Scrabble
same words, same value
75th anniversary campaign

Group Account Director
Montalvo Agency, Mexico
Campaigns

The Problem Worth Solving

Scrabble turned 75 in Mexico carrying a reputation it needed to shed: outdated, dull, a game for people who already knew too many words. The brand needed a relaunch that didn't just mark the anniversary but argued, convincingly, that the game still belonged in people's lives.

The Insight That Unlocked It

I started by debunking the myth inside the building first, showing the creative team how simple and playful the game actually is, even across languages. Mexican Spanish already borrows freely from English in everyday slang, words like "random" or "cringe" sit comfortably in daily conversation. That gave us proof the brand didn't need to import relevance from somewhere else. It already had it.

The insight that followed: Scrabble is a game you can play under your own rules.

The Idea It Became

That insight became the platform "It's Your Rules," opening the game up rather than gatekeeping it. The idea found its sharpest edge in a structural detail of the Spanish language itself: feminine word forms often score fewer points than masculine ones, a small mechanic that quietly reproduces inequality inside something as ordinary as a board game. The campaign proposed a direct fix. Every word, the same value, regardless of gender.

For Pride Month, the platform extended into "Same Points, Same Value," spotlighting LGBTQ+ vocabulary and the same underlying principle, positioning Scrabble as a brand willing to put its values into the mechanics of the game, not just the marketing around it.

What Happened

The campaign reignited Scrabble's cultural relevance in Mexico and sparked national conversation, generating thousands of positive social media mentions. It won two Bronze awards at El Ojo de Iberoamérica, in Gráfica and Vía Pública categories.

Commercially, sales rose 20% and top-of-mind awareness grew 15% following the campaign.