PROJECT

Having worked with Collab for many years, when Nickelodeon was looking for a way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dora the Explorer, they asked us to collaborate.

Nickelodeon asked Collab to figure out a method for designing bags, in a limited run, for 12 celebrities as part of Dora’s anniversary, and the pro-social initiative, Beyond the Backpack.

The campaign was created to call attention to the emotional, physical, and educational competencies preschoolers need.  The campaign served as the key component of Nickelodeon’s overall plans for Dora the Explorer’s anniversary, and consisted of a PSA campaign featuring Salma Hayek and Dora. 

CAMPAIGN

The Beyond the Backpack Program was formed to promote kindergarten readiness for preschoolers. Celebrities were asked to create one-of-a-kind backpacks that would be sold to support the program,  Collab designed and manufactured limited-edition Dora backpacks for each celebrity involved in the campaign including: LeBron James, Shakira, Jessica Alba, Heidi Klum, Salma Hayek, Pinault and Matthew McConaughey, Drew Brees, John Leguizamo, Slash, Sheryl Crow, Eva Longoria and Faith Hill.

EXECUTION

We started the project by developing a design system which would give the celebrities a framework for designing their one-of-a-kind style.  The challenge was getting celebrities, who had never designed a bag, and who are extremely busy to design one.  We created a style kit for the celebrities to use that was as easy as flipping through pages and circling the patterns, colors and details they wanted included on their bags. 

DETAILS

This would ensure that all of the designs would work within the brand guidelines established for Dora the Explorer's licensing program.  

Having created a style guide, participating became fun and easy for the celebrities.  It created parameters that made the selection process easy, and made producing the bags considerably more seamless for us.  

We worked closely with the design team at Nickelodeon in order to create a program that would consider all areas of value for various stakeholders.As designs began to come back from the celebrities, we created a production path for each bag.  Having developed bags over the years for many clients, we knew that producing low volumes of intricate bags would be challenging.  We pulled all of the best parts of our knowledge and experience together in order to produce high quality bags that would be enjoyed by the people who purchased them.