Marketers: Here to Play, Here to Stay
A Toy Industry Update
In the midst of the pandemic, children are dealing with their own battles. When each day’s schedule is isolation and online school, parents are identifying new ways to keep their children stimulated and entertained. During this time, the Toy Industry, in particular, has adapted and stretched their abilities in an attempt to meet their consumer’s growing needs.
We spoke with Brian Harrison, Senior Manager of Brand at Kids2, and Kelly Deen, SVP of Global Marketing at Jazwares, about their experience as marketing leaders during this time. A big takeaway we noticed is that there is a larger focus on experiential marketing and educational toys.
Q1 | What innovative changes are happening in the toy business? What changes made are going to remain permanent moving forward?
There is no doubt the toy industry is highly innovative. The Toy Industry is all about experiential gamifying, especially as technology continues to play a factor in children’s lives.
Since many kids are stuck at home, leaving parents to work full-time jobs and help educate their children, Harrison shared that parents are looking for solutions that assist in the development of kids’ learning. “This means parents are placing more subjective value on development-based toys, toys with grow-with-me features, multiple ways to play or multiple uses for increased longevity,” he shared.
Brands must incorporate a certain sensitivity when marketing to this consumer target, providing entertainment value while also acknowledging the dark reality some families are facing.
“For me, it's about the experience. How can we make our products, our marketing, our partnerships as experiential as possible...while not being tone-deaf to the isolation in most people's lives today?” Deen shared. “That's the challenge and permanent change...we're constantly thinking about how to make what we do more experiential and connected to emotion (happiness, excitement, thrill, surprise, nurturing).”
Q2 | What unique partnerships have you formed with companies outside of the toy industry?
“Given families are spending more time at home, we’ve focused on partnering with different digital apps that provide development tips or that give extended families ways to connect when they cannot be together,” Harrison stated.
Digital initiatives have certainly come in clutch when it comes to connecting people during the pandemic.
Some toy brands like Lego Group have partnered with Universal Music Group to launch Lego Vidiyo, a video-making app in the same vein as TikTok, but targeted towards children.
Others like Matel have leveraged digital efforts to bring the famous Barbie to life in a vlog series and a gaming app - Barbie’s Dream House Adventures. In the vlog, Barbie tackles issues like mental health and racial injustice, addressing the conversations and realities kids face today.
Q3 | What are the top trends you have noticed going into 2021 within the toy industry?
Buying new versus second-hand. Harrison shared that “due to concerns about germs, sanitation, etc., parents who previously would have bought in the second-hand market are choosing to buy new.”
Growth in ecommerce
Increase in spending to find the right product
Leveraging the gaming "metaverse" as a way to connect with fans/consumers, and tap into conversations. Fortnite does a great job with this by bringing in musical artists and famous superheroes as characters to draw fans.
Seeding meaningful content at every point of the customer journey - “An omnichannel approach is more important than ever before,” Deen noted.
Encouraging (and rewarding) genuine user-generated content. Deen referred to this as “fan-fluencer" content creation and sharing. “The ripple effect of even one fan sharing an authentic story can be incredible. Fans can see right through the standard ‘pay for play’ influencer campaigns.”
COVID may have toyed with our reality, but time and time again, marketers are showing how resilient and creative they can be in order to meet and satisfy the needs of their consumers.
According to the 2023 Setup Marketing Relationship Survey, Word-of-mouth and Referrals consistently remain the most frequent methods Clients use to find new Agency Partners.
This has been the case for the last five years of the Marketing Relationship Survey.
What does this mean for Clients + Agencies? How can they optimize their efforts with this knowledge?
In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, it might feel impossible to keep up. Staying ahead of the curb is as important as having your morning coffee – miss it, and you might find yourself dozing off at the wheel.
You can’t go anywhere without hearing people talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but it isn't just a fancy buzzword; it's critical to making sure you aren’t missing key opportunities. Elaine Fowler, Director of Market Strategy, Experience & Marketing at Sagepath Reply, shares how marketers can best optimize AI to improve their marketing strategy.
According to the Setup Marketing Relationship Survey, Clients leaned more heavily into content creation and video in 2023 than previous years by 15%. Since video content is more accessible to all types of people and is easier to consume and understand in short bursts, it makes sense that Clients would take advantage of platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. What other disciplines have been a brand priority?
Marketers graduating from college often ask me whether they should pursue client- or agency-side opportunities for their initial job out of college. I tell them that in the long term, it is always best to get experience with both, but initially, a stint on the agency-side provides more opportunities to learn about different marketing roles, industries, and experiences than the client-side.
