How The Toniebox is helping children

The audio-player is delighting millions of children and has serious licensing potential...

The tonies

“Does everything have to flash and flicker these days?”

That was the question Patric Fassbender – Inventor and founder of tonies asked and used to create the Toniebox. There are now over 10 million Tonieboxes in bedrooms and homes around the world, and the audio system is compatible with over 60 characters released to date. The idea behind the Tonies was simple – Patric Fassbender and Marcus Stahl, creators, wanted to evolve a simple, fun system that became part of the ethos of play and storytelling. They comment: “The term ‘audio player’ contains the word ‘play’ – but where’s the playful element in the established system? With all the recent developments in digital technology, there surely must be something we can do better. So we thought: let’s just invent it ourselves! “We came up with the idea for the Tonies and the Toniebox, and we founded our company Boxine GmbH to make sure it wouldn’t just stop at being a good idea and would instead become a fantastic reality. We’re both fathers, each with two children – in fact, we got to know each other through our children, who were at the same nursery. Simply meant to be! “It simply puts a twinkle in our children’s eyes.” One step further, the Creative-Tonies mean that children can upload existing audio files via the Toniecloud at my.tonies.com or use the Tonie-App to record their very own stories, songs or messages. The simple and creative idea of the Toniebox means it is a perfect fit for intellectual property, and numerous deals have already been signed.

The tonies

‘The Famous Five: A Short Story Collection’ Tonie character figurine recently launched, bringing the nostalgic classic stories of the Famous Five by Enid Blyton back to life to ignite discovery and a passion for outdoor adventure in children. tonies also announced the launch of its new Peter & The Wolf / Carnival of the Animals Tonie. Narrated by the legendary David Bowie and recorded in 1978, this classical music Tonie will take children on a musical adventure. Introducing children to one of the greatest creations of humankind, classical music, the new Peter & The Wolf / Carnival of the Animals Tonie plays a beautiful symphonic fairy tale. Pop icon, David Bowie, tells the children’s story of Peter and the Wolf while the Philadelphia Orchestra brings it to life. A combination of music and storytelling on this double bill, that also includes Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, will delight children and parents alike. Popular new CBeebies and iPlayer show ‘Monty & Co’ will see a Monty tonie added to the line-up of preschool audio characters with a launch in the Summer of 2022. After the successful debut and consistent audience numbers of season one late last year (both in the linear space and on iPlayer, where Monty has already hit 1 million plays) new episodes are planned for production towards the back end of 2021. Liz Peters, portfolio manager at tonies is confident that Monty will make a popular figurine within its collection. Liz commented: “We are very excited to add Monty Tonie to our portfolio for 2022. He’s going to make a very popular figurine that little ones will love to pop on their Toniebox! We are looking forward to working closely with the show’s producers to create bespoke audio content for the Tonie, incorporating all that humour, fun and silliness, as well the action and songs that fans enjoy and expect from Monty & Co.”

Helping children

Helping to bring play to children undergoing serious medical treatment across the UK, tonies has gifted 500 tonies and heavily discounted Toniebox storytelling audio devices to children’s charity, Starlight. Pinky Laing, UK Partnerships at tonies comments: “Our audio storytelling devices help to engage young minds, and we feel fortunate that we can help support and inspire children who are going through a tough time with our tonies interactive audio system.”