Posts Tagged "Toy Industry Association"

It’s not quite Disneyland, but the annual Toy Fair – starting today — in New York City generates its own high-pitched version of child-like fun and excitement. For the past 20 years or so, I’ve joined the crowd cramming the aisles of this much anticipated event which introduces the toys that will land on moms’ must-have lists come the holiday shopping season. It’s here at Toy Fair that companies launch their latest to retailers, traditional press, and in recent years, social media alike. We invite you to stop by the Summit Toy booth, #1973, where we’ll be demonstrating  the popular Backyard Safari Outfitters and Zillionz toy lines. I’ll also be walking the aisles with my colleagues, Julie Livingston, former head of public relations for Toy Fair and now Director of New Business Development at Child’s Play, and Marie Baker, who heads our social media program. We’ve  got dozens of meetings booked with companies who are leaders in the toy industry, to discuss how our combination of traditional public relations, social media and word-of-mouth expertise can help them reach moms.

So whether you’re a toy manufacturer looking for more awareness among moms or a mom blogger interested in reviewing toys, we hope to meet you at Toy Fair! Connect with us at childsplay@childsplaypr.com.

See you there!

As moms across the country know, iPads and smart phones have quickly become must-have toys for children, including toddlers.  Savvy companies are jumping on the trend by kid-branding many electronic devices that, until now, were formerly reserved for adult use only. 

“We know that kids love to mimic their parents, whether they are role playing with dolls or pretending to go off to work,” notes Reyne Rice, trend expert for the Toy Industry Association.  In recent months, she says, toy companies have released a host of great products that are essentially kid versions of adult tech toys.

Products such as USB drives and iPod docks now carry the familiar faces kids love.   The latest crop of tech toys for tots range from adorable Sesame Street Video USB Drives and Hello Kitty Mouse and Mouse Pad Sets to sturdy iPod docks from Barbie and Lego Digital Cameras.  Even Pottery Barn Kids has launched its own signature collection of electronics, including DVD players, headphones and earbuds.

So, what does this mean for our kids?  Is all this screen time really a good thing?  In a recent New York Times article on the need for parents and children to embrace unstructured playtime, Hillary Stout writes, “most of the social and intellectual skills one needs to succeed in life and work are first developed through childhood play.”   The writer argues for less structured time for children and calls for a return to the “culture of play.”

The February issue of Parents magazine points out that 2/3 of kids ages 4-7 have already used an iPhone or an iPod Touch, and observes that “Whether this is good or bad is a moot point now — the real challenge is figuring out how to help our children benefit from high-tech tools while still making sure they are playing and learning in the tried and true way.”

Like most things in life, I think, balance is the key.  Encouraging creative and imaginative play is important for kids.  But a little tech time can be a good thing too, especially in this day and age.  To what degree do you let your kids play with tech toys?  How do you find a good balance between play time and screen time in your family?

Last week, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel at Toy Fair titled, Connecting With Moms In Social Media — Blogs, Twitter and Facebook,  featuring representatives from toy companies K’NEX and Hidden City Games, and mom bloggers. In a previous post, I offered a summary of the marketers’ point of view. Today I’d like to share some key tips from the wonderful mom bloggers on the panel — Kimberly Coleman, Mom in the City and Melissa Chapman, Real Moms Guide, Kids in the City and WCBS-TV.

Marketers, here’s what mom bloggers want you to know:

• To marketers numbers are important, but to bloggers it’s all about influence.  If you are trying to find mom bloggers to work with, just remember that lists are subjective. Know the blog’s audience – it’s about the quality of people reading the blog, not always the quantity.
• Listen before you speak. Begin by searching Twitter and setting up Google Alerts to find out who is already talking about your brand.  Engage with the moms on Twitter and read their blogs to find out what they are writing about.
• Be authentic. Have a dedicated person handling your Facebook and Twitter accounts because that offers more of a personal connection to the brand.
• Remember that everything isn’t for everybody. You don’t want to send a plastic toy to a “green” mom blogger.
• There are no guarantees that you’ll get a good review – it actually is better to get an honest review rather than a post that just cuts and pastes a press release.
• Be honest when approaching bloggers. Be clear about what you are offering and make sure it’s mutually beneficial.
• Don’t expect bloggers to write about your product without seeing it. Bloggers want to know what the product is and why it’s relevant to their audience.
• Bloggers also want their readers to be able to purchase the product, so make sure it’s available for parents to buy.

