Smyths Toys · Droga5 Dublin · UK, Ireland and France · September 2026
Every autumn, children adopt a new best friend: the Smyths catalogue. They carry it everywhere and circle everything they want. Droga5 Dublin's 'Best Friend' takes that literally, turning the catalogue into CC, a 6ft companion built from the toys inside it. It's a rare thing, a piece of print with a personality, and a fair reminder of who actually reads it.
The Challenge
Smyths distributes millions of catalogues a year, and the new edition opens its most important trading season. The retailer needed the catalogue, and the range inside it, to feel exciting to the children who write the lists.
What They Did
Droga5 Dublin's film turns the catalogue into CC, short for catalogue character: a 6ft companion made from 700 CG models of the toys inside it, combined with practical effects. The idea comes from how children use the real thing, carrying it everywhere, circling favourites and treating it like a best friend in the run-up to Christmas. The film launched in September across the UK, Ireland and France. Droga5 Dublin has been Smyths' agency since winning a pitch in 2024.
Why It Works
Smyths personifies something humble: its free catalogue. The character comes straight from children's behaviour, so CC is a best friend because that's how kids already treat the thing. A catalogue as a catalogue is paper. A catalogue as a best friend is the most-handled toy in the house, and the one that comes with a shopping list attached.
Creative Deviance: Visual Arrest
Smyths builds a friend out of 700 toys. The report's test is whether it's still obviously them with the logo off, and here the honest answer is: not entirely. A creature made of toys could belong to any toy shop. What makes CC unmistakably Smyths' is its origin in the catalogue, so the work is strongest wherever that origin is plain to see.
The Tactic
Personify the Product Truth → Turn the Product Into a Person
What to Steal
Make the character out of what you sell. CC is built from the catalogue's own toys, so every second on screen is also a tour of the range. When your character is made from your inventory, the brand story and the product showcase are the same shot.
The Question That Could Get You There
If the product truth had a personality, how would it behave?
Or, more pointedly: what do our customers already treat our product like, and what would it be if we made that literal?
