• by Ken Liebeskind , August 12, 2002

Funrise Toy Corp., whose products include Tonka Trucks and GI Joe vehicles, is bringing two new toys to the market and the company has chosen to promote them online with its first consumer oriented websites.

"For the past three to four years our website was b to b, but these lines are directed to the consumer," says Ryan Logan, Funrise's senior VP of sales and marketing.

In fact, the toys themselves are being sold directly to kids, not to their parents.

The company will sell Penny Racers retro-styled dragsters for young boys and Sassy Stables talking toy horses for young girls directly to kids with an advertising campaign that features TV spots on the Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and other children's channels. It will also sell book covers to schoolchildren in markets near Target and Toys R Us stores. And it will invite kids to the websites, www.pennyracers.com and www.sassystables.com, where they can get more out of their toys and interact with the company.

The sites were developed by The Content Project, an interactive agency. Lauren Kay, the agency’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, says the sites feature a variety of content children will enjoy, such as the garage builder at the Penny Racers site that lets kids build their own penny racers and an artist's corner at the Sassy Stables site that prints out stationery with horses on it. The sites also include vivid sound effects, such as engine sounds at Penny Racers.

The sites went live last week, in conjunction with the PennyRacer TV campaign. TV spots for Sassy Stables start in October, Logan says.

The sites aren't aimed at selling the toys but are geared to consumers after purchase. When asked what value that would have for the company, Logan said it will ask questions on the site and receive feedback, "which will give us information about the business going forward."

The websites are part of a multi media campaign to introduce the toys. Sassy Stables is a new toy and Penny Racers is being relaunched. It's also the first time the company has marketed toys directly to kids. Tonka Trucks, for instance, are sold to parents, because it's a brand they're familiar with. "These products are different," Logan says. "Educational preschool and other toys are marketed to parents, but for these the kids see it and want to go buy it."