Magna-Tiles Constructed a Enterprise on Display screen-Free Play. Now It’s Launching a YouTube Cartoon
The Chicago-area toy company is turning its magnetic building sets into an animated series, betting that original characters and stories will help it reach more kids and sell more toys.
EXPERT OPINION BY JOSEPH S. PETE, FREELANCE WRITER
Kids have long used Magna-Tiles to build houses, castles, cars, rockets, intergalactic robot ninja unicorn princesses, or whatever else they can dream up offline. Now the company behind those beloved screen-free toys wants kids to spend time in front of one.
The suburban Chicago-based maker of the popular magnetic building sets is looking to build its audience with a new animated show, Magna-Tales, an edutainment series it hopes will click with kids and encourage them to exercise creativity and problem-solving while, of course, playing with Magna-Tiles sets.
Bolingbrook, Illinois-based Magna-Tiles ranks as the No
Bolingbrook, Illinois-based Magna-Tiles ranks as the No. 1-selling magnetic sets brand in the country the retail tracking service. Its sets are sold at Target, Walmart, and other leading retailers around the country
The company debuted Magna-Tales in October on YouTube, where it will compete alongside Bluey, Ms. Rachel, Sesame Street, and other children’s programs. The new show aims to expand Magna-Tiles’s intellectual property to include a new dimension of imaginative storytelling.
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The runaway success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie sparked interest in more content featuring toy lines, such as the recent “Matchbox” movie on Apple+. Toymakers have been looking to cash in with adaptations of games like Monopoly and toys like American Girl, Polly Pocket, Hot Wheels, and even View-Finder.
Of course, turning toys into entertainment is hardly
Of course, turning toys into entertainment is hardly new. Classic Saturday morning cartoons during the 1980s like Masters of the Universe, Transformers, and G.I. Joe, were often created with the explicit purpose of selling toys.
Magna-Tiles has produced its rainbow-colored magnetic building tiles for nearly 30 years, positioning the brand as meaningful play that empowers kids to build whatever they can imagine and touting it as “an essential tool for every child’s growing mind.” After selling millions of sets in more than 80 countries around the globe, it has branched out into more thematic sets and figures.
Source: www.inc.com