Marketers, do you have any questions or comments? Mom bloggers, is there anything you would like to add to the list?

This week marked the 107th American International Toy Fair, a major industry event held in New York City. I had the opportunity to moderate a panel there titled, Connecting With Moms In Social Media — Blogs, Twitter and Facebook,  featuring toy companies and mom bloggers.  A special thanks up front to Brett Klisch of bellybuds and The Creative Factor for making this important conversation possible.

Speakers included Barb Rentschler (Chief Marketing Office, K’NEX) and Dell Monson (Senior Director of Marketing, Hidden City Games), both of whom have reached out to mom bloggers through Child’s Play Communications’ award-winning Team Mom  review network;  Kimberly Coleman (Blogger, Mom in the City) and Melissa Chapman (Blogger, Real Moms Guide, Kids in the City, WCBS-TV).

Thank you to our panelists and to all who attended – it quickly became standing room only! What really made this presentation so appealing and successful, I think,  was that it offered perspectives from marketers on the one hand and bloggers on the other. I’d like to share key highlights here, starting with the marketers’ point of view:

•  Marketers recognize that moms are extremely influential in terms of making purchasing decisions. Since a large majority of moms are online, it makes sense for brands to have an active  presence there to show that they are listening to moms and to answer any questions moms might have.
• It’s important to connect all the components of social media outreach — whether Facebook, Twitter or mom blog review networks – into an overall online media strategy that makes sense. Companies can also leverage advertising campaigns around it for a more integrated program.
• Right now, the focus is on spending marketing dollars in the social media space rather than traditional media. Certainly for marketing departments with small budgets, social media is the way to go: It’s better to spend money where you are reaching your target audience effectively, especially when you don’t have millions of dollars for TV advertising.
• Marketers can use today’s technology to find the true impact of a social media campaign. For example, a blogger might not necessarily have large numbers, but the secondary readers might drive more traffic to your site.
• When reaching out to mom bloggers, realize that not everyone is going to like your product. Take the good posts with the bad. If there is negative feedback, understand why they didn’t like the product; it could be a bigger issue down the road.

A second post will follow in a day or two, featuring the perspective of the mom blogger panelists. Stay tuned! And in the meantime, please share your thoughts on the marketer comments above.

Another year has come and gone, and once again there is much for us to be thankful for. It’s been an exhilarating time here at Child’s Play Communications and we want to express our gratitude to our clients, business associates, the media and the mom community for your continued support.

As we enter our 22nd year specializing in connecting companies with moms, we look forward to expanding our award-winning programs and continuing to set the bar in innovation.

Our focus in 2009 was on making Child’s Play not only the leader in social media outreach to moms, but also creatively expanding and integrating digital and traditional public relations practices to produce the best possible results for all of our clients.

On example: Child’s Play Communications’ network of mommy bloggers, Team Mom, picked up multiple awards this year, including:

• PRSA-NY Big Apple Award, Winner – Innovation & Technology
• SABRE Award, Certificate of Excellence - PR Agency Initiative 
• Bulldog Awards, Silver – PR Innovation of the Year and Bronze – Best Use of the Internet, Consumer.

Child’s Play Communications was the first agency to launch its own network of mommy bloggers, and Warner Bros. Consumer Products, K’NEX, Elmer’s Products, Universal Motown and the Toy Industry Association are among the companies that took part in our Team Mom programs.

We were delighted to introduce other companies to the world of mommy bloggers through special events such as our recent Co-Op Bloggers Brunch, where top brands including Nickelodeon, Cuisinart, FujiFilm, Good Housekeeping and more had the opportunity to meet leading bloggers face to face, and to learn about the latest trends and issues in the momosphere through our panel presentation, What Does a Mommy Blogger Want?

For other clients, such as Goddard Systems, we created blogs and Twitter accounts, partnered with bloggers for special projects and developed full-scale social media policies while also implementing highly effective traditional media relations.

I had the opportunity to engage with many of you this year when I was invited to speak at a number of industry functions, including Kid Power, the Kids Today Conference, and the Ask the Experts session at BlogHer Business.

We have even more ideas in store to help companies market to moms next year – including a whole new division, to be announced soon. And we’re so pleased and flattered to be joining the Board of Directors of Bloganthropy (www.bloganthropy.com), a new blog designed to bring bloggers and philanthropic companies together to benefit those in need.

Once again, all of us here at Child’s Play would like to express our thanks to all of you and wish you the happiest of holidays and the best of new years.