The business challenge
Playmobil Canada’s product plans were shaped by global priorities from the company’s German headquarters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian family media habits, shopping behaviour and retail conditions changed quickly.
The challenge was to keep the brand visible, support retail demand and translate frequent global product priorities into relevant bilingual Canadian campaigns during a period of significant disruption.
What I recognized
Families were moving rapidly toward online shopping, streaming, social media and mobile entertainment. Children were spending more time on YouTube, gaming platforms and emerging channels such as TikTok, while parents increasingly relied on creators and digital content for product discovery.
Maintaining the traditional channel mix would miss where families were actually spending their time.
The strategic direction
I expanded the Canadian mix into TikTok creator partnerships, mobile and in-game advertising, YouTube and stronger digital merchandising.
I continued investing in high-performing digital channels during peak COVID usage while competitors pulled back, reallocating budget away from lower-return placements and into the environments generating stronger reach and return. I also prioritized creator fit over reach alone to create more credible recommendations and organic advocacy.
What I led
- Adapted global product strategy and campaign assets into bilingual Canadian launch plans based on local consumer, retail and inventory priorities.
- Directed national campaigns across paid media, PR, influencer marketing, social media, email, web and retail channels.
- Introduced TikTok creator partnerships during the platform’s early growth and expanded paid media into mobile-gaming environments.
- Localized global video campaigns by adapting German creative, rewriting scripts for the Canadian market and managing local voiceover production for YouTube and programmatic advertising.
- Managed web merchandising and promotional hierarchy so featured products and campaign content aligned with Canadian launch priorities and available supply.
- Developed retailer-ready product stories and a centralized asset library supporting sales presentations and product sell-in with major Canadian retailers, including Walmart.
Campaign feature 01
Localizing global creative for Canadian media
The Scooby-Doo campaign demonstrates global-to-local paid-media execution. German creative was adapted for Canada, the script was rewritten for the local market and Canadian voiceover production was managed before the campaign ran across YouTube, programmatic media, WildBrain Spark, Kidoodle TV and Playwire.
Campaign feature 02
Turning paid partnership into organic advocacy
I selected a Playmobil product for Jillian Harris based on its genuine fit with her family—not reach alone. The paid creator relationship developed into organic advocacy when she independently chose the toy for her national holiday gift guide, demonstrating how strong product-to-creator alignment can extend a partnership beyond its contracted deliverables.
The impact
What changed
The integrated Canadian strategy generated 45.5M+ impressions across 352 stories, secured organic inclusion in Jillian Harris’s national holiday gift guide and helped Playmobil Canada surpass national revenue targets during a period of significant market disruption.
What this demonstrates
Global-to-local strategy, consumer insight, go-to-market leadership, budget optimization, emerging-channel adoption, influencer strategy, paid-media localization, web merchandising, retail enablement and commercial accountability.