News - the latest toy industry headlines

Character Option’s Big Weekend fi res up the internet

Character Options’ virtual kids’ infl uencer event, Character Kidz Big Weekend, created a huge buzz across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram last month as junior content creators reviewed the company’s new key lines for Autumn.

KIDfl uencers from across the nation came together for the three-day virtual extravaganza, held from 6 August to 8 August, and unboxed items including Little Live Pets, Piggly the Walking Pig and Gotta Go Turdle, Tan Tan the butt wiggling Orangutan from Jiggly Pets, Squeakee the Balloon Dino, Heroes of Goo Jit Zu’s Galaxy Attack, plus new GLO-Up Girls and more.

More than 80 videos were created highlighting the toys, while live-time social events for ChillFactor, Mash’ems, Moonshoes, GLO-Up and Squeakee Dino drove the engagement and interaction.

In addition to more than fi ve hours of YouTube content, TikTok and Instagram were the places to see shorter form content, further ramping up the views and reach of the campaign. To date over three million Instagram impressions, fi ve million TikTok views and more than two million YouTube views have been clocked up.

Countdown to DreamToys 2021 List

The Toy Retailers Association (TRA) has announced that its annual DreamToys list will be unveiled on Wednesday 3 November.

The TRA has decided to continue with the format change that was adopted in 2020, with a preview day held on Tuesday 2 November, and all information embargoed until the following morning.

Gary Grant, chair of the DreamToys committee, said: “During the height of the pandemic, the committee took the decision to restructure the annual DreamToys event to fall in line with Covid regulations and to explore the economics of the event in a diffi cult time for all businesses. After positive feedback and widescale press coverage, the committee has decided to continue with the new format, inviting journalists to a preview event in London, with coverage embargoed until the following day when we will announce the list across social media, TV and radio.”

DreamToys is an initiative designed to encourage gift-givers not to leave festive purchases to the last minute to avoid disappointment - and provides TRA members with a hook to start their own local Christmas countdown campaigns and feature toys included in the list.

The Mums Choice Awards are now open!

The Mums Choice Awards 2021 are now open for entry. Organised and published by online parenting website UKMums.TV, the awards programme is designed to give consumers an insight into what products in the market are favoured by their peers.

The Awards are split into fi ve categories including Best Toys, Best Children’s Entertainment and New Baby MustHaves. Entrants are judged by readers of UKMums.TV and the UKMums.TV team, and the results will be published on the website during the week commencing 22 November.

Winners will be featured, with a click-to-buy link, on www. ukmums.tv. Each category will have its own dedicated page, for which UKMums.TV guarantees 125,000-plus daily page impressions for 30 days from the results’ publication date. Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will receive a bespoke Awards logo free of charge, with no licensing fees.

Entries must be received by Friday 1 October. For more information or to enter the Mums Choice Awards, head to https://ukmums.tv/column/enter-the-mums-choice-awardsnow/ or email editor@ukmums.tv.

The Good Play Guide and Toymaster agree on a playful alliance

The Good Play Guide and buying group Toymaster have announced a marketing collaboration to support their mutual objectives.

As experts in child development, play and parenting, The Good Play Guide will enhance Toymaster’s commitment to its members of real value, exceptional service, and a yearround marketing programme, with a portfolio of deliverables including seasonal and developmental milestone articles and blog posts, branded pointof-sale and advertising materials for Good Play Guide recommended lines, in-store activations, and social media call-outs.

The initiative will also include activations on social media and directto-member initiatives, further raising the profi le of Toymaster locations. • Toymaster has announced that John Testori of Bambola Toymaster in St Helier, Jersey, is to be appointed to the board of directors of Toymaster as a non-executive director on 1 September. Bambola has been a Toymaster member since 1989.

Toynamics to distribute TIMIO

Toynamics UK & Ireland has been appointed as the exclusive distributor of the TIMIO educational audio and music player and the new to market TIMIO foldable kids’ headphones.

TIMIO is an interactive learning device for children aged two to six, which is designed to stimulate creativity and playful fun and help develop early childhood cognitive skills. It is 100% screen-free so requires no Wi-Fi, making it totally portable and ideal for travel, and uses magnetic discs to unlock a library of curated content on various subjects for multiple ages.

The starter set comes with fi ve discs, giving seven hours of educational content and entertainment in a choice of eight languages, so children can learn while playing. An additional four sets of fi ve discs are available separately.