toysmart.com Takes "Good Toys" on Tour

Good toys can be hard to find. You know - the ones you remember playing with as a child: Lincoln Logs. Jack-in-the-box. Sturdy wooden train sets. Madeline dolls. Alphabet blocks. High-quality, creative, durable, open-ended toys that really sparked your imagination.

These days, the toys that dominate holiday season commercials are largely fad-driven. Many carry an undertone of violence. Children may clamor for them - a testament to the effectiveness of targeted advertising and peer influence but parents know there must be a better choice out there somewhere. But where?

One place to look for good toys is at Waltham, Massachusetts-based toysmart.com. The toys promoted by this new online retailer are designed to stimulate the imagination of children and help educate through play. Just as importantly, they're fun.

Introducing toysmart.com to America

In October and November 1999, toysmart.com took its philosophy (and five truckloads of toys) on the road, visiting 22 cities across the United States. In each city, the "Good Toy Tour" participated in community events such as Harvest Festivals and Santa Parades. The brightly colored trucks also went to daycare centers, gymnastics classes - anywhere they could count on finding parents and children together. Compaq was the technology partner for the tour.

According to Jeff Hild, marketing manager for toysmart.com, the trucks were real attention-getters. "On the outside, they were decorated with pictures of toys and images of children," he said. "The inside of each truck was decked out like the 'corner toy store' of old, with hundreds of toys for visitors to touch and feel."

Under an awning by the exit, computer kiosks were set up so visitors could check out the toysmart.com Web site, register for future online purchases, and participate in a sweepstakes. At the heart of each kiosk were three laptop computers - compliments of Compaq.

"Good Toy Day" in Massachusetts

In addition to festivals and parades, the toysmart.com trucks visited United Way "Success by Six" affiliates and donated $2,000 worth of toys in each city. AnneMarie Mathews, account manager at PAN Communications (which handles PR for toysmart.com), attended the Boston ceremony at Faneuil Hall. "It really was incredible," she commented. "We brought kids from one of the facilities that was going to benefit from the toys. Just to see their amazement and wonder was a great experience - they were inside a toy wonderland."

Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift also attended the ceremony and declared it "Good Toy Day" in Massachusetts. Fortunately, the ceremony was short. The excited children had been given kazoos, and they played them enthusiastically throughout the presentation.

Mathews noted that Compaq's support of the tour was crucial. "Compaq supplied us with the computers that visitors used to register," she said. "One reason for doing the tour was to make people aware of toysmart.com and get them to sign up, so they'd use the site for future online shopping. Having the computers right outside each truck was essential to this effort."

Good Toys Make Good Business

Asked how the Good Toy Tour influenced sales, toysmart.com's Hild reported that the results are still being analyzed. "The anecdotal evidence has been very, very positive," he declared. "We look forward to mining through the data to see what the specific impact was. It's definitely something that we're pleased with."

Visitors to the toysmart.com trucks were pleased, too. Parents and grandparents commented, "You've just done all my Christmas shopping for me." One mother said, "I can't decide who's enjoying this more, my son or my husband." And the first words out of two-year-old Danny Howes' mouth when he got home from toddler gymnastics was an excited: "Big truck today, Dad!"

No surprise to Dad - he happens to be Dave Howes, the Compaq account executive for toysmart.com. "It's a fun account to go to," he remarked. "People bring their kids to work. Toys are literally filling up the cubes and offices. They play with all the toys before they put them up on the site."

Is there a child's birthday coming up at your house? The perfect gift could be waiting at www.toysmart.com.

Technology Provided by Compaq It was no accident that Compaq computers were selected to accompany the Good Toy Tour. All desktop PCs at toysmart.com are from Compaq. The online retailer relies on industry-standard Compaq ProLiant™ servers to run its Web site, e-mail, and other core infrastructure applications. All storage products at toysmart.com are from Compaq StorageWorks. "When we were thinking about a vendor to partner with on this tour, Compaq was the natural choice," stated toysmart.com Marketing Manager Jeff Hild. "We count on Compaq computers to run our business, and we really value Compaq as a business partner."