate +8 points over specialty store norms, the new AI-created ad also drove excellent purchase/visit intent for the brand (56%).
- Furthermore, Watchability and Information scores placed the ad in the category’s 99th percentile, while the spot ranked in the 98th percentile on Relevance/relatability – pointing to a very winning ad to consumers.
- Connecting at above-norm rates across age/gender, viewers of “The Origin of Toys R Us” found the AI-created visuals to be engaging (and not suspected by many) and the Narrative heartwarming and informative—with Nostalgia for the brand and delight in seeing its return also common positive themes:
- Much smaller in overall size (12% of all sentiment), responses that leaned negative pointed to the length of the creative (leading to feelings of boredom for some viewers) as a primary objection; others were confused.
- The message of the brand living on at every Macy’s store was not universally recalled (Macy’s was specifically mentioned in 7% of verbatims and 10% of open-end brand recalls), but the audio and branding were placed at the very end of a long form creative.
- Much smaller in overall size (12% of all sentiment), responses that leaned negative pointed to the length of the creative (leading to feelings of boredom for some viewers) as a primary objection; others were confused.
Sample comments on “The Origin of Toys R Us” :65
“I loved it and learned something new. I was surprised, I didn’t know Toys R Us was in Macy’s! Very smart marketing. Good memories of Toys R Us. Glad they didn’t disappear forever!”
Female 50+
“I think it is very captivating. From the animations, colors, and nostalgic moments, it drew me in. The antique cars, child, and animations all draw in a different audience or viewer to intrigue a variety of interests.”
Female 21-35
“This was different from any Toys R Us ad I’ve seen before. I honestly didn’t know they were still around. I think the magical AI sense it gave off would absolutely attract my kids’ attention.”
Female 36-49
“The message is great, but too drawn out. Being that this is a children’s brand, an upbeat, more exciting tune along with enthusiastic narration may likely hold audience attention for longer. The whimsical visuals have potential to evoke magical sensations and a desire to have that experience if backed by just the right audio.”
Female 36-49
“Oh my gosh Toys R Us! So nostalgic! It makes me sad they closed. I had no clue that Macy’s had the brand associated with them. I got chill bumps when it started playing “I don’t wanna grow up.” Cute kid, fun graphics”
Female 36-49
“It was a beautiful ad. And certainly made me feel a bit nostalgic. I can also say that if my kids got to watch it they would ask for at least 7 or 8 things in the ad alone. I suspect that this ad on TV would get a lot of kids asking parents for toys.”
Female 36-49
“There are very few commercials that I can truly say this about. I loved it! Not only was the story good but the visuals were up to par. Also, details, the product names were clearly presented.”
Male 50+
- Second-by-second trace reflects long periods of flat engagement, pointing to references in viewer feedback that a shorter form would likely be well-received if it still included both the story and a variety of toys/shoppers:
- The Macy’s location could also be a larger part of the creative or at least mentioned earlier to cement that message.
- This level of response points to opportunity for Toys R Us to consider spend in consumer-facing media and/or testing of a broader consumer campaign with this concept—in fact, the ad ranks in the top ten specialty store ads of all time in iSpot’s database (back to 2009) at #7:
- Positive response to the :65 “The Origin of Toys R Us” was consistently strong regardless of whether children were present in the household (likely helped by the strong Nostalgia) – as well as among homes with all ages of children present:
Consumer attention is increasingly fragmented due to multi-platform viewing, diverse brand activations, consumer multi-tasking, and poor-quality advertising. The proven way to secure attention and get your brand message across is with great creative.
Advertisers need to identify the creative that will drive business outcomes and ensure that in-market execution aligns against the highest potential ads.
Schedule a demo to find out how your brand can partner with iSpot to quickly solve both challenges simultaneously, delivering high-performing creative while boosting the effectiveness of planning and in-market execution to achieve—and outperform—campaign objectives.
Creative Agency: Native Foreign