Thursday, 11 January 2018

Practical Brief - Product Research


Cook 'n Store™ Kitchen

  • Comes in red and pink
  • On the website only girls are photographed playing with the pink one, however boys and girls are photographed playing with the red one.
  • Maybe make it multicoloured.
  • Packaging needs to be more fun and exciting.
  • Advertisements on youtube are just kids playing with it.
  • Maybe can show them cooking in the real world.
  • Be like Mum and Dad, grown up, real life play/ simulation.


Little hands were meant to cook up new creations with their imagination – the red Cook ‘n Store Kitchen will allow them to do just that!

  • Comes fully assembled
  • Compactly folds up for easy storage
  • Room to store all accessories while folded up
  • Includes oven and stove top with clicking knobs
  • Includes spinning shelves for storage
  • Comes with 32 accessories, including plates, cups, silverware, pans, cooking utensils, and play goods and spices
The Little Tikes Company, founded in 1970, is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of high-quality, innovative children's products. In November of 2006, Little Tikes became a part of MGA Entertainment. MGA Entertainment is a leader in the revolution of family entertainment.

Little Tikes'® headquarters and largest manufacturing facility are located in Hudson, Ohio. The company also has a number of locations outside the United States, including several manufacturing and distribution centers in Europe and Asia.
  • International

Little Tikes products are known for providing durable, imaginative and active fun. Products are manufactured in a wide variety of categories for young children, including infant toys, activity centres, musical toys, popular sports, play trucks, ride-on toys, sandboxes, activity gyms and outdoor play, sand and water play, climbing frames, slides, playhouses, preschool development, role-play toys, creative arts and children's furniture.

The red and yellow Cozy Coupe® Car, an international icon in toys, has been delighting children for nearly 30 years, with several millions sold since its creation.

Little Tikes' goal is to create and supply innovative products to customers and consumers around the world. To reach that goal, Little Tikes' associates' actions are guided by the principles of Customer Satisfaction, Teamwork, Innovation, Marketing and Continuous Improvement.
Little Tikes Cook N Store Kitchen
Main Features:
  • Compactly folds up for easy storage including room to store accessories while folded
  • Comes fully assembled!
  • Oven and stove with clicking knobs.
  • The Fridge, Oven, Microwave, Storage Drawer all open up providing plenty of pretend play ideas and lots of storage. Also has spinning storage shelves.
  • Includes 32 different kitchen accessories, such as food containers, cooking and eating utensils, pans, plates, cups etc.

Got too many kids toys? No space for storage of toys? Have no fear the Little Tikes Cook’n Store Kitchen is here! If you don’t have too much space or are just looking for something that is easy to put away then this play kitchen is for you.
It compactly folds up with all the accessories and stores away. It also comes fully assembled already compacted, so you don’t have to worry about messing around with putting it together like more play kitchens.
There is two version of the Little Tikes Cook’n Store Kitchen, a red version that is more gender neutral and then a pink one that’s color scheme is geared more towards girls.
Packs a Punch
This play kitchen might be small but it packs a punch with all the little features it has. The Microwave, Fridge, Oven and Storage Drawer all open up allowing your child to use their imagination with each.
The Little Tikes Cook’n Store Kitchen has plenty of storage for all the accessories it comes with and compactly folds up to a size of 11 inches wide. When expanded it’s a size of 24 inches wide. The height and depth does not change. This is defiantly great if you have limited space or just want something that is a bit more compact. Kids can learn to put this away themselves too.

In Summary the Little Tikes Cook’n Store Kitchen is a good inexpensive, basic, compact play kitchen. This has all the components of the larger kitchens but with a smaller size and compact portability. There are not a lot of frills with this play kitchen, but your child may not need all the extras.

Existing Advertising
Asda
Little Tikes Cook 'n Store Kitchen gives them all the magic and excitement of a toy play kitchen but with a design you can easily fold up and stow away into one small unit. Like all Little Tikes toys, it's full of incredible details - such as knobs that really click so that they can pretend they're using the oven, spinning shelves for them to reach all their play food with. And when it comes to accessories, this kitchen is fully stocked with over 32 pieces including toy goods and spices, plates, cups and crockery plus utensils so that they can cook up delicious meals for their friends learning about role play as they go.

Tesco

"What can your little one rustle up in the Little Tikes Cook 'n Store Kitchen? This big playset comes with 34 unique accessories for cooking up a storm. Put a pan on the stove top, click the dials and pretend to have a sizzle! There's plenty of room for storage on the spinning shelves and also a sink for washing up after a meal. Grab something extra cool from the fridge and ice dispenser or even use in a microwave for food in a hurry! The Cook 'n Store Kitchen playset is also fully assembled for fun straight out of the box. It also folds up for easy storage at the end of a hard day's cooking! Complete with salt, pepper, food and lots of kitchen utensils, budding chefs will go crazy for the Cook 'n Store Kitchen! A great gift for ages 18 months and up."


