Contours: Baby Stroller Test-Ride
Contours, working with Kolle Rebbe, needed to uniquely demonstrate the superior comfort and quality of their baby strollers to skeptical parents. The challenge was that babies couldn't communicate their comfort levels effectively. The client wanted an innovative way for parents to truly understand the baby's experience, moving beyond traditional product claims to build stronger emotional connection and drive purchase intent for Contours strollers.
Creative Idea
Contours built adult-sized strollers for parents to test, demonstrating the comfort their babies would experience.
Contours created a life-sized adult stroller to help parents physically experience how comfortable their baby strollers are. By letting parents ride in an exact replica of their stroller, the brand demonstrated the comfort and quality of their product in a unique, playful way that goes beyond traditional product testing.
The Seven Foot Stroller That Scaled Global Media
Engineering a 350 Pound Replica
To bridge the communication gap between infants and parents, FCB Chicago partnered with Hero Solutions to fabricate a massive, fully functional version of the Contours Bliss 4-in-1. The replica stood 7 feet 6 inches tall and required a step ladder for parents to climb into the seat. To ensure the frame could support adult weights while maintaining the brand's signature "smooth ride," engineers utilized motorcycle wheels cleverly disguised to look like standard stroller tires. The build included every detail of the original product, from a working oversized canopy with a peek-a-boo window to a massive storage basket and a functional 5-point harness.
Massive Returns on a Modest Budget
Despite a production budget of only $55,000, the campaign generated a staggering 479 million earned media impressions. The "Test-Ride" events, held at Mary Bartelme Park in Chicago and Buy Buy Baby locations, became a viral sensation featured on *Good Morning America* and *The Today Show*. Within the first month, the video content surpassed 53 million views, leading to a 225% increase in web traffic to Contours product pages. Most importantly, the stunt drove a 15% year-over-year increase in unit sales per store.
Product Demonstration as Content
Chief Creative Officer Todd Tilford noted that the project solved a fundamental industry problem: babies cannot articulate comfort, and adults are too large to test the equipment. By turning a product demonstration into a shareable experience, the brand successfully competed with industry giants like Graco. Although the brand received thousands of requests from adults wanting to purchase their own giant stroller, the model remained a one-off promotional piece. Influencer Hollie Schultz of *Baby Gizmo* helped anchor the digital launch, proving that a "small baby brand" could dominate global conversation through a single, well-executed physical stunt.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
Contours had the engineering capability to scale their best-selling stroller design into an exact, adult-sized replica. This allowed them to physically demonstrate their product's comfort claims instead of relying on subjective baby noises.
Category
The stroller category typically focuses on technical specs, safety certifications, or parent-facing features like storage. Brands rarely address the sensory experience of the baby because infants cannot provide verbal testimonials.
Customer
Parents experience a communication gap where they desperately want to ensure their child is comfortable but have no way to verify it. They feel a sense of guesswork and skepticism when purchasing expensive gear.
Culture
The campaign tapped into the empathy economy and experiential marketing, where brands create immersive, shareable spectacles that allow adults to playfully reconnect with childhood perspectives to build trust.
Company
Contours had the engineering capability to scale their best-selling stroller design into an exact, adult-sized replica. This allowed them to physically demonstrate their product's comfort claims instead of relying on subjective baby noises.
Category
The stroller category typically focuses on technical specs, safety certifications, or parent-facing features like storage. Brands rarely address the sensory experience of the baby because infants cannot provide verbal testimonials.
Strategy:
Bridge the baby-parent communication gap by letting adults physically inhabit their child's experience to prove superior comfort.
Customer
Parents experience a communication gap where they desperately want to ensure their child is comfortable but have no way to verify it. They feel a sense of guesswork and skepticism when purchasing expensive gear.
Culture
The campaign tapped into the empathy economy and experiential marketing, where brands create immersive, shareable spectacles that allow adults to playfully reconnect with childhood perspectives to build trust.
Strategy:
Bridge the baby-parent communication gap by letting adults physically inhabit their child's experience to prove superior comfort.
Strategy Technique
Dramatize the Invisible Benefit
The campaign dramatized the invisible benefit of baby comfort, which babies cannot communicate. Parents experienced this quality firsthand through the adult stroller.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Analogy
The adult-sized stroller serves as a direct, physical analogy for a baby's experience. It allows parents to truly understand comfort by feeling it themselves.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft is exceptional due to its truly brilliant and original idea, meticulously brought to life through extraordinary production design of a giant stroller and expertly designed experiential activations.
The meticulous engineering and fabrication of a fully functional, safe, and visually identical adult-sized baby stroller was a monumental physical feat, absolutely essential for the campaign's execution.
The thoughtful planning and execution of the real-world test-ride events, including location selection and the interactive participant journey, created a truly engaging and memorable brand experience.
The true magic of this campaign comes from the synergy between the groundbreaking 'Ideamaking' of an adult test-ride and the 'Production Design' that flawlessly brought the giant stroller to life, making the concept tangible and impactful.
