Last month I received a box postmarked c/o Nemo from my Other Mother. Like all great surprises it was all too confusing for a moment. Carefully wrapped in butcher’s paper with a Portland return address that once unwrapped, revealed a small, square cardboard box with a note on the lid’s interior explaining how she would “make me a home where everything is right…Exactly as I’ve wished for.” All it would take, she explained, was a bit of needle and thread and my eyeballs.
“So sharp, you won’t feel a thing.”
I actually read the note before opening the tiny hexagonal pinstriped box wrapped beneath it. Considering I’d seen trailers for Coraline months before, it started to become clear. She’d conveniently included the tools I’d need — delicately placed black buttons, spooled thread and needle.
It didn’t take long to learn that this handmade piece of craft was part of a brilliant marketing effort by Weiden & Kennedy. The box I received was one of many disseminated to creative sites and influencers with varying degrees of intricacy. Toysrevil has a great post featuring many of these precious boxes ranging from buttons and thread like the one I received, to actual assets from the film.
Props to Laika and W+K for doing their part to dilute the bitter aftertaste of PR through a creative and inspiring campaign that provides an experience of beauty and wonder. Any step backward that moves it’s art forward is if nothing else, intriguing. Coraline’s 1-2 punch is that it’s beautiful too.
srcs: Weiden+Kennedy, Laika, Toysrevil, Boing Boing
