viewpoint PETER
JENKINSON
toyology.co.uk
Whilst I love Christmas in July, the toy lists deriving from such events are just too early.
During my early years as a tabloid journalist an editor told me: “We love lists, they’re bloody great page fillers, guaranteed to get folk talking and about the easiest content to compile”. I wrote a fair few in those early days, one of
my personal favourites was a list of 007 gadgets followed by 80’s film technology that still hadn’t been invented (think Marty McFly’s self-tying trainers from Back to the Future). Are lists a British institution? We’re not talking shopping lists or To-Do lists, or those more specific odd job / weekend chore lists that are thrust under the nose just before a sporting event is about to air, no, these can be found further afield. It’s more specifically Fantastic Fives, Esteemed Eight’s, Top Tens and Dream Dozen’s, actually it’s even more
specific than I first thought, it’s just that the land of toys is fixated at this time of year (and much earlier in some cases) with lists. It’s wildly important that toys are talked about and under the consumers noses as much as possible during this important quarter but with a seemingly endless release of lists do we risk devaluing them in the media? Which list is the most relevant for print purposes: One chosen by the toy buying team or marketing department of a large retailer? So far this year these have had a modicum of crossover together with wild aberrations! Compiling a list from all the independent retailers as Toyshopuk did lately offered up some eclectic results, by their own admission “a bit scruffy around the edges” – Less than a third replicated on ANY large multiples list. Then there are the awards based lists, am I right
to feel a tad dubious about these? All accolades in business are worth having - yes, gives you something to shout about, make some extra PR noise when you’ve been victorious but, these are pay-to-enter events and so by their nature the furthest from the nirvana of a truly independent award. Hold your fire, I’ve no problem with any of it, I used to write lists for readerships of over two million, who was I to say which the best were in any particular genre? Well, it’s because I worked for a relatively well trusted brand and so people listened. Can you please put down your peashooters now? Whilst I love Christmas in July (the original
one) and a handful of the others that offer up seasonal treats from the retailers (M&S mince pies and ASDA cheeses my favourite mid-summer memories) the toy lists deriving from those, are just too early. It’s fine to offer a load of toys up in a big room to the gathered journalists with a “what’s hot for Christmas” sign at the entrance and let the scribes loose but Top Ten’s in June should be largely lambasted. Keep them all however for an office sweepstake that runs until the NPD data for Christmas is released. Take the mean, median and mode and try to
correlate the early lists the best you can, winner is the one who has the most on their selected list and doesn’t have to play again next year. Which list will prevail this Yule? Must be the one released closest to the start of the seasonal shopping spree surely? The winning lists are the ones getting sent to the North Pole in a few weeks that have been influenced in some way by us all these past months and coming weeks through online, TV or in print so, let us all hope to reap the rewards. The ONLY list you can worry about now is if
you’re on the one that the big man has at HQ that says whether you’ve been good or bad.
• Peter Jenkinson is founder toy geek on: www
online resource for new latest toys.
, owner and number one
.toyology.co.uk - the UK’s essential , reviews and opinions on the
calling for a ban on TV advertising to children . The scary thing is because it is UNICEF, which
Simon
Poole Simpool Solutions Ltd
There is no evidence that banning children’s TV ads will have any effect.
I was once again saddened , but not surprised , to see yet another spurious piece of research
44 Toyworld
is quite rightly a very trusted brand, people and possibly government, will believe that banning advertising to kids will change how kids behave, despite the fact that there is absolutely no empirical evidence to prove that it would, merely a suggestion that it might because other countries have done it. Fortunately the recent Bailey Review,
commissioned by the government, reporting on the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood calls for no such ban and Bailey makes it clear by saying:
“It may be that there will be those who argue
that greater regulation and legislation is needed to deal with the issues raised. In my view, that
would further disempower parents from taking the responsibility for their children upon themselves.” It does, however, ask that advertisers take more
account of what parents would find acceptable when advertising to their kids and if this has not happened, that legislation may have to be used. A blanket ban on advertising to kids would be far
and away the easiest thing for a government to do and would have the most political impact, despite there being no proof that it would have any effect. You must, as an advertiser, get to grips with this
report. Get your agency / advisor to study it, work with it and avoid that ban!
Simon Poole left his sales and marketing role at GMTV to set up his consultancy business, Simpool Solutions. Email him at:
simon@simpoolsolutions.com
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