Tommy Moose

The Tommy Moose plush went through a character design refinement to help kids in times of crisis.

Caring that strengthens.

Helping kids overcome fears and anxiety in times of crisis with brand storytelling, character design, and brand identity.

Tommy Moose was ready for a refresh. The plush toys live in thousands of fire trucks, police cars, hospitals, and crisis shelters nationwide, ready for first responders and essential workers to distribute to kids in need of comfort and a listening ear in crisis situations. For over ten years, more than 250,000 Tommys had reached children exactly when and where they needed him. But throughout the years, Tommy’s design had become dated. We seized the opportunity to strengthen and expand Tommy’s appeal, mission, and ability to meet kids where they are.

Tommy Moose has a personality of genuine happiness.

Genuine

PERSONALITY

The Tommy Moose brand has a community purpose of caring.

Care

COMMUNITY PURPOSE

The Tommy Moose brand uses an imaginative approach to play-based learning.

Imaginative

LEARNING

The Tommy Moose brand provides the emotional benefit of joy.

Joy

EMOTIONAL BENEFIT

Tommy Moose went through a character design evolution and visual and verbal brand storytelling to definition to the Heartland, the world he lives in.

Strategy.

By adjusting Tommy’s age from a “knowing adult” to a “friend and peer” who feels and learns alongside children, Tommy could reach today’s children with new relevance. In addition to offering them comfort and a listening ear, he would now also be appearing as part of the storytelling and teaching curriculum at Lodgic Kids Camp, a flexible childcare center for kids up to 12 years old. Tommy would come alongside children to help them learn and develop social and emotional intelligence in an entertaining and educational way. We wanted Tommy to empower children while teaching them valuable life, emotional, and social skills.

Little boy hugs the Tommy Moose plush, who went through a character design exploration to refresh the Tommy Moose brand.
Tommy Moose First Responder logo — the nationwide program to help children in crisis.

Results.

With his new ethos, look, role, and environment, Tommy Moose now reaches more children through more channels than ever before. He is distributed nationwide to children in crises and need as part of the Tommy Moose First Responder program, and is a central part of the play-based learning curriculum for Lodgic Kids Camp.

Tommy Moose sticker set — showing the brand storytelling children experience when engaging with Tommy.
Tommy Moose character design made Tommy a peer to children with a happy and joyful demeanor.
Tommy Moose plush used to cultivate play-based learning for children at Lodgic Kids Camp.

From knowing adult to friend and peer.

We adjusted Tommy to a more childlike age so that children could identify with him as a friend worth following. Working with an LA-based animation partner, Pixel Pirate Studios, we refined and modernized a brand-new character design and the initial concept art to create a full picture of who Tommy Moose would be and the world in which he would live.

From 2-D concept to 3-D plush.

In collaboration with several production partners, we guided the new Tommy Moose character design through concepting, prototyping, and manufacturing as a high-quality, eminently cuddly plush toy. The Tommy 2.0 plush delivers on dual purposes: a cuddly comfort for kids in times of crisis and a character with an engaging personality and values to help children learn.

Exploration of fabric swatches used in the character design process of Tommy Moose.
Tommy Moose plushies featuring the character design and updated brand storytelling.
Facial expressions explored in the character design process of Tommy Moose.
Little girl hugs the Tommy Moose plush.
Character design exploration in the creation of the new Tommy Moose.
Tommy Moose character design — before and after.

An identity to match.

In addition to the on- and off-page reinventions of Tommy himself, his logo was given a fresh new look that built Tommy’s own profile into the mark, adding an extra dash of both playfulness and smarts.

Tommy Moose adventure journals.
The Heartland — the world Tommy Moose lives in — is a powerful cornerstone of the visual brand storytelling featured in the rooms of Lodgic Kids Camp.
Process sketches created in the development of the visual brand storytelling for the Tommy Moose brand.

Bringing Tommy’s world to life in a play-based learning environment.

Tommy’s world, known as the Heartland, became the backdrop for Lodgic Kids Camp, a flexible childcare environment in which Tommy is a central part of the play-based curriculum.  At Lodgic Kids Camp, Tommy learns alongside the children, modeling social skills, emotional intelligence, and how to care for others. Four wall-sized murals were created to identify each age-progressive classroom — the Nest, the Meadow, the Grove, and the Mountaintop — and create uniquely immersive spaces where the children learn and grow alongside Tommy.

The Nest and Mountaintop — two of four brand storytelling rooms used to guide children across their growth journey.
As a part of Tommy's brand storytelling, posters have been created to showcase the many adventures that Tommy has gone on to share with his classmates.
The Tommy Moose plush is a friend to children in crisis.

Partners.

Awards.

Silver Pencil in Brand Transformation
The One Club for Creativity

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