In this series, features and series developer Heather Nicholls takes you behind the scenes of some of the most compelling brand activations and events.
In this edition we meet, Sense, the agency behind Tommee Tippee at Baby Shows 2026.
The Brief:
Tommee Tippee approached the agency to reimagine how the brand shows up at Baby Shows in 2026, with a fundamental shift away from a retail-first stand towards a much more experience-led environment. Historically, the stand had been heavily weighted towards physical product sales, but the new ambition was to flip that model and position Tommee Tippee as an expert-led parenting brand with healthcare professionals at the heart of the experience.
Sense’s interpretation was that the stand needed to feel less like a transactional retail space and more like a welcoming destination for new and expectant parents, somewhere they could explore products in context, receive advice, interact with experts and ultimately build trust in the brand. At the same time, commercial performance was still critical, so the agency needed to seamlessly integrate sales touchpoints and Boots Parenting Club sign-up opportunities throughout the journey.
The Execution:
Sense began the procces by immersing themselves in the audience insight and brand positioning. A spokesperson for Sense said: “The majority of Baby Show visitors are first time parents looking for reasurrance, inspiration and product demonstrations they can’t get online.”
From there, the agency explored how Tommee Tippee products naturally live within the home and identified key parenting everyday moments connected to feeding, sleep, sterilising and soothing. This insight led to the lead concept of “The House of Tommee Tippee”, an open plan experiential stand built around themed rooms including a nursery, kitchen and playroom.
Then, the agency layered in product demonstration zones, healthcare professional consultation areas, interactive content moments, gamification, social/photo opportunities, and integrated sales functionality. The spokesperson said: “. We aimed to visually simplify the space, to reduce the feeling of ‘overwhelm’ that can be experienced by expectant parents. Using core Tommee Tippee colours to unify and theme each room, our ‘colour-drenching’ aesthetic allowed high visual impact, clean product worlds and brand standout.”
The development phase included floorplans, customer journey mapping, production feasibility, modular build considerations and tiered budget solutions to ensure the concept could flex depending on investment level.
The spokesperson explained: “The inspiration came from the idea that Tommee Tippee products support parents across every room in the home and throughout multiple parenting moments each day. Rather than presenting products on shelves, we wanted to show them in emotionally relevant environments. We were also inspired by the increasing demand for experiential retail and “shop-able” brand worlds, spaces that blend education, entertainment and commerce together. Existing Tommee Tippee retail concepts, previous experiential work for Boots and the idea of creating a house-like structure all influenced the final direction.”
The spokesperson added: “Importantly, we wanted the experience to feel optimistic, reassuring and emotionally supportive for new parents, reflecting the brand’s positioning around “You’ve got this, we’ve got you”.
Collaboration was vital to this event, with Sense working closely with the Tommee Tippee team to align on commercial objective, customer experience and product priorities, whilst also ensuring that the boots partnershup requirements were integrated into the journey and branding.
Internally, the creatie, production and experiential temas worked collaboratively to balance storytelling with practical event considerations such as visitor flow, 360-degree visibility, storage requirements, live demonstrations, and integrated EPOS functionality. The agency also involved fabrication and production specialists early in the processto stress-test the concepts against budget, logistics and sustainability considerations.
The Results:
As this project was developed as a strategic pitch and future-facing activation concept for the 2026 Baby Shows, the primary outcome was delivering a scalable experiential platform that repositioned Tommee Tippee from a retail-led exhibitor to an expert-led parenting destination.
The concept successfully demonstrated how the brand could increase emotional engagement, drive stronger product interaction, integrate Boots Parenting Club recruitment, create measurable engagement opportunities, and still support strong commercial sales outcomes.
The spokesperson said: “The work also established a clear long-term framework that could flex across multiple show environments and future retail/event partnerships. At this stage commercial results are not available for publication, but we can safely say that targets were met.”
One of the strongest reactions from stakeholders was the positive response to the concept itself and how naturally it connected products to real parenting moments. The integration of ethnically diverse healthcare professionals and consultation spaces was also seen as a strong differentiator versus competitor stands, helping reinforce Tommee Tippee’s credibility and expertise credentials.
Learnings and Trends:
The spokesperson said: “This project reinforced how important it is for experiential environments to deliver both emotional and commercial value simultaneously. Consumers increasingly expect live brand experiences to feel immersive, helpful and personalised, especially within parenting categories where reassurance and trust are critical. We also learned that educational content and expert interaction can significantly elevate product demonstrations when integrated naturally into the experience.
They added: “Another key takeaway was the importance of designing modular environments that can flex across budgets, footprints and future applications without losing the core creative idea.”
In terms of trends, the agency have continued shift away from purely transactional event spaces towards experience-led environments that prioritise emotional connection, education and participation.
Some of the biggest trends influencing this project included experiential retail convergence, gamified engagement, content creation moments, expert-led brand storytelling, measurable audience analytics, and modular sustainable builds. This activation embraced all of those trends by combining immersive storytelling, social-first interactions, consultation spaces and integrated retail touchpoints within one cohesive customer journey.
