TAMAGOTCHI
TEACHER FEATURE
While the return of Tamagotchi is likely to be cheered by adults engulfed by nostalgia, and kids looking forward to the new experience, there is one demographic likely to greet the return with a heavy sigh: school teachers. Schools banned the original wave after kids took their
virtual pets to lessons to continue
looking after them. But Tamagotchi
TOY FIRMS are always looking to launch the next big playground craze. Whether focusing on collectability, cuteness or pocket money price points, the secret to cracking the playground is toy trade gold dust.
One firm that knows the secret to playground popularity all too well is Bandai, which kick started a craze in the late Nineties with the virtual pet toy, Tamagotchi. Loved by kids, hated
by teachers, the egg first hatched in Japan back in 1996. “Tamagotchi was
launched in Japan on 23rd November 1996 and roughly translated, Tamagotchi means cute little egg,” Bandai
marketing director Darrell Jones tells ToyNews. “The egg shaped
device with a LCD screen was the first time that consumers had the chance to look after a virtual or digital pet.
“Tamagotchi was launched in the UK in May 1997 and became an overnight phenomenon.” And Bandai found that
Tamagotchi was a phenomenon that didn’t slow down.
When we launched Tamagotchi, nobody had ever seen anything like it before, and everybody wanted one. Darrell Jones, Bandai
“After it hatched from
an egg you would need to feed it, play games, clean its mess and depending on how you cared for it, it would develop into a number of different Tamagotchi characters. If you mistreated it, it would die.
To date, almost 80
million units have been sold around the world and in the UK it remained the number one selling toy in the total market for three years on the trot in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
When first pushing Tamagotchi, Bandai decided upon a weird and wonderful PR strategy; and it worked. Jones tells ToyNews: “It was driven purely by PR. We did a launch event at the first sushi restaurant with a conveyer belt, followed by a first shipment being delivered to Toys R US in Brent Cross by Sumo Wrestlers. “When we launched
Tamagotchi, nobody had ever seen anything like it
TAMAGOTCHI FRIENDS
17 years since Tamagotchi first hatched, the brand is back in the form of Tamagotchi Friends. Remaining true to what helped the original become a toy titan, Friends adds some new technology to keep the brand as current as possible. “The Tamagotchi play pattern remains the same now as it did 17 years ago – it's all about nurturing and sharing with
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your best friends,” says Darrell Jones, Bandai marketing director. He adds: “Now it's
more fun using the new ‘bump’ feature via the short range communication technology we have incorporated for the launch of Tamagotchi Friends. “We’re already working
on several innovations so watch this space. There are a lot of
characters in the world of Tamagotchi so we have plenty of scope.” And the original
Tamagotchi has survived, in app form. “The classic retro
Tamagotchi is already available as a separate app,” adds Jones. “Tamagotchi Friends
will interact with the new Dream Town, a world which can be accessed at
tamagotchifriends.com.”
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Friends includes a feature set to calm the concerns of teachers across the UK. Jones says: “When kids started taking them to school, they were banned. “Nowadays it has a pause function so children can leave them at home if they so wish, but I’m sure more than a few kids will be smuggling them into class.”
before – everybody wanted one – kids and adults alike.” This appeal is something Bandai hopes to replicate with Tamagotchi Friends.
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