Toy News

Children’s knowledge of TV sponsorship (unprompted)

1.    X Factor – Nokia
2.    Simpsons  - Domino’s pizza
3.    Coronation Street – Cadburys
4.    Emmerdale – Air Wick
5.    Hollyoaks – Wrigleys Extra

Children’s knowledge of TV sponsorship (prompted)

1.    Cadburys – Coronation Street  -
2.    Domino’s Pizza – The Simpsons
3.    Nokia – X Factor
4.    Air Wick – Emmerdale
5.    Wrigley’s Extra – Hollyoaks
6.    Paper Art – Art Attack
7.    Kelloggs – Saturday Morning Jungle
8.    Hasbro Fur Real – Furry Hour (Boomerang)
9.    Toyota – T4


Nearly every prime time show now has a sponsor with brand values closely associated with it. And media owners are offering toy advertisers ever more creative solutions for their TV spend, particularly on children’s satellite channels. But does it work? Maybe the secret is in the length of the association as both Cadburys and The Simpsons have had long-standing sponsorship partners. Maybe the younger age group are more receptive to it, while it tends to wash over more media weary adults. How many could you name?

Make of mobile phone owned

1.    Nokia
2.    Motorola
3.    Samsung
4.    LG
5.    Sagem

Making perfect sense of the X Factor sponsorship, Nokia is the most commonly-owned make of handset in the seven to fourteen year old age group. If you want to reach this increasingly disparate audience you need to hit them on the move.

Which network connected to?

1. O2
2. T-Mobile
3. Vodaphone
4. Orange
5. Virgin Mobile

More important than knowing the make of handset is knowing which tariff operator they are connected with. Here’s where the opportunity for push messaging comes in (although it is heavily regulated) but more prevalently messages are pushed through downloads and mobile advertising via the individual online mobile offerings accessible through each operator.

Which fast food restaurant do you use?

1.    McDonalds
2.    KFC
3.    Fish and chips shops
4.    Burger King
5.    Pizza Hut
6.    Subway
7.    Wimpy

McDonalds is, famously, the world’s biggest distributor of toys, so the fast food sector (or quick service retailing as we’re now supposed to call it) is a vital promotional outlet for toy companies. How you tap into the fish and chip shop network is another matter.

Type of licensed products bought

1.    Clothes
2.    Books and Stationery
3.    Food
4.    Toys and games
5.    Household
6.    Home entertainment
7.    Sportswear
8.    Footwear
9.    Accessories
10.    Toiletries

Quite surprising to find that toys are not number one here, but licensing touches just about every product sector, especially when you’re aged seven to fourteen.

Characters on which licensed products are based

1.    Bratz
2.    Spiderman
3.    Simpsons
4.    Tammy Girl
5.    Barbie
6.    Scooby Doo
7.    Pirates of the Caribbean
8.    Spongebob Squarepants
9.    Shrek
10.    England football team

This is a little more like it, with a toy brand at the top of tree and many of the properties here very much dominated by toy licensing programmes. Tammy Girl? Well they obviously misunderstood the question somewhat.

Posessions owned

1.    Bike
2.    Mobile phone
3.    Personal CD player
4.    Games console
5.    DVD player
6.    Computer
7.    MP3 Player/iPod
8.    Hi-Fi System
9.    Personal stereo (tape)
10.   Scooter/Micro Scooter


Important to know what kids are doing when they’re not playing with toys. It’s a familiar picture, dominated by often high-ticket electronic items which are now viewed almost as essentials for any child, underlining the stiff competition faced by the toy market.