Pioneering New
Play Experiences
With a vision to transform a simple toy concept into an arcade-like experience, I guided cross-functional teams to unleash the excitement of basketball through a breakthrough phone integration.
The resulting products blended physical and digital interaction in a brand new way, backed by patents which continue to expand our exclusive capabilities in connected play.
Elevating a Concept
The concepts for McDonald’s All-American Games encompassed a wide variety of toys, where one design—a basic basketball hoop—stood out. Seeing an opportunity to elevate this concept, I championed its expansion into a standalone toy line, pitching a phone integration that would transform the basketball hoop into an interactive court experience.
This vision included celebratory stadium sounds, crowd roars, and announcer commentary that would react dynamically to each basket scored, creating an immersive atmosphere mirroring real basketball games. Guiding the pitch to focus on this consumer-focused vision put the client in the customer’s shoes and secured full stakeholder support.
Aligning Teams
With a unified vision established, it was critical to maintain alignment across toy and digital teams throughout development to deliver a seamless experience. Early and proactive collaboration was crucial, probing with targeted questions that would surface and resolve issues across teams before development became too cemented, enabling a cohesive (and on-schedule) final product.
Several practical challenges were tackled throughout this collaboration—a card accessory was added to stabilize the hoop during play, and a swinging flap went through multiple revisions to optimize camera detection, all while keeping the toy within budget constraints. Fostering this open and collaborative approach across departments ensured that both the physical and digital elements could come together to deliver a reliable, immersive experience.
A Framework for the Future of Play
The McDAAG Happy Meal program's impact goes beyond the immediate user experience; it is another key piece of the strategic foundation being laid for future digital-toy integrations. Through our continued application of patents, this campaign expands our versatile framework for enhancing physical toys with even more breakthrough phone integrations in the future.
McDAAG is one of many projects that continue to expand the boundaries of connected play, creating immersive experiences that inspire and captivate young audiences worldwide.
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Portfolio
An overview of my product development work.