• by Karl Greenberg , March 7, 2015

Toy brand Tonka has been helping kids get dirty since 1947. That means the brand probably has as much appeal to parents as to kids. To that end, Los Angeles-based Funrise, which has had a licensing agreement with Hasbro since 1997, has been marketing the toy truck brand to grownups as well as kids by aligning it with professional racing.

The brand, whose constituents are kids between 3 and 6 years of age, is in the second year of its Tonka Motorsports program supporting the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series, the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League, and race drivers Eric Barron, Myan Spaccarelli and Taylor Atchison. The off-road series is a West Coast circuit competition in places like Utah, Reno and Las Vegas, Nev., and Southern California, per Kathy Hawk, VP marketing at Funrise. The Pro-Pulling series is a Midwest program comprising some 52 races usually at county fairs, involving super modified, 10,000 horsepower tractors. 

The company has just hired Woodland Hills, Calif.-based marketing and communications firm JMPR to promote Tonka Motorsports activities, as well as Tonka's partnerships with Ford and Toyota,  which centers on Tonka-inspired limited-edition, and show vehicles, and, paradoxically Tonka toy versions of real Ford and Toyota trucks inspired by Tonka toys. Got that? The firm will also do earned media efforts for new Tonka products.

Hawk says the 70-year-old brand’s focus on racing makes perfect sense as a way to tout Tonka in a $60 to $70 million category. “Everyone has a Tonka story,” she tells Marketing Daily. “And races are family events.”  

In addition to racing trucks being Tonka-yellow with Tonka livery, the brand is all over the venues.

“We have a lot of branding at these races,” says Hawk, explaining that the brand's presence includes a “Tonka Fun Zone,” which she describes a something like a giant sandbox filled with Tonka vehicles of every shape, size and color, where kids can pretty much roll through imaginary construction sites, sand dunes, deserts and fields of debris, and whatever else they dream up, as kids are wont to do. The debris mention is pertinent here: Hawk says the top-selling Tonka is the garbage truck. “What vehicle do kids see every day when they look out the window? It has flashing lights, makes big noises, and has lots of moving parts.” 

The brand also does giveaways of things like sunglasses, posters and bracelets, and has a giant inflatable dump truck at races. “It's massive, and it's always visible,” she says.

As part of Tonka's relationship with Toyota, the fire safety crews at race venues drive Tonka-branded Toyota Tundra pickups. And all of the water equipment and graders at the races wear the Tonka livery. Race attendance averages about 18,000 spectators and are covered on CBS Sports, she says.

Tonka has launched a race-centric microsite at Tonka.com, offering live race stats for its teams. “You can see how drivers are doing," Hawk says. "There are also video montages of races and recaps.” 

While Hot Wheels is probably the closest thing to a competitor, it really inhabits a different area, notes Hawk, as Hot Wheels has a big involvement with the Monster Jam truck series. “One thing we found out and Lucas found out is we are not competing with anyone in that space," she says. "It's almost all aftermarket automotive brands. So for Tonka to come in and create an area for kids is really big.”