For the past 99 years, spectators at Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade have craned their necks to watch giant balloons and life-size floats pass through the streets of New York City. But a word to the wise this year: don’t forget to look down. You might even catch a glimpse of the smallest float in the history of the parade.
The float – which is 49 times smaller than the average display – comes from Goldfish, which is returning to the parade for the first time in more than a decade. The float design features a wintry snowscape covered in frolicking goldfish crackers, pulled by an equally small Ram truck. According to Brendan Kennedy, director of creative production at Macy’s Studios, the car is less than 8 inches high and 12 inches long. Throughout the parade, it will circle Herald Square, just outside Macy’s department store.
[Photo: Goldfish]
Kennedy, who helmed the parade in April 2024, says he has spent quite a bit of time sifting through the event’s history for the upcoming centennial anniversary. In all that research, he has never come across another float like this one.
“I don’t think it’s ever come close,” Kennedy says.
[Photo: Goldfish]Inside Goldfish’s return to the parade
Every year, Kennedy says the Macy’s team spends about 18 months in advance preparing for the next Thanksgiving parade: making sure the event has enough street space, selecting brand partners and ironing out the production schedule. It takes three to six months for the floats themselves to be fully planned and designed. When Goldfish contacted Macy’s in early September with the idea of building what the company calls “the Littlest Float,” Kennedy said the team was “already working” on building this year’s six new floats.
Despite the quick turnaround, he knew it had to be done. “I got a call from our partnership team and they said, ‘Goldfish has an idea, what do you think?’” says Kennedy. “I thought, ‘Absolutely. I’m in.'”
Designing a new car always starts with creating a solid story, says Kennedy. In this case, the teams at Goldfish and Macy’s took inspiration from “Snow Day,” a Goldfish ad originally released in 2015 that features a crew of three hat-wearing Goldfish crackers sledding, playing hockey, building snowmen and warming up by the fire. The float mock-up featured a team of goldfish enjoying winter activities in a snowy landscape topped by a goldfish-shaped mound of snow.
The last time Goldfish was in the parade was in 2012, when the brand debuted a somewhat meta float of Goldfish crackers putting on their own parade. “After more than a decade, returning with the Littlest Float has allowed us to showcase ourselves in a way that is both true to the brand and meaningful to fans,” said Mike Fanelli, the brand’s senior director of marketing.
[Photo: Goldfish]Brings the smallest Thanksgiving float ever to life
Bringing the design to life was a whole new challenge for the Macy’s team. Typically, Kennedy explains, they have to contend with the sheer size of the floats, which must simultaneously be spectacular but also be street-safe and collapsible to pack for transport. Designing a small float came with a host of unique considerations, namely how to make the winter scene sustainable at such a small size.
Kennedy’s team addressed that problem by building a custom base, which is hidden by an orange border around the float. It is an aluminum structure, made in the shape of a goldfish cracker, which is hand-carved in-house. Kennedy describes it as “essentially a fat skateboard.” Most important for the float’s longevity is that the wheels are omnidirectional, meaning it doesn’t trip easily on uneven surfaces.
“[The wheels] It looks a bit like a ping-pong ball in a metal scoop,” says Kennedy. ‘They are often used in robotics. We found these worked best because of their omnidirectional ability. A traditional floating bed just has to roll straight and then turn, and it’s just these big old tires. But for this, it can basically go either way at any point.”
[Photo: Goldfish]
On top of the aluminum base, the part of the Littlest Float that is actually visible is a 3D printed landscape that has been sanded and hand-painted to get a detailed look up close. As a finishing touch, the whole thing is pulled by a small Ram truck with working turn signals and side mirrors, manufactured by a company called Primal RC, which makes an officially licensed miniature of the vehicle. Kennedy says this element was important for continuity, as Ram is a sponsor of the parade and the trucks will pull all the standard-sized floats.
To get the right shot of the small float, the Macy’s team worked with NBC, the parade’s broadcast partner, to set up a special steady camera that hangs just 6 inches above the ground. On the day of the event, a team of actors – purposefully selected for above-average height to play up the conceit – will follow the Littlest Float around the square and keep an eye on him.
“I think it’s really fun and crazy, and it’s a great way to show how the team at Macy’s Studios can come together and reimagine what it means to parade,” says Kennedy. “It’s clowns, performances and magic, to make everyone look up, show some balloons, forget about their day, week or year and just have some fun. We really enjoy coming up with new ways to do that for all the people on the streets and at home.”
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