Our task: selling NERF Blasters. If you’ve got kids (particularly boys) of a certain age, you know that they like nothing more than firing foam darts at each other.

Except in Germany. Where two major wars mean that the idea of children playing with weapons is a troubling issue. Mums were reluctant to buy.

We identified two clear insights that helped us identify a new target.

First, we realised that toy blasters were perfect for young men who hadn’t grown up.

Second, we knew that young men starting their career can find sitting at computer screens frustrating. They need to let off steam.

This led to our solution: Office Wars – five minutes of fun – before getting back to some serious, German, hard work.

Our strategy would inspire them to start the battle with NERF Blasters as the perfect office accessory.

We identified Stromberg as the must-watch primetime show for our target audience. The German edition of the global Office format had a cast that was recognisable to our target.

We worked with the writers and production house to showcase the NERF Blaster as an essential comedy weapon. The result was a starring role in every episode of Series 5.

The integration peaked with a battle between two divisions.

Additionally we backed up each broadcast with a paid search, partnerships and social media, driving consumers to Amazon to buy “the blaster from Stromberg” during and after broadcast.

We sold NERF Blasters via the official Stromberg shop connected via the Facebook page. 500.000 fans received a message from Stromberg saying he didn’t want his staff fighting anymore, giving them the chance to win the original blaster.

Although product placement has been legal in Germany since April 2010, there are severe restrictions and every programme that involves product placement has to be labeled.

By seamlessly weaving NERF into the story, it became part of the TV conversation among our target group rather than being rejected.

Our organic placement blazed a trail for branded entertainment. Our reward were new purchasers and incredible sales.

This success was based on our ability to identify the right opportunity and the right format for the right product combined with our ability to drive our target to purchase. Integrating NERF Blasters into Stromberg was the first time anyone had done this successfully. We got consumers to say “oh cool, toy blaster” rather than “oh no, product placement”.