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After considering the options for our rethink, we eventually agreed on Meccano. We loved it as kids and admired the vision and imagination of its inventor Frank Hornby, who, with no formal training, created three of the most successful toy brands of the last century: Meccano, Hornby Model Railways and Dinky. When we looked at the nuts and bolts (pardon the pun) of the problem we found that the current product hinges upon a single model rather than a set of components for building your own creations. We felt this limited creativity and lacked magic. It also means each box has a small set of solutions, not infinite possibilities. We imagined a richer more immersive Meccano product experience with which consumers could create sets that meet their own specifications. To that end, we designed Meccano+ as a Meccano for the Nike ID generation, a toy for the slightly obsessive-compulsive among us. Our solution is a toy that fosters a relationship between Meccano and the end user, where the augmented reality is built into the box and component silhouette, so if you want more inspiration you can receive it straight to your smart phone. An app could propose a model based on a particular theme or local landmarks or buildings based on your GPS location as further ideas of things to create.
Part app, part toy, Meccano+ will enable you to specify your own unique box of components, from your preferred colours and finishes to the choice of materials (wood, plastic, metal). If what you want initially is to create a matt black crane, then Meccano+ will dispatch to you all the necessary components. Once you have tired of looking at the crane, the Meccano+ app will present you with countless options of where you can take it next. Order another box of components and your crane can become a Formula 1 car, the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn … Meccano+ would be a bespoke product enabled by modern technology, but built on the original principles of the brand to make mechanics easy; a product a little like this Rethink feature, where the options are endless within a framework. So, Meccano: why not embrace a little more magic and a little less logic? Frank might be proud of you. |
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