The Toy Association says the virtual opportunities it provides are not temporary fixes, but powerful tools to help companies in their mixed marketing efforts.

Steve Pasierb

As the Toy Fair Everywhere digital marketplace opens for business, President and CEO of the US Toy Association, Steve Pasierb, issued the following statement:

“From Toy Fair Everywhere to retailer previews – the Toy Association delivers value in the absence of live events. The US Toy Association board and staff quickly pivoted multiple times in 2020, harnessing a multi-year investment in technology to provide products and services responding to the global toy community’s immediate needs.

Leveraging our strategic business model of continual sense-interpret-decide-act, our team will stay ahead of the toy and play landscape and the many uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, finding new ways to be useful and deliver value to all. It is essential that we remain keyed into what is possible by concentrating on pioneering digital business offerings as well as bringing the industry back together for Toy Fair Dallas 2021 (October 5th-7th) and Toy Fair New York (February 19th-22nd, 2022).

First, our Toy Fair Everywhere digital marketplace opened for year-round business on Saturday, February 13th (on what would have been the opening day of Toy Fair New York 2021). Toy Fair Everywhere digital market weeks held throughout 2020 successfully helped toy businesses forge ahead amid the pandemic, proving the global potential of the platform for doing business despite travel restrictions and different time zones. We are thrilled to announce the digital B2B marketplace will further establish its position as the toy industry’s first and only year-round platform, making new business opportunities possible every day.

The Toy Association team will also continue to collaborate with prospective retailers on virtual Retailer Private Previews. Last year, these previews created new avenues for more than 450 toymakers to get their products on shelves for the first time at Target, Toys R Us Canada, Spencer’s, Family Dollar and Urban Outfitters, among several others. Already this year, we’ve completed a Private Preview with Claire’s, and another is scheduled with Aldi buyers for March 11th. Several more are in the pipeline as we continue to expand on this customized buyer-seller initiative.

Our commitment is to help drive businesses forward during the pandemic; while the virtual opportunities we are providing are not just “temporary fixes” that will disappear when life returns to normal. They are powerful tools on their own that will help companies in their mixed marketing efforts in 2021, 2022 and beyond, as we also reimagine the future of trade shows.

We are looking forward to reconnecting with everyone in person at Toy Fair Dallas this October, which we expect will become an even stronger magnet for the toy, games and play community following the long absence of live shows. We are building on what we already know, with the feedback and support of industry leaders, to deliver the Toy Fair New York in February 2022 that the evolving industry wants, needs and misses.

In the meantime, we look forward to connecting virtually with you all over the next few months as we help make the connections you need to advance your businesses.”