Surprises at the Archives
By Graziella Carbone
2017 – The Adventures of the Kids of the Mill continue
The promotion of the Adventures of the Kids of the Mill continued in 2017, from January 9 to April 2. By entering four package codes on the website www.mulinobianco.it or on the MioMulino App, it was possible to receive the Adventure Shoulder Bag for free and, with a single code, to participate every day in the contest draw for five Polaroid cameras.
Useful information was printed on the new trays to experience the new Adventures of the Kids of the Mill: how to move in the woods without making noise or recognize animal footprints; it was also possible to have fun with anagrams and new games.
In the stores participating in the initiative, by purchasing two packs of Mulino Bianco snacks (Flutes, Stuffed croissants, Pan Goccioli, Saccottino, Trancino, Tegolino, Tart, Plumcake, Bread + chocolate, Pan di Stelle Snack), you could immediately receive one of the four different Kids of the Mill Adventure Bracelets representing Friendship, Wisdom, Energy and Curiosity; with an extra snack, you were given also a rain poncho as a gift.
For the autumn reprise, with similar mechanisms, twenty super-equipped backpacks were offered every day with headphones, key rings, backpack covers and felt-tip pens to personalize them, in accord with the title of the competition: Leave your mark. In the stores participating in the initiative, by purchasing two packs of Mulino Bianco snacks, pens or a calculator were given free of charge.
A booklet was also published to accompany the operation: The Adventures of the Kids of the Mill among the secrets of nature – in collaboration with “Focus Junior” for the special initiative: Become a Journalist. The working material was also made available online so that it could be downloaded by all interested children, teachers and parents.
The booklet was the result of team work: I took care of the contents by reusing the materials from the promotional campaign and those printed on the trays and an agency in Parma took care of the graphic layout. It was printed in the province of Bergamo
2017 also registered a special occasion in the context of awards: the Triennale Design Museum 10 – Milan – Design for Children, requested – for the Giro Giro Tondo Exhibit: March 2017 – February 2018 – 100 Little Surprises to be exhibited in rotation.
When they contacted me – they tracked me down through one of the managers responsible for setting up the exhibition, who knew me – the first thing they told me was that the collection would be insured. I went to Milan with my 100 Little Surprises (all doubles from my collection), but I didn’t want them to be insured. What value could I give them? Impossible to say. I had taken into account that some little surprise would disappear at the end of the year, but, on the contrary, nothing was missing.
2020 – Little Surprises at the Archives
I spent two days at the Barilla Historical Archives. The little surprises – conceived by me and not only by me – that the various Marketing Offices of Mulino Bianco had sent to the Archives over the years, were all there, in their imposing metal filing cabinet, in twenty huge drawers (the first drawer is taller than me, I could walk under it and my ID card says I am 1 meter and 64 centimeters high). All cataloged, in the original boxes and with their own leaflets, and in turn all placed into a transparent box containing any variations strictly in chronological order as well, from 1982 up to 2017. Impressive archive work that involved many people for several years, required the preparation of a photographic set and the cataloging of over 2100 Surprise toys, including models and variants. The little surprises are almost all still in excellent condition, even if in some cases the cardboard that was used for the box has turned a little yellow … It is tender to think that you could play with them again. All these surprises are now available for consultation, by anyone and from anywhere, on the site of the Barilla Historical Archives and tell a story of forty years of play, innovation and imagination. I tried to tell you about it, chasing the wave of my memories, so that my fun could be yours too. Because he who plays is never alone.
