How the UK toy industry's event of the year was covered by the press.
This year's Toy Fair enjoyed plenty of coverage across TV, print, online and on the radio.
“The media interest in Toy Fair has once again been huge,” said Majen Immink, communications manager at the BTHA.
“BBC Breakfast running five separate interviews before the doors had opened set the tone for an exciting event for all involved. The show proved to be fantastic exposure for the industry and our exhibitors national press and radio covering the show over the three days.”
Find out what you missed in our comprehensive media round-up...
TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, who attended the event to promote Tomy’s Raa Raa the Nosiy Lion toy range, featured Toy Fair on her mid-morning show, Lorraine. Money saving expert Martin Lewis gave cost-cutting tips on location at Olympia - watch it below.
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The first day of Toy Fair was also the subject of a feature on BBC Breakfast.
The Times gave the return of Subbuteo substantial coverage, focusing on the nostalgia and business behind the retro table football game’s relaunch. Free London rag Metro had a picture story highlighting the role ex-footballer John Barnes played in the launch.
The Evening Standard recognised the wealth of technologically advanced toys on show and looked forward an ‘Appy Christmas’ in 2012. The coverage included a picture of InspirationWorks’ kids tablet, Kurio.
The Daily Mail chose to focus on old news, covering the negative PR surrounding Lego Friends and the new pink Duplo brick.
Subbuteo’s comeback headed up The Sun’s coverage, with Paul Lamond's Peter Rooke championing the famous table football brand’s family appeal and “nostalgia factor.”
The Guardian highlighted five top products on its website, leading with Mechatars, an R/C robot which links to an online strategy battler featuring the toys. The blog post also included ToyNews’ video coverage of Cheatwell Games’ stop-motion Animate It! featuring Morph.
Olympic and outdoor toys were discussed on the BBC’s site in an article which involved products from Hornby, Golden Bear and Playmobil.
Reuters and MSN ran stories on the array of app-based and techy toys at Olympia.
Paul Lamond's Subbuteo launch event with John Barnes attracted plenty of press coverage.
Elsewhere online, UK tech outlets took a shine to the R/C R2-D2, who was a constant fixture up on the gallery. Click here to see Bladez’ prototype in action on Pocketlint.
Wired’s parent blog Geekdad gave the event a thorough going over, compiling a list of ten eye-catching exhibits. Lego’s 2012 range, Bandai’s augmented reality packaging and apptoyz busy stand were included in the write-up.
Intentmedia’s MCV reported on video games industry speculation that Lego: The Hobbit Minifigures, which were revealed at Olympia, could offer details on a forthcoming video game from the toy maker.
MCV also noted that the UK toy business is outperforming the video games industry at retail. According to NPD data released at the show, toys generated sales of £2.96 billion last year versus £2.52 billion made by video games.
You can view all of ToyNews’ extensive online coverage by visiting our Toy Fair 2012 category located here.
The show also recieved a decent amount of radio coverage, including features and interviews with suppliers on LBC, Sky News and on BBC stations.
