Leading kids digital advertising company partners with Australian Toy Fair
TotallyAwesome, kids’ online data privacy and digital advertising experts, partners with the Australian Toy Association (ATA) as a major sponsor of the annual Australian Toy, Hobby and Licensing Fair 2020.
The annual Australian Toy Fair, which is recognised as the main industry event for the southern hemisphere, following similar events in New York, Nuremberg, and Hong Kong, has been responsible for showcasing the latest childrens entertainment and lifestyle products to buyers and retailers since 1965.
The collaboration between the ATA and TotallyAwesome comes at a time of unprecedented change for kids in Australia; not only across their behaviours and influence, but also due to digital legislations. The Australian Government and their relevant agencies are attempting to update and reform the Online Safety Act, which we support and recommended similar kids data privacy laws such as Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) or General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Every day more than 175,000 kids go online for the first time internationally. We estimate more than 1,000 kids go online in Australia for the first time everyday. Each of these new Internet users becomes a profile in a database (or many databases) against whom more data is collected every day. Research published in 2017 estimates that by the time a child reaches the age of 12, more than 72 million points of data have been collected about them. These profiles are then used to target advertisements and product recommendations, tailor services, and increasingly lead to automated decisions about them that can have a life-changing impact; affect a credit score, school admission or job eligibility.
An exponential shift in children’s decision making and influence can also be linked to the growing presence of children’s usage behaviours online. According to SuperAwesome’s Kids Digital Media Report 2019, 40% of new internet users in 2018 were under the age of 15, making them the fastest growing online audience segment. The partnership highlights that children are the future of this industry, hence why brands need to be educated and in touch with what it means to be kidsafe and compliant.
“Kids are spending a lot more time online and it’s important for TotallyAwesome to ensure brands are reaching this global audience in a safe and engaging way,” said TotallyAwesome’s Chief Strategy Officer and Country Director, ANZ, Jeremy Carr.
“We are now seeing that kids have greater brand awareness than ever before and are an important voice of influence in family purchase decisions.
“We naturally expect this across the toy and entertainment industry, however this extends to non-traditional categories such as clothing, technology, holiday destinations, and many other areas that some may find surprising,” said Mr Carr.
The Australian Toy Association president, Jonathan Zimbler said:
“The ATA are very conscious of safety statistics in relation to children’s use of the internet and the importance of data-privacy requirements when marketing to them digitally. We are very happy to partner with an organisation who are aware of how to reach and engage with children effectively and safely in this digital age.”
Kidaware is the industry’s digital marketing certification program delivered by TotallyAwesome. Education, training, practical advice and resources for kids’ digital marketing professionals include:
- Briefing on COPPA, GDPR and the latest data privacy regulations and initiatives governing kids data protection
- Advice on kids marketing campaigns across all platforms for adherence to rules and best practice
- Frameworks to evaluate partners, suppliers and technology providers for compliance
About Australian Toy Association
The Australian Toy Association (ATA) is the trade association working for toys, hobbies, infant products, video & electronic games and licensing. ATA has a major role in delivering information and services that extend the performance of its industry sectors as they serve the changing needs of the consumer – at an individual level, a national level and as a global industry.
