This year’s show saw over 90 brands and retailers showcasing their hero products for Christmas, of which 21 were from the toy industry.

Kicking off the ‘most wonderful time of the year’, The Big Christmas Press Show, hosted by CIJ Group in September at the Business Design Centre, had over 90+ brands and retailers in attendance, showcasing their hero products for Christmas over the two days.

Representing KAP Toys at the show, Nathaniel Southworth commented: “Christmas has a new kick off event; The Big Christmas Press Show starts our countdown to Christmas.”

PR stalwart Playtime PR took an impressive 11 stands representing Schleich, Toynamics, Moose, Bandai, Casdon and more. Lesley Singleton, founder and head of play at Playtime PR said: “The Big Christmas Press Show is a key element in our Christmas gift guide outreach plans for our clients, the perfect opportunity to let journalists and influencers get hands-on with hero toys for the festive season. The event is slick and well organised, and professionally-run by the CIJ team who are always on-hand for any request my team might have. The calibre of media attendees remains incredibly high, making the show a really valuable date in our team’s calendar – enabling them to build their journalist relationships even more.”

The organisers reported that average dwell time at the show was two hours 30 minutes and, on average, brands met 228 media over the two days, with bigger retailers meeting 475 media attendees.

Courtney Rogers, founder of CIJ Group added: “The top toys and products for Christmas this year are just outstanding and many have been a product of lockdown inspiration.The toy category was very well represented at the show, and we even had a few famous faces that have created their own line of toys, such as BBC Radio DJ Matt Edmondson, who created a new range of board games under Format Games.”

Matt Edmondson attended the event to represent his company Format Games, one of Playtime PR’s many clients.

The overall mood at the show was one of merriment and joy to be back. Pinky Laing of Tonies UK said: “It was such a pleasure to finally be at an event again and meet press and influencers face to face after such a long hiatus because of the pandemic. We met excellent journalists and influencers (many we had previously worked with) and were very proud to be part of such a brilliant PR show.”

Looking ahead to next year, brands including Ravensburger and Playtime PR have already rebooked for The Big Christmas Press Show – and upgraded their stand space. Courtney said: “We’re delighted with the uptake in rebookings, toys are at the heart of Christmas and we hope it is a fruitful golden quarter ahead for the industry.”

For more information, visit www.cijgroup.co or www.pressfix.co.