YouTubers Mila and Emily were two of the influencers Skyrocket sent dolls to for its marketing campaign.
- Child YouTubers are helping sell toys with their unboxing videos.
- Toymaker Skyrocket has a formula behind its best-selling toys to cater to these viral and trending videos.
- The company recruited more than 100 influencers on YouTube and Instagram to launch its Blume doll, which is now one of this year's most popular toys.
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If you're a parent, aunt, uncle, or babysitter, you've probably had the distinct pleasure of watching at least one toy "unboxing" video on YouTube. If you've been spared from that spectacle, imagine super-peppy 5- to 10-year-olds squealing as they open plastic eggs and flower pots to reveal figurine animals and dolls inside.
These are the child superstars of today, doing for the tech-savvy Generation Alpha what the Disney Channel did for millennials - entertaining and selling to them on the platform where they spend much of their time. The young vloggers are now one of the biggest movers of the toy market. If they make a video about a hot new toy, chances of your kid asking for that toy are high. The most popular toy of 2017, "L.O.L. Surprise! Big Surprise," which was a big hit on YouTube that it sold out within 48 hours. Then it was selling on eBay for over $30 more than its original price.
As Business Insider has reported, the highest-earning YouTube star in the world is an 8-year-old boy who made $22 million in a year reviewing toys. One entertainment company, Pocket.Watch, specializes in turning popular child YouTube stars like him into multimillion-dollar franchises.
So when toymaker Skyrocket set out to design what's become one of this year's most popular toys, the Blume doll, it certainly had these child influencers in mind. "Unboxing continues to be a hot trend in toys this year as kids still love the surprise element of a reveal toy," said Lindsey Scheftic, Skyrocket's vice president of marketing.
The doll comes packaged inside a plastic pot, where it remains hidden until the child pours water over the lid. The doll then cracks through the lid, and it pops out as though it's a flower beginning to bloom. As of December 23, the Blume doll was ranked fifth on Amazon's list of best-selling dolls.
Scheftic told Business Insider that the company incorporated this entertaining element to make unboxing the toy part of playing with it. "Our goal was to create the next best collectible with a huge 'wow factor' when it comes to the unique and surprising reveal experience," she added.
In fact, "secret" and "surprise" are two popular keywords on YouTube for drawing in young viewers, Reed Duchscher, president of the talent management agency Night Media, told Business Insider.
Everleigh Rose has 2.89 million subscribers on YouTube.
Influencer marketing - but for kids and their families
Skyrocket recruited more than 100 YouTube and Instagram influencers to launch the toy and create buzz. The company sent Blume dolls to kids like Everleigh Rose, who has 2.89 million subscribers, and sisters Mary and Izzy, who have 5.15 million subscribers. "Working with top influencers on YouTube and Instagram is key to Blume's marketing success," said Scheftic.
Toy manufacturers also know collectibles add to the unboxing recipe. Scheftic said the trend has gone from basic collectibles, to "blind bag" toys, which aren't labeled and have to be opened to find out which character the child got. "We have to make sure to create toys that are exciting enough for these platforms," she said, referring to YouTube and Instagram.
Each Blume doll includes a pamphlet showing all the other dolls available, organized by four levels of rarity. Skyrocket gave influencers three hint cards so they could guess which doll they received, adding an element of surprise for viewers and the kids opening the toys.
In 2019, Skyrocket has made over 1.7 billion estimated impressions through its marketing campaigns for all of its toys. The company didn't provide an exact breakdown, but told Business Insider that Blume makes up a bulk of that reach. And for a YouTube generation, impressions lead to sales.