Joe Koufman, Founder and CEO of Setup, the matchmakers bridging the gap between agencies and brands, and Andrea Striebel, the VP of Marketing for Floor & Decor, share their thoughts on agency- vs client-side careers.
In the last 10 years, Setup has conducted five Marketing Relationship Surveys, connected over 800 Brands and Agencies, conversed with well over 1000 Brand-sides marketers, and enacted 50+ Agency Assessments for Agency partners. Here’s the secret: Clients just want to have good chemistry! But how do you develop it?
To celebrate women in the marketing profession and to continue highlighting them throughout Women’s History Month, we asked women marketing leaders to contribute to our Women in Marketing Series detailing their personal triumphs, tribulations, and advice about working in the marketing industry. Part 13 features leaders from Nationwide, NAPA, Neogen Corporation, and Pratt Industries, Inc.
It may be hard to believe today, but the Nike basketball sneaker department was hanging on by a shoe lace, struggling to make any headway against Converse and Adidas in 1984.
What steps did the Nike team take to put them back on the map? And how did Michael Jordan impact that success?
Our ongoing Women in Marketing series highlights marketing leaders from different backgrounds and industries who continue to innovate and push the boundaries of their role.
This segment features the advice and journeys of leaders from CVS Health, Prudential, and more.
After surveying over 300 marketers on both the Agency and Client side, we were able to determine that there is a disconnect between why Clients fire Agencies, and why Agencies think they are fired. By pointing out this misunderstanding, both parties may be able to communicate better to salvage relationships or grow from the feedback.
Dissatisfaction with an Agency’s value is the number one reason why a Client ends an Agency relationship. But do Agencies know this?
Evan Rosenthal, Setup's Business Development Manager and resident football fanatic, shares his take on the 2024 Super Bowl ads. As a company that focuses solely on benefiting and evaluating marketers, we've seen our fair share of ads. These were our favorite.
After over 20 years in the agency marketing world, Rhonda Beckmann, the SVP, Growth of Setup, shares her advice about what it takes to work in sales. In my career, I have discovered what separates the everyday salesperson from top-tier growth talent. It's not always a strategy that can be articulated, as most are just being their authentic selves. However, these inherent qualities are what make them stand out:
At Setup, we conduct frequent Agency Assessments where we interview Client partners and Agency teams to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of our Agency partners. It really helps shine a light on why our partners are so awesome, but it also gives us insight into what Clients are prioritizing in their partnerships and what helps retain a happy and effective Staff.
We’ve noticed that brands have a habit of ghosting qualified marketing agencies. Why do they do this? What are they missing out on? How can agencies avoid being ghosted?
The American Marketing Association’s Atlanta Chapter hosted a riveting event featuring a conversation between marketing leaders from Atlanta’s major sports leagues and moderated by Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman. This blog breaks down the lessons that can apply to all marketers.
Why is Marketing always first on the chopping block when it comes to budget cuts?
Because of soft metrics that are harder to track and “fluffy” language, Marketing can be overlooked by executives who don’t understand its value and overall contribution to success.
Marketers are advocating for themselves more easily using analytics, but what other methods could CMOs, VPMs, Marketing Managers, and any Marketer in an organization use to get the C-Suite on the same page?
Throughout the years, iconic packages filled store aisles, and packaging techniques ranging from thought provoking to eye catching.
In preparation for PACK EXPO and immersing myself in the industry, I have scoured the internet looking for Packaging examples that deserve recognition because of their creativity, commentary, usefulness, and sheer awesomeness.
As marketers, it is clear that finding the right marketing agency to provide additional capacity or capability is crucial to achieving our business goals; however, the process of selecting the perfect agency can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Clients often inherit agency relationships that may no longer be the best fit or have become stale, leading them to consider a change.
When faced with this laborious task, you may ask yourself: Where to begin when looking for a new agency? Or wonder if your team is making the right decision.
Let’s explore some of the major challenges to finding a great marketing agency and how to overcome them.
In this synopsis, we will cover Bud Light’s latest missteps (with grace) and provide four takeaways on how you can appeal to new audiences without alienating old ones.
The Setup CMO Spotlight series highlights high achieving marketing executives from different industries. After over 70 interviews with leaders at brands like Papa Johns, HEINEKEN, Randstad, NCR, and more, we’ve found that, despite each leader’s individual career journey and siloed industry, many CMOs and marketing professionals share the same priorities and outlook. Here are their thoughts!
Agency leaders and marketers in general are dealing with worldwide challenges like adapting to and adopting advanced technology and social platforms, budget constraints and showcasing marketing’s ROI, and navigating data privacy changes.
The 2023 Marketing Relationship Survey revealed that Delivery and Business Development remained a key challenge for Agency-side marketing leaders in the last year.