IF YOU’RE NOT CREATIVE IN THE TOY INDUSTRY GET READY TO BE EATEN ALIVE!
Toy Marketing is tough under any circumstances. Fortunately, the veteran toy industry professionals who founded Whatnot Toys were responsible for bringing to market some of the biggest toys ever (Tickle Me Elmo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… you get the picture.)
Brands like the Zomlings were confined to Europe but the Whatnot Team knew that the U.S. was ready for another zombie invasion and it was – Zomlings was a significant toy launch right out of the gates!
PROMOTE TO THE TRADE
Regardless of your product category, getting retailer buy-in is critical. One of Grey Matter’s playbook essentials is to use e-mail marketing to let buyers and other key decision makers know about your products.
In the case of Whatnot, e-mail campaigns to our lists of highly targeted buyers and influencers produced the desired outcome – Inquiries that turned into sales!
CRUSH’N IT AT TOY FAIR!
News of the demise of trade shows are greatly exaggerated. At least they are for Toy Fair. Every year, tens of thousands of toy executives and consumer influencers descend on New York and Dallas to see what it being produced in the world’s fun factories.
Grey Matter was responsible for Whatnot’s show presence including booth graphics, promotion and influencer meetings. It’s a very circular process. Social media influencers need brands to create the YouTube videos and Instagram content that their fans crave and brands need to be able to show these influencers that they are worthy of their investment in time. For us, this is child’s play.
TOYS AND SOCIAL MEDIA – A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
Toys and children’s playthings were made for social media. The key is getting the influencers on board with your brand.
Grey Matter has a trusted relationship with hundreds of high-profile social media influencers. We work with these enormously talented content creators and set them up with products from our clients. The rest is up to them but they always deliver!
FOR KIDS, YOUTUBE IS THE NUMBER 1 DESTINATION!
As the viewership for cable TV crashes for all age groups the changes have been especially profound for kids. Abetted by their parents, children are leaving conventional TV behind and flocking to YouTube. Smart marketers who want their brands to survive (and thrive) are moving to YouTube to showcase their products and services.
Grey Matter works with a large number of YouTube channels and can place products with both paid and unpaid influencers. In this example, Whatnot worked with Ryan, who is one of the top YouTubers. Sure, Ryan charges for his videos but where are you going to get these viewcounts? Certainly not TV!
MAKING TOYS COLLECTIBLE DELIVERS 2X THE AUDIENCE
Another key ingredient to Whatnot Toys success is that their products and not only fun but they are collectible too. This delivers audiences of kids and adults who’ve “gotta get ’em all”. We have a lot of experience with collectibles marketing from our days at Mattel Toys and their highly collectible Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars and Barbies.
At Grey Matter, we can be a little geeky at times, but with toy marketing it’s all in good fun!
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