This week we’ve gone a bit toy mad. On Wednesday we went over to the Dream Toys event in London whereby the Toy Retailers Association (TRA) released the 2011 annual ‘Dream Toys’ list, the industry’s official predictions of the Christmas best-sellers. The list was full of toys with a technological twist, confirmation of just how big an impact technology has, not just on adults and the way they lead their tech-filled lives, but also on the way that children play and learn.

The Dream Dozen this year was; Doggie Doo, John Adams, £22.99, Fijit Friends, Mattel, £54.99, Fireman Sam Pontypandy Rescue Set, Character, £29.99, Kidizoom Twist, Vtech, £49.99, LeapPad Explorer, Leapfrog Toys, £79.99, Lets Rock Elmo, Hasbro, £69.99, Milky the Bunny, Flair, £59.99, Monster High Lagoona’s Hydration Station, Mattel, £39.99, Moshling Tree House, Vivid, £18.99, Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster, Hasbro, £44.99, Ninjago Fire Temple, Lego, £91.99, Star Wars Ultimate Force Tech Lightsaber Assortment, Hasbro, £39.99.

This week has also seen the return of our BB-ers who were out in Hong Kong at our first exhibition at Hong Kong Mega Show. Product Manager Laura says of the show, “what a fantastic show we had. It was really great to be able to showcase our ranges for 2012 and get instant feedback. The ranges were superbly received and we’re looking forward to seeing our 2012 products in stores, websites and catalogues internationally next year”.

We hope you’ve had a great week. Enjoy the weekend and see you next week.

This week saw a gang of us BB-ers hop on over to London’s Olympia to check out BLE, one of the UK’s top licensing events. It was great to see what new product licenses are coming to the fore and see some of our old favourites exhibited there. We spied a couple of licenses that we think our customers will love. Watch this space!

At BLE we saw the Queen and her corgis, yes really! Ok , maybe not really but she looked the double of Queen Liz and we were so chuffed we chased her for a pic to show you all. Other celebs in the toy world spotted bobbing around were a giant plush Rasta Mouse and a walking, talking, plush Mr Bean – mad!! Another highlight was listening to a talk given by Mr Moshi Monsters himself, Michael Acton-Smith. It was so interesting to hear about the making of the safe social space for children and how popular this character-filled world is with the under 10s.

In other news, and it’s tough to follow meeting the Queen, we’ve been having a super busy and successful visit to Hong Kong. We’re currently exhibiting at the Mega Show there and our stand is rammed with people wanting to see our new kit. There were even queues. You can imagine how we are puffing out our chests with pride at the reaction to our new ranges.

Oh and of course National Baking Week did not go unnoticed. Sarah did bring in the most delicious carrot cake and I can guiltily admit that I’ve just this second finished the last slice. Sorry team!

Have a great weekend and see you next week.

iBallz consists of four balls, with slots in, which tightly fit over each corner of your tablet. After prolonged use on the same tablet, the grip that each ball has on the corner of the tablet becomes more solid, giving you peace of mind when using them.

The balls can be tightened to fit the tablet better if need be, especially useful for smaller tablets. This is done by a small pull-cord attached to the iBallz, which is long enough to be useful, but not too long that it becomes an annoyance. In terms of protection, iBallz acts as a great shock absorber if you happen to drop the tablet, and the fact the balls take the tablet off the surface is helpful if you spill something near the device. We tried our set of iBallz on several tablets, ranging in thickness and size, and had no problems with attaching iBallz to any of them.

As well as offering a great level of protection for your tablet, iBallz can also be altered to make a useful stand for your tablet. Simply removing one of the balls from its corner and placing it behind the tablet offers a surprisingly sturdy stand.

As you can clearly tell, we love the iBallz. It isn’t the most sophisticated product we’ve ever seen, but what it sets out to do, it does brilliant well. For the price, iBallz is definitely a worthwhile piece of tablet protection worth investing in.

http://www.smartphonedaily.co.uk/accessories/iballz-review/

You can imagine how seriously we’re going to be taking National Baking Week next week. Our lovely Marketing Director, Sarah, has promised us baked goods next week. A Mega Cupcake would be just the ticket I think. Ooh imagine a supersized Hummingbird Red Velvet Cupcake – delicious!!

This week we’ve been busy getting our samples for 2012 together, ready for showcasing at our first ever international show, Hong Kong Mega Show (Booth 3F-H39). It will be great to see our retail customers out there and also meet lots of different multi-national industry bods. We’ll be tweeting photos from out there so make sure you keep up to date on our Twitter account @BBTradesales.

In the meantime have a lovely, chocolate-filled rest of the week and we’ll see you next week!

BBTradesales,founded in 2003 by self-confessed “big kid” Ian Williams, has built-up a customer base on the high-street, online and in catalogues both in the UK and internationally. Despite having a strong multi-national following with countries such as France, Germany, Czech Republic, South Africa and Australia stocking BBTradesales’ quirky ranges, the Hong Kong Mega Show will be the company’s first international trade fair exhibition.

The firm will be exhibiting new ranges for 2012, including ‘first look’ new products along with existing best sellers at booth 3F-H39. The Hong Kong Mega Show lives up to its name and its supersized nature attracts nearly 70,000 attendees including buyers from all over the world. Williams comments, “BBTradesales is at a very exciting point, we are expanding not only in the UK but also to other territories and this show is a significant part of the process, introducing us to completely new accounts”.

In addition to BBTradesales’ expansion plans, the Hong Kong Mega Show is also an opportunity for UK and European customers to see newly developed product ranges. This is the result of a continued significant investment in product design and development. As well as in-house product designers, the company also employs top design agencies in order to offer its customers the most innovative products. Williams adds, “we are very much looking forward to introducing our products to a wider audience. We are really proud of our ranges and believe that the Hong Kong Mega Show will be the first of many more international shows to come”.

Contact details
For further information, interviews, images or videos please contact Ella Williamson on 01494 765626.

Website:
www.bbtradesales.com