Similar Products and Advertisements

Swedish Toy Company Releases Gender-Neutral Christmas Catalog

Seeing a boy, denied of a mock kitchen set, or a girl, who won’t get a toy gun she was so excited about, still isn’t a very rare sight. TOP-TOY, the largest toy business in the Northern European market, set out to change this stereotypical toy division, created primarily by media. The company published a gender-neutral Christmas toy catalog in Sweden and Denmark. Sending a new social message is extremely important in the multiform society of nowadays, where some things are still measured by outdated stereotypes.

“We want our catalogues to reflect the way that boys and girls play in real life, and not present a stereotype image of them. If both girls and boys in Sweden like to play with a toy kitchen, then we want to reflect this pattern,” explained TOP-TOY retail marketing director Thomas Meng. As parents in various blogs note, the message is very true, since kinds of different genders in a family are usually equally excited about any new toy, regardless of what it is.

Website: top-toy.com





In our experience, girls and boys often like to play with many different toys across traditional and stereotypical gender categories. This is why we always strive to give our customers the opportunity to buy and play with the toys of their choice regardless of gender. This principle is also reflected in our marketing, where we work to portray children playing together with products across categories, both in our catalogues and when we produce other marketing material. We also make efforts to avoid stereotyping in our store design. In all BR stores and new TOYS”R”US stores, the sections are not categorised according to gender but according to product categories such as interactive play, creativity and learning, baby and toddler and so on. Although we work continuously to ensure we portray modern ways of playing without stereotyping, we acknowledge that this takes time and that things do not change overnight.




Smyths - If I were a Toy

The story documents the journey through the imagination of a charming young boy Oscar who becomes enchanted by the toy store before him. The campaign is the first piece of work from McCann Manchester since their appointment by Smyths Toys Superstores earlier this year, and uses the Beyonce hit ‘If I Were a Boy’ changing the lyrics to ‘If I Were a Toy”. The ad is bursting with the latest and greatest selection of toys which can be found in the Smyths Toys Superstore 300 page toy catalogue catalogue now available free in-store.
“We want to bring the excitement of the toy store as seen through the eyes of a child to our customers. We have the widest range of the latest and greatest toys to excite and delight kids of all ages. We have really enjoyed working collaboratively with McCanns, MPC, Outsider and also our Director Henry Littlechild to create this magical campaign and we are excited to finally reveal it to our customers.” Sinead Byrne, Joint Head of Marketing, Smyths Toys Superstores.
Commenting on the launch, McCann Manchester Managing Partner Richard Aldiss said, “The brief was simple. Create a memorable campaign that captures the imaginations of kids and parents alike, while taking the Smyths Toys Superstores brand up a gear. With the run up to Christmas, we wanted to create something truly magical, while remaining firmly focused on the commercial agenda.”

The kids’ toy advert is being praised for breaking gender stereotypes and sending a positive message to children.

The main character, called Oscar, imagines what life would be like if he was a toy for a day.
He begins by turning into a rocket and fantasises about flying through space. But it’s his wish of becoming a queen that has pleased many viewers.
Oscar dresses up in a pink dress with a crown and waves to his subjects from the castle, proving no one needs to conform to gender stereotypes.


The advert, posted on YouTube on 23 September, was viewed 300,000 times in four days.

Target

Boys are the ones who will benefit the most from gender-neutral signage in toy stores. Girls, despite facing a barrage of marketing directing them toward princesses and cooking sets, already have some incentive to cross the gender divide. In some cases,
for instance, there are social rewards for girls who reject the pink and sparkly and go for more masculine-coded toys. According to Psychology Today, tomboys who “want to differentiate themselves — to not be a ‘typical girl’ or get otherwise pigeonholed into one category” — reject the markers of “typical” femininity such as make-up and fashion. Because activities that are traditionally labeled as feminine are often undervalued in our culture, girls who reject girly toys are in fact rejecting the frivolousness and shallowness that we attribute to the typical girl.  

On the other hand, boys currently have little incentive to cross the aisle. Those who show an interest in products that are marketed to girls face intense social pressure to take up more masculine pursuits. The developmental psychologist Deborah Tolman has said that boys are more likely to be bullied for playing with dolls than girls are for playing with cars.
Target isn’t the first big retailer to eliminate the division between boys’ and girls’ toys. In 2012, Harrods, Britain’s biggest department store, announced it would organize children’s toys by themes — or example, the circus, or space — rather than by gender. While these stores’ decisions to change their signage will not immediately reverse the attitudes of an entire culture, it’s an encouraging first step. Target’s move is making it safer for little boys who wouldn’t be caught dead in the pink-goods aisle to pursue a wider range of interests.

