Let’s Be Kids: Use Familiar Objects to Change the Adult’s Point of View

Read the campaign story

Fisher-Price and Wieden+Kennedy Portland launched Let’s Be Kids in September 2019. The agency records the Welcome Back film’s appearance during the 71st Emmy Awards, followed by product-focused stories. Contemporary production coverage identifies John Goodman, Ringan Ledwidge and Rattling Stick for the hero execution, with Andreas Nilsson and Biscuit on the accompanying product films. The campaign used familiar toy references to address adults.

Wieden+Kennedy’s September 2021 account explicitly presents Let’s Be Together as a continuation of the same brand message. It is therefore not counted as a new case, nor are individual product or country versions. The creative records document an intended change in perspective, not a measured improvement in parenting, relationships or child development. Familiarity with an old toy does not establish the suitability of a current product.

Editorial interpretation: the campaign reverses a conventional instruction to the child. Instead of framing play mainly as preparation for adult competence, it asks adults to reconsider their own perspective. Recognisable objects can make that invitation emotionally immediate. The risk is assuming a single shared history: viewers may have different memories, no attachment to the objects or experiences that make nostalgia unwelcome. The concept needs to remain understandable without requiring a fond personal recollection.

Editorial interpretation: moving from a broad brand world to particular product stories gives the platform two jobs. The first can establish tone; the second can clarify how an item enters an activity. Keeping those jobs distinct prevents an emotional introduction from being mistaken for functional evidence. A team should ask what the viewer now understands about the object, not only whether the world felt warm or familiar.

Use nostalgia as an invitation rather than a membership test

A historical reference can reward recognition while leaving unfamiliar viewers outside the story. Provide a clear present-tense action that communicates the idea without prior knowledge. Test the concept with people who recognise the objects and people who do not, asking each to explain what the brand is inviting them to do. Avoid implying that a particular purchase defines a good childhood or that every adult should feel the same emotion. Acknowledging different experiences can make the invitation more generous without discarding the distinctive archive.

Keep emotional permission separate from product suitability

A warm brand story cannot establish age suitability, reliability or developmental outcomes. Provide the relevant practical information in the product layer and avoid borrowing the authority of a beloved performer for claims outside the performance. In an adaptation, identify which statements are observable features and which are interpretations of the experience. The distinction should remain clear even in short versions. A viewer who enjoys the film but overestimates what an item can do has not received a sufficiently accurate explanation.

Let the participant’s interpretation remain their own

A campaign about entering another person’s imaginative world should avoid turning play into an assessment of whether they performed the expected story. Offer prompts that permit variation and stopping. Do not make adults prove attentiveness through a purchase or a publicly shared family moment. For a small organisation, a workshop can demonstrate listening through practical choices: asking what someone wants to make, accepting an unexpected answer and providing a non-making role. These actions are more useful than repeating a broad message about connection without changing the participation conditions.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: an adult community craft session could compare two original invitations using the same unfamiliar paper kit. One describes a finished object; the other invites the volunteer to invent a use before seeing any example. Supply identical materials and a verbal participation option. No children, family histories, branded toy references, performers or personal photographs are involved. The test concerns framing and autonomy, not childhood development.

Measure understanding of the invitation, perceived freedom and assumptions about the kit’s capabilities. Keep enjoyment separate from claims about relationships, learning or commercial preference.

Stop if the message moralises participation, obscures suitability information or makes a particular remembered childhood seem necessary for belonging.

• Make the activity understandable without nostalgic references.
• State the supplied materials and practical limits plainly.
• Allow volunteers to observe, reinterpret or stop without explanation.