Playing to the World: Nuremberg Intl. Toy Fair
GDA Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 1/12/2011 6:02:31 AM
SPIELWARENMESSE INTERNATIONAL TOY FAIR will welcome the world's toy manufacturers, retail buyers, licensing agents and sales representatives to Nuremberg, Germany, February 3-8, 2011. The fair is one of the world's major platforms focused on the world of play and is known as a place for discovering innovative toys and trends in toy directions.
TOYAWARD 2011
The fair will present its annual Toy- Awards recognizing high quality new toys, but with some innovations, including a new logo. This year, Spielwarenmesse has improved the new product award and will reduce the number of categories from the previous eight to five: Baby, PreSchool, SchoolKids, Teenager & Family and an annually changing SpecialAward. This year the SpecialAward will recognize Green- Toys, toys that particularly stand out for sustainability during manufacture or promote children's environmental awareness.
There will also be a two-stage judging - a preliminary judging and main judging - process to winnow down the number of entries. Toys are judged on the basis of play fun, creativity and comprehensibility of the product concept, toy safety and material properties. The main judging process will narrow down the entries to three finalists with the winner in each category being announced during the opening ceremony of the fair. During the fair, attendees have the opportunity to vote for the final top toy award out of the five award winners. The main winner, which receives a prize of approximately $27,000, will be announced at the end of the fair. All ToyAward winners receive marketing and promotion support throughout the year.
For more information, visit www.toyfair.de. To help plan your visit: www.toyfair.de/onlinecatalogue.
TOY TRENDS
SEVERAL TOY TRENDS THAT HAVE COME TO THE FORE AND SEEM TO BE ON THE RISE FOR 2011, ACCORDING TO SPIELWARENMESSE ARE:
TOYS GO ONLINE:
More toy manufacturers are taking advantage of and using the Internet to create a platform for communities with access via real toys or as a medium to convey additional product information, such as to explain the rules of board games.
TOYS GO GREEN:
Sustainability is a big issue for the toy industry and the trend to "eco-correct toys" is gathering steam. More manufacturers are using renewable raw materials, such as natural rubber or bamboo, and completely new bioplastics for the manufacture of toys, as well as promoting environmental awareness through play. Green toys will be a prominent focus at the upcoming fair and will be spotlighted by a special award at this year's updated annual ToyAward.
TOYS GO HIGH-TECH:
Moores Law, which says that the performance of integrated circuits doubles every two years, could certainly also be applied to the toy industry, although with some exceptions. The new "electronic intelligence" produces increasingly powerful toys.
TOYS GO CUSTOM-MADE:
Children become heroes themselves in personalized children's books or design soft animals based on their own imagination.
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