Lego

Practical: Final Practical Brief


BA (hons) Graphic Design

Context of practice 2: Practical brief template

Name

Holly O’Connor

Brief title

Little Tikes Kitchen Campaign

Brief (outline the general aims of the project)


To produce an advertising campaign for the Little Tikes Cook ‘n’ Store Kitchen, which appeals to both boys and girls. Needs to be engaging, appropriate and versatile to appeal to both genders, with a focus on playing, imagination and fun. Also considering the roles of parents or adults in the kitchen and how this informs how the children play within it and the extent to the stereotypes surrounding that area.













Background / considerations

Little Tikes


  • Little Tikes products are known for providing durable, imaginative and active fun.
  • Products are manufactured in a wide variety of categories for young children, including infant toys, activity centres, musical toys, popular sports, play trucks, ride-on toys, sandboxes, activity gyms and outdoor play, sand and water play, climbing frames, slides, playhouses, preschool development, role-play toys, creative arts and children's furniture.

Cook 'n Store™ Kitchen


  • Comes in red and pink.
  • On the website only girls are photographed playing with the pink one, however boys and girls are photographed playing with the red one.
  • Maybe make it multicoloured.
  • Packaging needs to be more fun and exciting.
  • Advertisements on youtube are just kids playing with it.
  • Maybe can show them cooking in the real world.
  • Be like Mum and Dad, grown up, real life play/ simulation.

                
 Product/Design


  • Needs to be re-marketed to be gender neutral
  •  To be sold to both boys and girls together, without the packaging having to be plain with just photography.
  • Rather than having a pink and red kitchen, just one kitchen for all children.
  • Marketed in a more imaginative way.
  • Original packaging is quite bland, not necessarily aimed at children.







Essay/Background

-        ‘Which brings the question of to what extent can advertising and the media in general have an effect on what decisions children make about gender, the choices of what they wear and what toys they play with.’
-        ‘Children observe and imitate’ Sheehan K.
-        ‘Children’s offers are limited when there is a world that only offers blue for boys and pink for girls’ (Palmer, S)
-        "Challenging gender stereotypes can lead to creating brilliant creative advertising,” (ASA, Deceptions, Perceptions and Harm, 2017).

Considerations

-        An awareness of other existing campaigns for toys for both girls and boys.
-        In which ways can it be engaging for children and be of interest to both genders.
-        Consider the role models of children who work in this environment, parents for example and how children, both boys and girls are expected to act.
-        Consider the extent of gender neutrality.
-        Have an emphasis on play and imagination rather than gender.
-        Boys and Girls being children and what is engaging to them.
- Allows children to learn skills rather than gender stereotyping toys or games. 











Deliverables

-        Proposal for a TV advertisement.
-        Poster/billboard series selling the product.
-        Packaging of the product



Mandatory requirements (essential requirements that must be followed)


-        Focusing on a target audience of both boys and girls.
-        Focusing solely on children, the fun they can have and their imagination.
-        Boys and girls playing together.
-        Gender Neutral design.
-        Cohesive design and concept throughout the collateral.
-        Friendly, engaging and imaginative.
-        Colourful, bright and intriguing.







Research: references to reading (essay)


-        Let Toys be Toys
-        What engages children
-        Children’s advertisements
-        Little Tikes – Company Research
-        Contextual, Visual,  Target Audience Research
-        Existing Toy Campaigns
-        Toys for both boys and girls
-        David Gauntlet (Gender, Media and Identity)
-        Kim Sheehan (Contemporary Advertising)



Practical: Brief Discussion

After a discussion about the practical brief, it came to light that it needed to be changed and relate more closely to the essay and produce an advertising campaign for an existing product rather than an existing company/charity. 

Therefore the brief needs to be altered to produce a campaign for a product line, which has been made by a company and they are looking for it to be advertised/packaged to be appropriate for a wider audience of both girls and boys. 

The brief is about how you communicate who should use the product and how to make it interesting and engaging to both genders. 

When researching and developing ideas, a number of approaches need to be looked at, both gendered and gender neutral designs so that each can be evaluated appropriately.

Products that can be advertised to both genders, such as tea sets, kitchen, cutlery food and drink which would appeal to ll children and is an everyday thing within their lives. This means also family and parent structures can be looked at and how these can determine children's views and the campaign itself.