America’s biggest toy fair is run by the Toy Industry Association (TIA) and it takes place every February in Manhattan. This year the fair is due to run between February 18-21 at the Javits Center. In honor of this event, an industry favored marketing services firm known as ChizComm has launched their second annual Toy Fair Contest, #PledgeChizComm, and are actively seeking entries from toy and/or game companies. The entries should feature a photo or video—preferably humorous—of their office and/or employees via social media such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.
The winner will receive one month of free marketing services courtesy of ChizComm. The contest deadline is March 24, 2017.
Contest
According to ChizComm Founder and CEO, Harold Chizick, there are two primary reasons why they started the contest: It’s fun and they love doing it. ChizComm provides marketing strategy and execution with a unique spin, generally focusing on fun and games which is absolutely suited to the toy industry that is the company’s primary business grounds. Last year marked the debut of the contest which proved to be very disruptive—in a positive way—to the toy industry since the aim of the contest was to reward companies for producing fun and zany media. “Whether people saw advertisements in ToyBook, or our video on YouTube, or heard about it through word of mouth, people were shocked,” Harold said.
“Once people got over the shock, we had companies that entered the contest but I think the response was more about people’s impression and excitement for what we were doing. We had multiple wonderful entries and ended up with a fantastic partner for the remainder of 2016 with Bearington Collections who make Whiffer Sniffers.
They won with a great video that featured one of their plush characters dancing around. Essentially, the launch was very positive and people loved the idea of the contest. It created a lot of excitement, but most of all WE had fun doing it.” Hence, the contest is gearing up to be an annual event.
Content
In the past year alone ChizComm—which was established in 2013—has grown exponentially.
They presently represent approximately thirty clients and are actively seeking to expand their portfolio. Although they still favor the niche markets of companies that represent toys and games, entertainment, and youth products, they have diversified their categories and now also cover companies that cater to the food, tech, textiles, electronics, sports, beauty, and health and wellness services. “Over the next 36 months we are hoping to double in size and will be opening our west coast US office,” Harold stated. Through the contests, ChizComm hopes to raise awareness of their services. “We want to give an opportunity for people to see our personality and the personality of our team,” Harold explained.
“Ultimately, we want to select somebody who we match personalities with and reward them with a test drive of working with ChizComm. Contest winners will be chosen based on their passion, commitment, and creativity. If they send us an entry that makes us laugh or smile, then they have a good chance of being selected.”
