The Care Bears. The Cabbage Patch Kids. Teddy Ruxpin. For children
of the '80s, they were toy-store celebrities who forced parents to
queue up at dawn or fight for products in aisles across America.
Now, BackPack Toys is hoping that Ruxpin, like the Bears and Kids
before him, can ride a wave of nostalgia into the toy bins of a new
generation. And independent The Ad Store—the shop that caused a stir
with its GoDaddy.com Super Bowl spot— is charged with helping him
get there.
The Ad Store's two-pronged attack will use print ads to lure adults
and TV to target children. The agency, which won the business
without a review, is still developing creative concepts, said
managing partner Tim Arnold. First work is expected to break in
August.
Ruxpin has enjoyed swift trading on eBay, and 85 percent of adults
who owned the toy as kids still recognize the brand, Arnold
said. "We are definitely going to target parents who will remember
Teddy from their childhoods, as well as grandparents who remember
giving Teddy to their children," said Helen Hames, BackPack Toys
director of marketing and corporate relations.
A budget for the effort has not been determined, Hames said.
Ruxpin, which debuted as a Worlds Of Wonder toy in 1985, is due to
relaunch in September— most notably in 2,000 Target stores.
MP3 cartridges have replaced his original cassette tapes, but Teddy
Ruxpin's animatronic eyes and mouth will move in trademark fashion
as he narrates a series of stories about the land of Grundo.
Arnold said Ruxpin shows the "wonderful other end of the Richter
scale" from the controversial SuperBowl spot, which only aired once
before being pulled by Fox.