Oh boy (Oh girl) - another media feature

We don't know what has brought this on, but suddenly we're getting a lot of media attention. The 7th May edition of "My Paper" has a short piece about us in their Mother's Day feature. The Toy Rental Club segment is entitled "Toy Story".

You can click here (and then click twice on the image) to see a pdf version of the article. If you click on the first magnifying glass icon (in the top right hand corner) you will get a closer view of the article - and then you can zoom in.

The Good Toy Guide

The National Association of Toy and Leisure Libraries (UK) has published its 35^th annual Good Toy Guide. To quote from the NATTL’s website, “All of the toys in this Guide are tested by children and the comments come from the children. Watching the children and the pleasure they get from the toys they are playing with is how we know what to tell you about each product.” At least 250 families (around 600 children) take part in the appraisal process.

The chosen toys include the Leapfrog “Learn and Groove Activity Station” and the Vtech “Alphabet Phonics Teacher”, both of which are stocked by the toy rental club. We stock other Leapfrog and Vtech products too.

Mio TV Feature

The local "pay TV" channel, mio TV, has just published a feature on the toy rental club. It's on their Mom-On-Demand channel (Channel 307) and carries the simple title "Mom Inspired: Toy Rental Club".

There's currently a short trailer on this webpage, but you'll need to sign up for mio TV on either your television or mobile phone in order to view the full programme.

Guardian Newspaper Article on Toy Libraries

Today's Guardian newspaper has an article by Zoe Williams on the advantages of using a toy library rather than buying new toys:

Borrow with mother - cut your child's carbon footprint with a toy library

"Why fill your home with brightly coloured plastic," asks the article, "when toy libraries offer a cheaper and more sustainable option?" Not-for-profit toy libraries are common in British cities but the article notes that despite the much-needed service they provide to poorer communities especially, many libraries often only a few days per week and others are understaffed.

CNN FEATURE

On 27 March CNN's "World Business Today" programme broadcast a feature on toy rental businesses in Singapore. It gives substantial coverage to the toy rental club. Just click on the PLAY button below.

Wanna be on TV?

Next Weds (11 Feb) from 11.00am onwards, a CNN crew will be filming at the toy rental club. They plan to interview ourselves and a few customers concerning the economic downturn. Does it make you more or less likely to rent? You don't have to talk, but why not bring your kids along for a play session? Not everyone can boast that they’ve been on CNN!

POSTSCRIPT: The filming went fine but it turned out that the focus was on "green" businesses rather the recession. We'll post a note here once we have the broadcast date.

Mom-on-Demand

Gee, it's tough being celebrities ...! We've done our second TV interview in a matter of months, this time for Mega Media, a local company that produces HD material for Singtel's mio TV. The piece about the toy rental club is for a channel called Mom-on-Demand, "Asia’s first on-demand channel for parenting and women’s issues".

You'd be surprised how much time these short television segments take. Initial meetings; checking out the playground to plan camera shots and anticipate lighting needs etc; the actual interviews (the two of us quizzed separately in this case, like suspects in a police cell!); and a couple of filming sessions, including a Saturday afternoon birthday party.

We don't know yet when it will be broadcast, but we'll add details here once we know more.

Article in THE BUSINESS TIMES

We were featured in yesterday's Business Times, in an article by Cheah Ui Hoon entitled "Young Parents Turn Entrepreneurs":

"Another segment of young parents getting into the child-centric business are those who realise how expensive good toys can be. And that it's a waste to throw away toys in near-perfect condition when children outgrow them in a matter of months.

The Toy Rental Club is one of the bigger 'toy for rent' outfits in town ..."

Well, the biggest actually!

Interview with MONEY WEEK (Channel U)

We were interviewed about a month ago for the Channel U current affairs programme Money Week, hosted by Tung Soo Hua. A fascinating process because although it's a Mandarin language channel (and Anita chickened out of using her Mandarin skills) the interview was conducted in English. Despite that, we had to do a second take because the sound was "too low" on the first! Presumably this is because most Singaporean viewers are bilingual and like to hear the original English while listening to the dubbed Mandarin?

Anyway, the toy rental club looked good and we managed to sound reasonably coherent despite our inexperience at this sort of thing. A few clients who had children in the playground during the filming were thrilled to see themselves on TV!

Feature in MOTHERHOOD Magazine

There's an article on the toy rental club in the April 2008 issue of Motherhood magazine. It's part of a larger feature looking at mums who've started their own businesses and we are cast as "the toy gurus"! Hmm, that means we're experts, doesn't it? They definitely got that part wrong, but fortunately the rest of the article is accurate.