Tie-ins lure children to pester for toys
It is no surprise that every year there are always a few toys that take on the title of the most wanted toys for Christmas right up there with the Tickle Me Elmo’s of the past. However, the larger question outside of what these toys will be each year is how they end up to be the biggest thing since Furbys.
Are these top toys actually any cooler or better than other toys, or are they simply the products of the best marketing?
Marketing campaigns for toys start as soon as they hit the market, but become the largest in the two months leading up to Christmas when television ads during children’s programming really start to take off in an attempt to hook children rather than their parents.
Among the tools in a professional marketer’s bag of tricks are bright colours, brand names, cool characters, and fun music. Although the advertisers know that children are not heading out to the stores to buy their items, they are hoping that the children will want the toys badly enough to pester their parents until they get them.
Advertisers are now taking a slightly different turn while promoting their toys switching to integrated marketing campaigns that include television ads but focus heavily on tie-ins with comic books and films, so that children see the characters and hence the toys everywhere they go.
Of course, the intent is to make sure that the parents see them also so that it becomes unavoidable that the toys will get snatched up by frenzied consumers.
Tags: Furbys, Tickle Me Elmo