NERF faced a major inflection point in the Benelux market: a -21% year-on-year decline hurting category positioning leading up to the brand's most commercially important quarter. Without localised creative or market-specific activation, the brand was losing ground to competitors who had invested in culturally resonant campaigns. The business needed action that could reverse momentum, drive immediate conversion, and establish a replicable framework for regional growth.
I built and owned NERF's first-ever locally-produced, full-funnel media campaign for the Benelux region, running end-to-end execution from creative concepting through to market activation. The approach combined strategic creative development with precision media orchestration across the purchase funnel:
- Creative Strategy & Localisation: Created culturally relevant creative assets designed specifically for Benelux audiences, breaking from generic pan-European templates
- Full-Funnel Media Architecture: Ran integrated media planning spanning awareness-driving channels through to conversion-optimised placements, ensuring all touchpoints conveyed harmonised messaging
- Cross-Functional Execution: Led collaboration across creative agencies, media partners, and internal stakeholders to ensure flawless market deployment within compressed timelines
The campaign ended up delivering major commercial impact, reversing decline to achieve +26% growth versus prior year, NERF's largest-ever Q4 in the region. Industry recognition for the work was also received, with the campaign winning a Bronze Effie and a SAN Accent, confirming both creative excellence and commercial effectiveness. Following this success, the European marketing organisation adopted the campaign as regional best practice, rolling it out across multiple markets and making the Benelux activation a scalable blueprint for localised market strategy.