Myer's smart bauble tells kids if they're naughty or nice — sold out in 11 days

Department-store Christmas advertising is a shouting match; Myer wanted a reason for families to visit stores and a product that would keep the brand in their homes through December.

Sell a $19.95 Bluetooth bauble that tells a child they're on Santa's naughty or nice list — green for good, red for bad, set from a parent's phone.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne created the bauble, Wave Digital built a React Native app for Android and iOS, and Creator Global handled the hardware. Parents set each child's colour over Bluetooth; live app data fed real-time OOH billboards and social feeds showing which parts of Australia were naughty or nice, backed by a launch TVC and social films.

The baubles sold out in 11 days, and the data loop kept generating content all December. The campaign won the Spikes Asia 2019 Digital and Integrated Grand Prix, four gold pencils at the AWARD Awards, a Cannes Bronze in Mobile, the 2019 Mumbrella Innovation Award and a One Show Bronze.

Every Christmas, department stores fight for attention with the same warm television commercials. Myer's bet was different: instead of another film, it created an object — a $19.95 smart bauble sold exclusively in its stores. The bauble connected over Bluetooth to a Myer app, and parents could set it to glow green ('nice') or red ('naughty') to show a child where they stood on Santa's list.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne developed the concept; Wave Digital built a React Native app for Android and iOS while Creator Global handled the hardware. Live data captured from the app did the heavy lifting for the campaign: large-format outdoor and social feeds published real-time updates on which parts of Australia were being naughty and which nice. A launch TVC and social films introduced the product.

The mechanics turned a decoration into a daily ritual — parents could reward or warn children as the countdown to Christmas ran, and every colour change was brand presence on the family tree. The data also gave Myer a second campaign about the nation's behaviour, and a reason to re-market to every household that bought a bauble.

The stock sold out in 11 days. The work then swept the awards season: Spikes Asia 2019 Digital and Integrated Grand Prix, four gold pencils at the AWARD Awards, a Cannes Bronze in Mobile, the 2019 Mumbrella Innovation Award and a One Show Bronze.

A physical product in the home outperforms an ad: it is used daily and sits on the family tree, so the brand is present without media.

The data loop made the campaign self-generating — every parent's green-or-red choice became outdoor and social content.

It gave parents a genuinely useful tool, so the campaign earned word of mouth and press instead of paying for reach.

Exclusive-to-Myer distribution forced a store visit — exactly the behaviour retail marketing needs.

Give the holiday audience an object instead of another film: a connected product that earns a place on the family tree turns daily use, live data and store visits into one campaign.

The bauble sold out in 11 days and the campaign kept paying out through 2019: the Spikes Asia Digital and Integrated Grand Prix, four AWARD gold pencils, a Cannes Bronze in Mobile, the Mumbrella Innovation Award and a One Show Bronze. Myer reused the connected-product playbook the following Christmas with another tech-fuelled campaign, and the bauble is now regularly cited as an early example of an internet-connected object running an entire retail campaign.