UK toymaker Vivid to launch educational pre-school line
Vivid Imaginations, the UK’s third-biggest toy manufacturer, is entering the pre-school market through a licensing agreement with US educational toy maker Neurosmith. A TV and press advertising campaign will back the launch of the pre-school range next year.
Vivid holds the licence for brands such as Spider-Man, Sindy and Thunderbirds in the UK. It will launch the developmental pre-school line at Toy Fair 2003 in January, but the range won’t be available until July or August next year. Chris Jones, marketing manager for Vivid’s distributed brands, will be responsible for marketing the pre-school range.
Neurosmith’s product range differs from conventional pre-school toys by offering creative ways children can learn through music. For example, unlike conventional toys, which tend to be keyboard-based, Neurosmith’s leading product in the US, Musini, picks up vibrations from the floor and responds by playing music that matches the child’s movements.
Other toys in the range include Phonics-To-Go, which allows children to build up words phonetically, and an interactive alphabet ball called Jumbo Music Ball.
Vivid chief executive Nick Austin says: “One of Neurosmith’s big innovations is using classical music because it has found that children respond better to that than ‘plinky plonky’ music.”
Focus On Kids is creating the press campaign in the UK, but Neurosmith is handling the TV creative work. Media buying will be handled by MediaVest Manchester.
