How do we ensure every Happy Meal toy asset is consistent, and accurately represents the product, on a global scale?
With dozens of creative channels, marketing platforms, and commercial spots, developing a flexible toy asset—that starts from the original manufacturing file—is essential. tms designs and manufactures Happy Meal toys worldwide. tms also creates all the US Retail signage and builds the campaign's VisID.
Slate’s “one-model” pipeline built a bridge between the Toy Engineering Team, the Animation Team, and the Creative Teams. Ensuring accurate files are correctly converted from the start of the physical toy making process to the final delivery of every visual representation.
3D also modeling unlocks more creative opportunities than traditional photography, and retouching renders is significantly more cost-effective than retouching photos. The result: greater efficiency, meaningful cost savings, and stronger creative for McDonald's.
I navigated the tms ecosystem to connect the right stakeholders and initiate the right conversations. Transitioning a global agency from toy photography to 3D modeling was no small feat. Scaling the appropriate teams, rerouting workflows, and recalibrating client estimates took months of coordination. The patience, rigor, and cross-functional collaboration required to evolve our internal process ultimately made the transformation worthwhile.
